You need a cco login to download the ios (see cisco's explanation below), if you can get the ios elsewhere then you can upgrade without any licensing.
Guest Users
Guest users of CCO are limited to seeing only publicly available files, such as Cisco's Management Information Base (MIB) files for SNMP-based management applications. Operating system software such as Cisco IOS releases are not generally available to guest users.
Guest users can be granted special file access to Cisco software files if they contact their Cisco support representative to obtain support and instructions.
Registered Users
End-user customers with Cisco service contracts, such as SMARTnet or Comprehensive Maintenance, as well as Partners with service agreements, can become registered users on CCO. Registered users have a much broader range of content available to them through the Software Center.
Registered users have access to all files in the Guest system, plus access to operating system software, drivers and related files for Cisco's internetworking products.
Let me know if you have any problems.
cheers
George
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