Cisco WAP Firmware Upgrade 3800 series (CAPWAP to Mobility Express)
CAPWAP to Mobility Express
Factory resetting access point
1. Connect console to a laptop (non-domain joined preferred).
2. Connect PoE to a guest or lab network.
3. Open up a Putty and connect through serial.
4. When connected, wait until device has completely booted.
5. From the access point, press the MODE button (as the photo below) for at least 20 seconds. You should be able to see the seconds count from the CLI.
6. Wait until it says it is finished.
Upgrade firmware from CAPWAP to Mobility Express
1. Make sure you have the latest ME firmware saved in your PC. Check the file server or ask someone for confirmation.
2. Open up a TFTP server, locate the directory of the location where the .tar file is.
3. From the CLI, login to the device. After the device has been factory reset, you should be able to login as the default username and password ( Username:Cisco, Password: Cisco ; note that this is case-sensitive)
4. Enable the CLI, and type the following command.
ap-type mobility-express tftp://serverip/filename
5. After entering the command, this should also show in the TFTP server that the transfer is ongoing.
6. Wait until it is finished. This will take a few minutes to finish.
7. Check version to confirm.
*Note: When the AP keeps booting up on a loop, stop access point from keep restarting. You can enter the command below.
logging console disable
Update your Cisco wireless access point firmware
- Download portable TFTPD64
(https://bitbucket.org/phjounin/tftpd64/downloads/)
2. Copy down the correct CISCO firmware ZIP file
3. Extract the ZIP file on the local machine
4. Run the portable TFTPD64 application and set the TFTPD local folder location to the root of the unzipped folder
5. Use TFTP in the GUI to update:
6. *Select Auto Restart to have AP automatically reboot — USE for single AP installations ONLY.
You should see the AP pulling down the matching hardware version firmware file via TFTP:
And voila! You successfully updated your Cisco IOS firmware.
If you want to try it yourself, get your access point here.
