How to clean install ONIE, Firmware updater, SSD firmware, and OS10 on S4100 switches

Summary: This article documents the procedure to perform a clean install for ONIE, Firmware updater, SSD firmware, and OS10 from USB This would be helpful when you are upgrading the switches from a Factory-installed firmware or an old firmware. You must uninstall OS10 and do a clean installation of the switch is running on 10.4.2.x or earlier release, as per the Dell SmartFabric OS10 Installation, Upgrade, and Downgrade Guide. ...

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Instructions

  1. Format the USB Pen drive in FAT32 format and move all the necessary files to the root the USB Folder
  2. Take a backup of the Switch (show running-configuration). Usually, startup.xml restoration would not work if the xml backup taken on an old firmware. You can copy/paste the output from the command into a notepad.
  3. Power cycle or reboot the switch, select ONIE and then Uninstall OS
ONIE menu
uninstall ONIE menu
 
4. The switch uninstalls the existing OS and Power-cycle. Choose "Update ONIE" from the ONIE menu to update the ONIE software.

update ONIE
 
5.  Once it boots to ONIE Prompt, follow the below procedure 
onie-discovery-stop  <------------------------- stop discovery messages
fdisk -l                     <------------------------- See the list of partitions
mkdir /mnt/usb    <------------------------- Create a directory for the USB to mount to
mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb  <------------------------- Mount the USB to the newly created directory
cd /mnt/usb             <------------------------- Navigate to the directory that we just mounted the USB drive
ls -al                             <------------------------- list the contents of USB
installation OS10 firmware

6. Issue the command "onie-self-update <onie filename>"   
onie-self-update onie-updater-x86_64-dellemc_s4100_c2338-r0.3.33.1.1-10
starting ONIE update
 
7. The switch updates ONIE software and Power-cycle. Choose ONIE-Rescue from the ONIE menu.
ONIE rescue menu
8. Perform STEP 5 again. Once you see the ONIE Prompt and run  
onie-self-update <firmware updater file >

ONIE update

onie update 2
  9. Switch Power-cycles. Choose ONIE-Rescue from the ONIE menu and Perform STEP 5 again.
10. Run command 
 onie-self-update <ssd firmware> 
example :  onie-self-update ssd-firmware-updater-3ie3-r0.3.00.7.0-1.bin
  SSD update
  11. Switch Power-Cycles. Choose ONIE-Rescue again and ensure that the SSD firmware is updated, using the below two commands. 
dmesg | grep "3IE3" | sed -n '1p' | cut -d ',' -f2 | sed "s/ //g"
dmesg | grep 3IE3

SSD verification
  12. Reboot the switch and choose ONIE: Install OS from the ONIE Menu now.

install OS10
13. Perform Step 5 again and run 
onie-nos-install <OS10 file>
example :onie-nos-install PKGS_OS10-Enterprise-10.5.6.1.100buster-installer-x86_64.bin

OS10 installation
14. Restore the configuration in segments from the backup taken earlier and save it.

15.  Compare old and new configuration.

Affected Products

Operating Systems, Switches, SmartFabric OS10 Software
Article Properties
Article Number: 000206589
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2025
Version:  4
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