A router is not operating as expected and the network administrator wants to verify that the router booted using the correct IOS image. Which command should be used to determine which IOS is running…

Question

Options

• Ashow flash
• Bshow version
• Cshow memory
• Dshow startup-config
• Eshow config-register

• B
  86% (38)
• C
  5% (2)
• D
  2% (1)
• E
  7% (3)

Explanation

show version is correct because it displays the currently running IOS image name, version number, system uptime, and hardware details - giving administrators a complete snapshot of what the router actually loaded at boot. This is the go-to command when verifying runtime state.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. show flash - lists files stored on flash memory, but doesn't tell you which image is actively running; a router could have multiple images on flash and boot from any one of them.
• C. show memory - reports memory usage statistics (free/used RAM), not IOS image information.
• D. show startup-config - displays the saved configuration in NVRAM, not the IOS image or boot state.
• E. show config-register - shows the configuration register value (which controls boot behavior), but not which specific IOS image was loaded.

Memory tip: Think "version = verification" - when you want to verify exactly what's running right now, show version is your command. A useful distinction is flash = files on disk, while version = what's live in memory.

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