app store update page looks strange

Agree, have also done everything Dan Batson has done (and more), no luck.

I've now spent a week trying to solve this, no luck. Why would I spend so much time on this?

Because we refurbish second hand iMacs and resell them with a fresh clean install of High Sierra (and we go to a lot of effort to make sure any USB installers/tools used on these machines haven't been near another iMac).

The issue has come to light because of several people have phoned stating the same problem with their iMac 2009-2011 (running High Sierra 10.13.6), the App Store update page is corrupt.

Remember too, this applies (I assume so) to some of the latest iMacs/macbooks from 2017, that came pre-installed with HS and are still running High Sierra (for whatever reason).

My first hunch was that is was the lack of up-to-date firmware, by installing this new installer of 10.13.6, and what was needed was the original release of HS 10.13.6 without any security updates, or that it's a result of a revoked/out of date security certificate. Though the issue now seems to point to Apple's servers (again, could be a certifcate issue).

It's made even more difficult because of the restraints put on obtaining and using different and older versions of High Sierra 10.13, in an attempt to work out the issue. Apple has put so many unnecessary obstacles in place, which can only be seen as anti-competitive moves by Apple, against second hand resellers. (In many ways older mac machines are the biggest competition for Apple, getting people to dump them).

Removing the original High Sierra 10.13.6 from the Apple Store and replacing it with a convoluted process, with a version that has security updates in place, that prevents the 'usual fix/hack' of applying Combo Update 10.13.6 over the top, from working, and thus applying any necessary firmware/file permission changes.

I've no problem with Apple not offering security updates as planned for a particular version (that part was known), what I do object to, is Apple trashing the backend server CSS interface, in effect 'switching it off' causing how the original OOTB (Out of the Box) iMac update page is display as garbled, displaying as a basic font, and is then perceived to a virus to someone buying a secondhand machine.

In many ways, that's what it is, a virus but done by Apple. What we don't know if this was done purposely to have that effect, to change the OOTB experience for second-hand buyers.

Forgot in my irritation to say, to download/discover updates from the Termina.

1). Open Terminal.app

2). Type softwareupdate -l then hit <enter> This will list all available updates.

3). To install all updates type softwareupdate -i -a --restart then hit <enter> This will install all available updates and then automatically restart.

4). After a reboot, follow step 2 and 3 again until no more updates are available. This should ensure you have as fully a patched machines as Apple deign to give you...

As per my previous post, imagine trying to explain this to an 80 year old over the phone. Brilliant user experience, helps build the Apple brand a treat...

Hello Clive,

I may run the oldest Macbook in this discussion, medio 2009 running El Capitan 10.11.6.

I've had the issue for 3 months now but the page still worked so far, in these 3 months I have been able to do 4 or 5 little updates, stuff like Kindle, BitDefender, and some safety updates.

With the discussion thread growing by the day I got curious and called support today. A very nice Irish bloke informed me this issue had come to his attention just a few days ago and Apple will look into this cause the conclusion is the solution lies on their end. "Server Side Problem." And just like I expected, the first thing they look into is: DOES UPDATING STILL WORK?

Cause if it works why worry about what style sheet we work on?

The guy also asked me to submit a ticket on https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail

cause that raises the awareness that a problem does not just exist in a few places but is becoming a general nuisance.

The man assured me: we agree that no matter how old your Macbook is, at some point, it's a vintage machine you're running but updates should still be possible.

If all goes well I will receive a mail (!) informing me of whatever findings may have popped up.

So fingers crossed - we'll see!

Hello adamjarvis, thanks for your reaction.

I still have hope they will do something about this. Please look at my answer to Macerooni where I give a few more details. In short: I called twice with support, once 3 months ago and once the day before yesterday. 2 very different reactions: 3 months ago: we are not aware, first we want to see how far spread this issue is.

Day before yesterday: It has our attention, we will have to reinstall the CSS file, we don't know exactly when but please call back in a few weeks. I received an email with the case number so I get the same guy again.

We'll see.

Has Apple moved from "elegant simplicity" to "elegant duplicity"? I hope not.

I'd like to think that it is an honest mistake that some bozo Apple engineer made – i.e. removing a very simple CSS file from s.mzstatic.com.

I just bought a mid-2010 white MacBook from a rummage sale. The owner said they did a fresh install of El Capitan. When I brought it home and booted it up, the first thing I checked was the appearance of the Updates tab in the App Store. It was messed up, just like my four other Macs running High Sierra. The first update that the App Store called for stated that "this El Capitan update will ensure compatibility with future App Store versions." Wow, that sounded promising.

I updated and restarted, but the Update tab retained the same goofy appearance.

It's clearly evident the the App Stores in 10.11.x, 10.12.x and 10.13.x cannot find the missing CSS (cascading style sheet). That is what you call a server-side issue (Apple's resource server). It is NOT a client-side (user) issue.

This is an embarrassing, inelegant bug that could be fixed in 8.32 minutes (I know, I am a web developer). But Apple can't seem accelerate a fix for a mess they created by their own hand.

