Cannot update Mac OS. "There was an error in Software Update preferences."

TheHideoutMusic wrote:

I am running Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6 (18G103).

I am getting notifications that mac os has a software update to be installed. However, when I open software updates in system preferences, I get the error "Preferences Error. There was an error in Software Update preferences." My mac will not update.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/a8add8b1-16fa-438b-b295-2eea13435fe7

The only possible reason that I can think of that this might be happening, is because I tinkered with disabling badge notifications and mac os update notifications using a terminal command. The command I used was

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0

killall Dock

I'm assuming my error has something to do with a corrupt or misconfigured .plist file but I'm not sure which file I should be looking at and how to check it. Could someone please help me debug this issue? Thank you kindly for your help and patience.

Go directly—https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?mt=12&l=en-us