To change the boot field and leave all other bits set to their default values, follow these guidelines:
Set the configuration register value to 0x100 if you need to enter the ROM monitor, primarily a programmer’s environment. From ROM monitor, boot the operating system manually using the b command at the ROM monitor prompt. (This value sets the boot field bits to 0-0-0-0.)
Set the configuration register to 0x101 to configure the system to boot automatically from ROM. (This value sets the boot field bits to 0-0-0-1.)
Set the configuration register to any value from 0x102 to 0x10F to configure the system to use the boot system commands in NVRAM. This is the default. (These values set the boot field bits to 0-0-1-0 through 1-1-1-1.)
To check the boot field setting, for example, to verify the config-register command, you must use the show version command.
Bootstrap Options in Software
Flash
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# boot system flash genew-image
[Ctrl-Z]
Router# copy running-config startup-config
Network
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# boot system tftp test.exe 172.16.13.111
[Ctrl-Z]
Router# copy running-config startup-config
ROM
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# boot system rom
[Ctrl-Z]
Router# copy running-config startup-config
Multiple boot system commands select bootstrap fallback sequence
These examples show how you can enter multiple boot system commands to specify the fallback sequence for booting Cisco IOS software. The three examples show boot system entries that specify that a Cisco IOS image will load first from Flash memory, next from a network server, and finally from ROM.
Flash memory
Network server