Just to update my post from yesterday in case there are others like me with relatively new Macs that need to get out of High Sierra and have this app store problem. I realized that I was trying to access the Apple OS download site that I mentioned in my previous post from Firefox. This leads to a request to open iTunes which then tells me that the Catalina download is not available in the U.S. I then tried to download the Catalina installer from Safari and got the same error message again, but the second attempt via Safari led to a successful download. So, I'm back in business and have Catalina running on the iMac now and all is well again.

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015) 8GB

I'm sorry if this doesn't work for older macs but I just managed to upgrade and rid my Dad of the infernal broken Software Update. I spoke to an Apple Technician and he took me through these steps to upgrade from Sierra to Big Sur:

Go to support.apple.com search for ht201475 (how to upgrade to macOS Big Sur) scroll down to #4 and click “Or use this link to open the macOS Big Sur page on the App Store: Get macOS Big Sur. Then click the Get button or iCloud download icon.” Be sure to cancel the dialogue that wants you to open the App Store. Wait a few moments, then I was able to click Download.

I had spent many hours trying to trouble shoot prior to this, even reinstalling Sierra, but the App Store Software Update page was still broken. After installing Big Sur (took quite a few hours to download and go through the install process), the old MacBook Air is working well with Big Sur 11.4. I did make sure there was a heap of free space before starting (about 70GB).

Good luck!

Just checked the source code of the now-fixed Updates tab and the CSS links have changed from:

<link charset="utf-8" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://r.mzstatic.com/htmlResources/8999/da-storefront-base.css" />

<link charset="utf-8" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://r.mzstatic.com/htmlResources/8999/da-storefront-autoinstallations.css" />

to:

<link charset="utf-8" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://s.mzstatic.com/htmlResources/7985/da-storefront-base.css" />

<link charset="utf-8" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://s.mzstatic.com/htmlResources/7985/da-storefront-autoinstallations.css" />

... so our hunches that it was a problem with mixing plain HTTP with HTTPS seem to have been on the right lines.

That sounds exactly like what I figured is the problem – a failure to load CSS style sheets due to a Content Security Policy or a mixed content restriction. The CSS resources do load in the other three tabs – Featured, Top Charts and Purchased.

Hello, at the moment there are no updates, I just recently called Support.

They assured me the page will work, when updates are needed you will be able to execute them using the box Update All, as other posts in this thread will tell you. Click All Answers and you may be reassured, you're not alone, hundreds already called in.

Please submit a ticket with your problem here https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html

That will also help.

Here is a way to check for security updates using the Terminal app, this will not work for app updates:

1). Open Terminal.app

2). Type softwareupdate -l then hit <enter> This will list all available updates.

3). To install all updates type softwareupdate -i -a --restart then hit <enter> This will install all available updates and then automatically restart.

4). After a reboot, follow step 2 and 3 again until no more updates are available. This should ensure you have as fully a patched machine as Apple designed to give you...

Succes; I will call Support again in a few weeks.

The man I spoke to told me they are aware resolving this lies in their hands, I got an email with the case number referring to the phone call so I will be able to speak with the same man again.

Hi mwarner712, I called support not so long ago, no app updates are available at the moment; they assured me that the way the page looks does not interfere with updates; in fact, in the thread of this conversation there are some answers that indicate that updates were possible to just about a week ago You can always check for safety updates using Terminal:

1). Open Terminal.app

2). Type softwareupdate -l then hit <enter> This will list all available updates.

3). To install all updates type softwareupdate -i -a --restart then hit <enter> This will install all available updates and then automatically restart.

4). After a reboot, follow step 2 and 3 again until no more updates are available.

Looks like the problem is growing by the day. Also looks more and more like they will do nothing about it.

I am using a MacBook medio 2009, on which I reinstalled El Capitan looking at this video:

El Capitan: No packages were eligible for install-Fix

there's a trick that might work for you or maybe similar solutions for High Sierra or others.

Here is the link to the video that helped me a few months ago, or rather the most recent version, cause this man keeps updating about this every few months:

https://youtu.be/qg1t1mhsAzM

So let's start a search on youtube too for "App Store Update page looks weird" or something along those lines.

But for the users of old Mac machines future looks bleak. I thought in my case (2009) it's about time to think of a new(er) machine. If machines with "young" updates (2015!?!?) are suffering from this it's a crime.

The video link is very recent: this Update Page thing was already going on on January 20, but if this works for El Capitan there may be similar solutions to re-install later versions.

You can use the "macOS" form and select "Bug report" as feedback type and "Applications/Utilities" as feedback area.

I have the exact same issue, High Sierra. Even did a full format and reinstall of the computer, but problem remains. This is not computer related, it is server side.

admitted today by a man from Support I spoke to today. resolving this issue lies on their end, we can do nothing.

Thank you for those details.

As there isn't a way to uninstall the App Store without reinstalling the entire macOS, we invite you to reach out to us here to continue working with you to resolve this issue: Get Support

We look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!