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How to Reset an X1500 Socket (USB Drive)

  • Updated on Jun 22, 2026
  • 4 minute(s) read
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This article explains how to reset an X1500 Socket to the factory image using an USB drive.

WARNING!

Cato has two certified Socket hardware models for x1500 sites (x1500 and x1500B). Make sure that you identify the exact Socket model before installing the image on the Socket.

For more information about the two X1500 Socket models, see Overview of Reimaging Cato Sockets.

Identifying the X1500 Socket Model

There are separate images for the X1500 and X1500B Socket models. Make sure that the PSU for the back panel of your Socket matches the picture below.

  • PSU on the back panel (X1500)

    X1500_back_panel.png

If the PSU for your Socket is different than the picture, please see How to Reset an X1500B Socket (USB Drive). If you install the X1500B image on an X1500 Socket, you can cause the Socket to stop working.

Resetting the Socket to the Factory Default Configuration and Version

This is a high-level overview of the steps to reset a Socket to the factory image using a USB drive.

  1. Prepare the image - download and untar it.

  2. Burn the image to the USB drive.

  3. Install the image on the Socket.

Preparing the Socket Image

  1. Download the image file

    For more information about getting the image file, see Socket and vSocket Image Files.

  2. Untar the image (see instructions below).

    After you untar the image, the file is located in the following directory: live

  3. Get a USB drive with at least 8GB. If it is necessary to format the USB drive, use either the exFAT or FAT32 format. When using the FAT32 format, the USB drive should not be larger than 32GB.

Burning the Image to the USB Drive

This section explains how to burn the Socket image to the USB drive for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

After you untar the image, compare the file hash of the uncompressed DD image file to the Cato verified, correct file hash. This confirms the disk image integrity before writing the Socket firmware to the hard drive.

  • A file with the verified hash is attached to this article

  • Save the file to the same directory as the uncompressed disk image

Burning the Image with Windows

  1. Connect the USB drive to your Windows device.

  2. Move both downloaded files to the same directory, for example c:\Cato

  3. Untar the image, from the elevated Powershell in the same directory as both files, run tar -xf <archive-filename>

    x1500_untar_image.png

    Note:

    Common decompression software (such as Winzip, 7zip or Winrar) will corrupt the image, resulting in a file that is ~135MB in size. Extracting the file using the Windows CLI tar command should result in a file size that is larger than 1GB.

  4. Make sure to place the hash file in the same directory as the image file.

  5. Run the following command to compare the file hash of the Socket image:

    (Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 .\IMAGE_INSTALL_socket_X1500_BR2_18960_production_socket_v21.1_20240919_2024_12_12.dd).Hash -eq (gc .\X1500-hash.txt).split()[0]

    The command returns True when the hashes are the same.

  6. Download and install disk imager software, such as Win32 Disk Imager.

  7. Write the image to the USB drive. (You may need to show all the files with *.* to see the DD file)

Burning the Image with macOS

  1. Connect the USB drive.

  2. Open a terminal window.

  3. Identify the new drive using the command diskutil list

  4. Unmount the identified drive using diskutil unmountDisk <diskN>

    <diskN> is a variable which you identify in the previous step, this sample output shows the drive as disk0:

    diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical)

  5. Untar the image (double-click the file).

  6. Run the following command to compare the file hash of the Socket image:

    shasum -a 256 <archive-filename>

    Compare the output of this command with the hash attached to this article.

  7. Run the following command: dd if=./<file name> of=/dev/diskN bs=16m

    For example dd if=./IMAGE_INSTALL_socket_X1500_BR2_18960_production_socket_v21.1_20240919_2024_12_12.dd of=/dev/diskN bs=16m

    WARNING: Make sure you write the image on the USB drive and not on your hard disk.

Burning the Image with Linux

  1. Connect the USB drive to your Linux machine

  2. Identify which device is your USB /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc

  3. Untar the image.

  4. Run the following command to view the hash of the image file:

    shasum -a 256 /<path to file>/<image filename>

  5. Compare the output of the command to the hash attached to this article.

  6. Run the following command to write the image to the USB:

    dd if=./IMAGE_INSTALL_socket_X1500_BR2_18960_production_socket_v21.1_20240919_2024_12_12.dd of=/dev/sdX

    Notes:

    • For supported versions, you can append status=progress to the dd command to see the status of the write-to-USB operation.

    • Make sure you write the image on the USB drive and not on your hard disk.

Installing the Image on the Socket

After the Socket image is prepared on the USB drive, insert the drive in the Socket. When the Socket boots up, it installs the image and resets to factory default settings.

Note:

If the Socket is currently shown in the Cato Management Application as assigned to a site, unassign the Socket from the site (see Managing Sockets). Then after the new image is installed, you can assign the Socket to the site again.

  1. Connect the USB drive to the Socket's USB port.

  2. Reboot the Socket (unplug the power and plug it in again).

  3. It takes up to 5 minutes to write the image to the Socket. When completed, the Socket will turn itself off.

  4. IMPORTANT! Disconnect the USB drive (otherwise, step 3 will happen again).

  5. Power up the Socket (unplug the power and plug it in again).

  6. The Socket will start up on the default version and the factory default configuration.

Verifying the Socket Version

After installing the Socket image, you can verify that the process has been successful by using the Socket WebUI to verify the Socket version.

For more about logging in to the Socket WebUI, see Accessing the Socket WebUI.

Note:

If you are logging in to Socket WebUI locally after installing the Socket image, the login username and password are reset to default settings.

To verify the Socket version locally:

  1. Log in to the Socket WebUI.

    You can use an Ethernet cable to connect to Socket LAN2 port on the X1500 Socket to the computer.

  2. Navigate to the About page.

  3. Confirm that the Version is the same as the image file you downloaded above.

    The example below shows the version for an X1500 Socket with Socket version 17.x:

    x1500_sebui_v17.png

X1500-hash.txt

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