Re: Softwareupdate
Indira Rossetto
Variable: COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL Set when downloading or installing using the softwareupdate command. Scripts can check for the existence of this variable to determine if they are executing in a command line environment (i.e. theremay be no WindowServer available).
Tried going into the terminal and running "softwareupdate -l --verbose". I get "Finding available software" and that's it. It never returns more or accepts input again. Both using my admin account and then doing "sudo su" and running the command with sudo get the same results.
Thanks for the help on this! I finally figured it out, well sort of. I found in the logs a recurring softwareupdate error where a mkdir command was failing. Ended up searching around on that and fixed it with:
I just purchased a new Mac mini. While in system preferences, under Software Update, when I try to check the box next to "automatically keep my Mac up to date" I get a prompt that says this asking for my password. Is that right?
Thank you for posting in Apple Support Communities. We can definitely understand wanting to make sure that you are appropriately being asked for your password. Yes, when selecting to automatically keep you Mac up to date for first time, you are going to be prompted to enter your password to confirm.
It would be "com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.remoteservice (System Preferences)" asking for the password? I had never seen that before. Usually it will say "Software Update" is trying to unlock System Preferences, has been my experience. Is this something new? Why remote service?
Take a look at this article I'm experiencing the same thing on MANY Big Sur Macs looking for the 11.6.3 update. In the Software Update pane of System Preferences, it just sits there searching for updates with the spinning gear. I let it sit for many hours and in one case I let it sit overnight with absolutely zero indication of it doing anything. When I run softwareupdate -l in Terminal, it just sits there looking for updates and it never finishes. It doesn't happen on every Mac. There are some Macs that have absolutely no problems whatsoever finding, downloading, or installing the update. The OS versions of Macs having this problem range from 11.6.0 through 11.6.2. All various hardware configurations. I've tried it from the LAN in the office and I've tried it from home networks. Numerous reboots have no effect. Is anyone else here in JamfNation experiencing this? if so, how are you handling it? Before the 11.6.3 update was made available, we never experienced this.
It never lists any updates, but the red notification dot certainly knows there's something there. I would think that restarting the Mac would effectively kill the process mentioned in the screenshot, but I can give it a shot. On a hunch, I ran a policy on an affected Mac that purges the system caches via Self Service. After the Mac rebooted I immediately tried softwareupdate -l in Terminal and it worked. I then ran softwareupdate -i -a -R and it appears to be processing it now. I would expect this kind of fix to be a one-off, but for there to be so many Macs affected by this, this seems to be a bigger problem.
Updated two devices to 11.6.1 while a 90 day deferral was set. Removing the deferral did not make the newer updates show as available. I restarted one, then it could see the 11.6.3 update. The other I used the command @mark_mahabir mentioned and that worked as well.
I realize this is only partially related to OP but given the bugs in softwareupdate lately I thought I should share here too.
We had computers not checking in because recon was failing to complete. It was ultimately due to softwareupdate hanging. JamF is tracking the PI.
The issue with not finding the updates we are able to solve with the script I receieved here: -pro/finding-os-updates-issues-after-misconfiguration-of-nudge/m-p... from another jamf nation member. THX once again.
@syoung17 I re-enabled Collect Available software updates yesterday and Im finding that running the kickstart command still doesn't quite fix the problem every time. The only way I can guarantee a Mac can complete a recon is by disabling that setting. This has been happening for quite some time
It's gotten to the point for me where i'm running that kickstart command once an hour to keep devices online. I've been told by JAMF that the only solution is to upgrade to macOS12 but that's just not doable for a few reasons. Disabling update checks didn't help me either.
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We can access the data from the software update checks by consulting the preferences file com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist. I first learned this from the people at Root3 who wrote the excellent Support app.
The advantage of consulting the com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist file is that the results are instantly returned, and they do not induce a new softwareupdate run. Additionally, these results are more likely to be consistent with what the user sees in the Software Update pane, which is helpful if the ultimate aim is to encourage or prompt the user to run any updates themselves (although note that when the user opens the Software Update pane, another check may often be made).
I have a process softwareupdated which is consuming lot of data. I just want to close the process as I dont want to update .I tried sudo kill -9 pid but it doesn't kill softwareupdated in mac.I keep getting Operation not permitted when I try to kill process.
It appears that some processes managed by launchd cannot be killed via normal means. For example, softwareupdated does not permit sudo kill -9 from the root user or the _softwareupdate user. One workaround is to get launchd to send the signal for you:
Switch off the ones you don't want to happen automatically. Note it is wise to allow it to check, even if you don't let it download or install. That way you will get a reminder & you can choose when to let it run.
I was wondering if someone might know an Applescript to launch and execute software update as the local Administrator. I am a systems administrator and we have recently set up and configured proxy servers.
My problem is that at the moment i have to go to every single machine, log on as Administrator and run the software udate with loads of machines. I would like for the users to have an Applescript as a run only app when they double click it the softwareupdate launches not asking for Administrator authentication.
almost there i need to click the install button but i am unsure how to do this. At the moment with script below i can manually click on the install button then the Admin credentials fills in ok but i still have to click on the OK button manually
If you find your Mac software update stuck, running into errors, or unable to check for updates when updating from the App Store or Software Update setting, you can update macOS from Terminal with the softwareupdate command line tool. This method applies to any macOS version and may download and install macOS update faster than the usual ways.
Although updating macOS won't delete your data, it's best that you can back up your Mac with Time Machine or through other means beforehand. Then log into your Mac with an administrator account and take the steps below carefully to update Mac from Terminal.
Depending on your current macOS, Terminal will pick the correct combo or delta update for your Mac. For instance, if you're updating from macOS 13.1 Ventura and the latest is macOS 13.2 Ventura, it will fetch the smaller delta update.
Jenny is a technical writer at iBoysoft, specializing in computer-related knowledge such as macOS, Windows, hard drives, etc. She's also been producing top-notch articles for other famous technical magazines and websites.
Jessica Shee is a senior tech editor at iBoysoft. Throughout her 4 years of experience, Jessica has written many informative and instructional articles in data recovery, data security, and disk management to help a lot of readers secure their important documents and take the best advantage of their devices.
Neither the man page for softwareupdate nor its current usage information are complete or accurate, and they have remained in that state since at least macOS Sierra in 2016, seven years ago. The man page claims to have been last updated in 2012, 11 years ago, and the examples given there still refer to standalone EFI firmware updates, although it refers to Rosetta and Apple silicon Macs, demonstrating that it has actually been updated more recently. Examples include:
Downloaded security data updates are then saved to folders inside /Library/Updates, but macOS updates are carefully hidden, and can only be installed using Software Update or softwareupdate with its install option.
Installing individual security data updates that are available can be performed using the command
softwareupdate -i --include-config-data [label]
where the label is that given in the list of available updates.
Thank you very much for your tip. I have been experienced this Software Update hang for several weeks. Your tip worked beautifully. The only other thing that was working for me was to boot into Safe Mode, which is far less convenient.
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