Mac App Store Won't Download Updates

BDAqua wrote:

Yeah , the new Supplemental won't download here either.

Download the "new" macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update [a.k.a. Safari14.0MojaveAuto-10.14.6] .dmg file manually here. Please let me know how you make out and if it solves any problems for you:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2015?locale=en_US

(very confusing because Apple has created additional confusion by reusing the same name it used for a completely different “10.14.6 Supplemental Update” that’s more than a year old)

William Tomcanin wrote:

I encountered my problems with the  2020-005 Security Update... after I performed a full restore of my system and documents to the last Time Machine backup before installing this update, everything returned to normal.

I think it's safe to say that both security updates for Mojave:

• 2020-004
• 2020-005

Have broken the Mac App Store. Not to mention the fact that they bricked a number of users' Macs. I refuse to install 2020-005.

When Apple releases a new system software upgrade (or two), they invest little time in testing updates for previous systems. I have seen this happen repeatedly ever since Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger came out (ie: Security Update 2009-005 eleven years ago). I panic when I have to install these updates.

Upgrading to Catalina is not an option for me. As a musician, I have too many 32-bit apps that I can't afford to upgrade. And I use GarageBand religiously.

How do I update to GarageBand 10.3.5?

Numerous places on the Internet suggest a shut down rather than a restart to fix this problem after logging out of your Mac App Store account. This makes no difference whatsoever.

I've tried everything including zapping PRAM, an SMC reset and numerous restarts/shutdowns. And all this:

• Downloads correctly set to download from App Store in Security & Privacy System Preferences

• Using Terminal, open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/ and delete the contents of the folder

• Force-quit appstoreagent process (and all other processes with the word "store" in them) in Activity Monitor

• Delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.pIist.plist

• Delete the contents of the App Store cache folders entering the following using Terminal:

sudo rm -R $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/*

sudo rm -R ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore/*

sudo rm -R /Library/Updates/*

• Delete App Store Preferences and Cookies using Terminal:

sudo rm -R ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.appstore.plist

sudo rm -R ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.storeagent.plist

sudo rm -R ~/Library/Cookies/com.apple.appstore.binarycookies

Nothing helps. Still doesn't download updates, just spins and stops.

iEvan 3.0 wrote:

but after this one update appeared, it's a no-go...

Which update was that?

I'm starting to think that this is a more widespread problem than we first guessed. In other words, yet another Apple bug that'll never get fixed now that Mojave is almost two versions old.

I can download any software title (except for any updates that show in my account) effortlessly on the Mac App Store.

With Mac App Store updates, the only workaround is to go into my Applications folder and drag the application that I wish to update into the trash and delete it. I can then search for it on the Mac App Store and download it successfully. I prefer not to do that with GarageBand though, because the GarageBand 10.3.5 update is just an application update and I don't want to download another 30 GB worth of files along with it.

I'm guessing that this might be a permissions issue. It seems as though if the application already exists in your Applications folder, the Mac App Store app won't delete it and replace it with the newer updated version.

Disk utility no longer allows you to repair permissions so what are we supposed to do?

William Tomcanin wrote:

I had a similar experience...

I installed the update and immediately my 21.5" (late 2013) iMac became unusable ... I have no idea why this particular update "bricked" my system.

Again, which update are you talking about?

I didn't realize that there was a new Security Update out for Mojave, 2020-005 just came out a few days ago. I have not installed that one. I did, however, install the previous Security Update 2020-004 Mojave a few weeks ago and after that update (which took forever and ever to install), this appears to have been when my Mac App Store problem started. I hadn't even bothered to use the Mac App Store until just a few days ago. The 2020-004 Security Update could have possibly broken a certificate (or perhaps certain permissions or privileges) somewhere along the line because my Mac App Store updates simply will not download.

As I noted in my original post at the top of this thread, I am basically running a newly reformatted system.

Nuke wrote:

I'll share what I did. An admin can move the question/answer as necessary. When I ended up with a similar issue, William, I tried Disk Utility as you and it failed. So I tried Disk Warrior...

DiskWarrior does not work with Mojave (APFS)

BDAqua wrote:

Try the standalone in Safe Mode...

Nope, tried that too (first rule of troubleshooting a Mac).

Like I said in my original post, there's almost nothing I haven't tried short of editing plist files, setting permissions/privileges or changing certificate settings.

And this is not a network problem, either. We have one other Mac running Catalina with no similar problems on it.

Please don't tell me to do a system re-install, I see that so much on these forums. My installation is already a clean one, the drive was reformatted.

This is an Apple bug.

BDAqua wrote:

We of course have no idea what you tried & did not try.

It is really sad that a reinstall is needed so often any more. :(

No problem, thanks for trying to help. I see the words "reformat" and "reinstall" as the solution to every second or third post on these discussion forums :)

Ric 2 2 wrote:

delete the app that would not download and then try downloading the app again

Yes, I know that and I already noted it in the fourth post on the first page:

...the only workaround is to go into my Applications folder and drag the application that I wish to update into the trash and delete it. I can then search for it on the Mac App Store and download it successfully...

As also noted in that post (to repeat myself), I prefer not to do that with GarageBand because the GarageBand 10.3.5 update is just an application update and I don't want to download another 30 GB worth of files along with it (all of the supporting files) which is probably what will happen if I delete it.