The Cisco IOS image is stored as a .bin file in a directory that is named with the Cisco IOS release. A
subdirectory contains the files needed for web management. The image is stored on the system board
flash device (flash:).

You can use the show version privileged EXEC command to see the software version that is running on
your switch. On Catalyst 3750 switches, the second line displayed in the output of the show version
command shows C3750-I5-M for the enhanced multilayer image (EMI) or C3750-I9-M for the standard
multilayer software image (SMI).

Note

On Catalyst 3750 switches, although the show version output always shows the software image running
on the switch, the model name shown at the end of this display is the factory configuration (SMI or EMI)
and does not change if you upgrade the software image.

You can also use the dir filesystem: privileged EXEC command to see the directory names of other
software images that you might have stored in flash memory.

Deciding Which Files to Use

The upgrade procedures in these release notes describe how to perform the upgrade by using a combined
tar file. This file contains both the Cisco IOS image file and the files needed for CMS. You must use the
combined tar file to upgrade the switch through CMS. To upgrade the switch through the CLI, use the
tar file and the archive download-sw privileged EXEC command.