Firmware Updater

Table of Contents

• FWUpdater
• Availability
• Usage
• Options
• Examples
• Operational Notes

FWUpdater

FWUpdater is a command-line utility for updating camera firmware through CVB/GenICam and for standard compliant file upload.

It supports two update mechanisms:

• GUF updates: use a GenICam Update File (.guf) through the GenICam firmware updater API.
• GC file-node updates: read or write firmware data through the camera's GenICam file access nodes, usually selected through the FileSelector node.

GUF files are firmware update packages that follow the GenICam Firmware Update standard. A .guf file can contain one or more update entries, including firmware data and metadata used by the camera's GenICam firmware updater implementation. When a GUF file contains several entries, select the intended entry with --gufentry.

Check the documentation for the camera model before updating. It should tell you which update mechanism, file type, and file selector name to use.

Availability

FWUpdater is installed with CVB and can be found in the following directories:

• %CVB%Hardware\StemmerImaging\Utilities (Windows)
• /opt/cvb/bin (Linux)

Note

On Windows the executable is named FWUpdater.exe. On Linux use FWUpdater.

Usage

FWUpdater.exe --help
FWUpdater.exe --devices

Use exactly one update mode per invocation:

• --gufcmd <list|update> for GUF files
• --cmd <list|read|write|flashfw> for GC file-node operations

Device selection can be done in three ways:

• By serial number with --serial. This uses device discovery.
• By discovery of multiple devices with --all. If different camera models are connected, add --model.
• By VIN driver, board, and camera index using --vin, --board, and --camera. Uses GenICam.vin when --vin is not set. This way of device selection is deprecated and may be removed in the future.

Options

Option	Mode	Description
--help, -?	Both	Print command-line help.
--devices, -d	Both	List discovered devices and exit.
--file, -f	Both	GUF file path, firmware upload path, or destination path for --cmd read.
--serial, -s	Both	Serial number of the camera to update through discovery. Ignores VIN, board, and camera options.
--all, -a	Both	Update all discovered cameras. Without --model, all discovered devices must have the same model.
--model, -m	Both	Camera model filter for --all.
--vin, -i	Both	CVB VIN driver to use. Defaults to GenICam.vin.
--camera, -c	Both	Camera/port index for VIN-based access. Defaults to 0 when omitted.
--board, -b	Both	Board index for VIN-based access. Defaults to 0 when omitted.
--gufcmd	GUF	GUF command: list prints the contents of a .guf; update applies one update entry.
--gufentry, -e	GUF	Update entry index from the .guf. Required for --gufcmd update.
--cmd	GC	GC command: list, read, write, or flashfw. flashfw is kept as an alias for the write/update path.
--name, -n	GC	File selector name to use for read, write, or flashfw. Use --cmd list to inspect available names.

Examples

List connected devices:

FWUpdater.exe --devices

Inspect a GUF file:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.guf" --gufcmd list

Update one discovered camera by serial number:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.guf" --gufcmd update --gufentry 0 --serial "12345678"

Update all discovered cameras of one model:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.guf" --gufcmd update --gufentry 0 --all --model "DeviceModel"

Update the first camera exposed by GenICam.vin with the first GUF entry:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.guf" --gufcmd update --gufentry 0

List GC file selectors for the first VIN-based device:

FWUpdater.exe --cmd list

Upload firmware through a GC file selector node with name "firmware1":

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.cbf" --cmd write --serial "12345678" --name firmware1

Upload firmware to all discovered cameras of one model:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware.cbf" --cmd write --name firmware1 --all --model "DeviceModel"

Download a file from a GC file selector:

FWUpdater.exe --file "E:\firmware-backup.bin" --cmd read --name firmware1 --serial "12345678"

Operational Notes

• For GC updates, run --cmd list first if you do not know the correct FileSelector entry.
• For MATRIX VISION cameras, GC uploads require a .bin file. The tool erases the flash before uploading.
• During GC uploads, the tool executes DeviceReset when the node is available. If Cust::DeviceUpdateStatus exists, it waits up to 60 seconds for the device to come back and prints the update result.
• Avoid power, network, and driver interruptions while firmware is being written.