Can't retrieve system updates anymore on macOS 10.14.6 via preferences panel

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Level 1

9 points

Can't retrieve system updates anymore on macOS 10.14.6 via preferences panel

Hello,

I can't make any system updates anymore on my mid-2012 MacBook Pro on macOS 10.14.6.

I know there are some though because I've read some articles about them on the internet but I receive no notification and cannot download/install them via "System Preferences > software updates" (infinite "searching in progress" like hours...).

Is there somebody else here that has the same behavior?

Is my computer too old to run software updates preferences panel correctly?

Thanks in advance :)

MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 21, 2019 6:52 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 22, 2019 6:55 AM in response to l0f4r0

Other things to try if the available updates really are not listed:

Move this file to the Desktop or trash:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL

sudo softwareupdate —clear-catalog

http://blog.rtwilson.com/how-to-reset-the-software-update-url-in-os-x/

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Sep 21, 2019 7:48 PM in response to l0f4r0

Copy and paste this command into Terminal. It will list any updates and respond with a message if it doesn't find any.

It may stall as the GUI does, but maybe not:

softwareupdate --list

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Answer 3

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 4:05 AM in response to babowa

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210548 + Safari 13 ;)

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Sep 21, 2019 7:38 AM in response to l0f4r0

Have you tried to connect on another network?

Perhaps something in your network is blocking access to the update server.

Possibly restarting your internet modem and router might resolve the issue.

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Answer 5

babowa

Level 9

78,568 points

Sep 21, 2019 8:23 PM in response to l0f4r0

Just out of curiosity: what updates are you expecting? You are running the latest publicly available OS.

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Sep 22, 2019 8:22 AM in response to l0f4r0

Are you using any kind of internet security software? AV, Web Filtering, etc?

Here is the path to the catalogs: https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/

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Answer 7

Sep 22, 2019 12:25 AM in response to l0f4r0

Make sure your boot drive is formatted as APFS. If for some reason (cloning etc) it is Mac OS Extended, the updates don't appear and don't work.

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Answer 8

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 4:11 AM in response to Barney-15E

Too bad, it doesn't work any better :(

$ softwareupdate --list

Software Update Tool



Finding available software

CLI is searching indefinitely as well...

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Answer 9

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 21, 2019 9:27 AM in response to Barney-15E

Actually, I've tried from 3 different networks: same results...

Restarting my server doesn't change anything (I've even changed the whole router)

Does someone know some Apple URLs to be checked for system updates? I could test a manual connection to see if everything is OK (DNS resolution, HTTP return code...).

What is frustrating is that I have no feedback with the Preference pane GUI, it just searches indefinitely. I didn't get such issue before...

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Answer 10

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 4:08 AM in response to Matti Haveri

I think it looks OK:

$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *750.2 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         640.0 GB   disk0s2

   3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3



/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +640.0 GB   disk1

                                 Physical Store disk0s2

   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            560.1 GB   disk1s1

   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 24.4 MB    disk1s2

   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                507.2 MB   disk1s3

   4:                APFS Volume VM                      6.4 GB     disk1s4

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Answer 11

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 7:45 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Same result... :'(

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Answer 12

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 9:58 AM in response to Barney-15E

I'm just using Avast but all agents are deactivated (file, web & email).

Ok, I can access to https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/ (even if I receive 403):

$ wget https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/

--2019-09-22 18:57:29--  https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/

Resolving swscan.apple.com (swscan.apple.com)... 104.69.82.61

Connecting to swscan.apple.com (swscan.apple.com)|104.69.82.61|:443... connected.

HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden

2019-09-22 18:57:30 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

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Answer 13

l0f4r0 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2019 10:04 AM in response to l0f4r0

Ok, I've noticed that Little Snitch was still installed even if not functional anymore. I've run the official uninstaller, then rebooted.

Apple Software Updates works now.

Many thanks everyone for your appreciated help regarding that matter :)

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Can't retrieve system updates anymore on macOS 10.14.6 via preferences panel

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