Introduction
There may be cases when it is beneficial or even necessary to update the firmware on a device without using the web browser. It is possible to update the firmware by using SSH and the fwupdate command. This article serves as a walk-through for getting the image onto the device and then flashing it.
Getting the firmware onto the device
The first step of flashing an image in the shell is getting the firmware image onto the device. There are two easy ways to do this: using SFTP to upload the image onto the device, or using wget from the device to download the image from an external source.
Instructions for Windows users
Step 1. Run WinSCP. Fill out the following fields:
Host name – device IP address (default 192.168.2.66)
Username – admin
Password – device login password (default: admin01)
Press Login to initiate an SSH connection to the device.
Step 2. In the next window, go to the /tmp directory. Then copy the fwupdate.bin file to the /tmp directory.
Step 3. Run PuTTY. In the Host Name field, type the device’s IP address and press Open.
Step 4. Type in the username and the password in the next window.
Username – admin
Password – device’s password (default: admin01)
Step 5. Navigate to the /tmp directory.
cd /tmp
Step 6. Rename the previously uploaded file to fwupdate.bin.
mv AP.QD-1.v7.50.7780.img fwupdate.bin
Step 7. Type the command fwupdate –m to start the firmware upgrade.
fwupdate -m
Step 8. If PuTTY closes automatically, this confirms the successful start of the upgrade.
Step 9. Once the firmware upgrade is complete, the device should respond to a ping using the configured IP address.
Instructions for Linux users
Download the latest firmware and open the Terminal.
Step 1. Rename the downloaded firmware to fwupdate.bin.
mv AP.QD-1.v7.50.7780.img fwupdate.bin
Step 2. Copy the firmware image to the device’s /tmp directory.
scp /home/fwupdate.bin [email protected]:/tmp
Step 3. Log onto the device via SSH.
ssh [email protected]
Username – admin
Password – device’s password (default: admin01)
Step 4. Type in the command fwupdate –m to start the firmware upgrade.
fwupdate -m
Step 5. Once the firmware upgrade is complete, the device should respond to a ping using the configured IP address.