Mac stuck on checking for updates

Thanks to your initial request for advice and from reading all replies, I have today solved the same problem on one of the 2 iMacs we use. I had the same symptoms on 1 of the iMacs (the other has been OK throughout in this respect), and wanted to update to 11.6.3 on the troublesome machine. Ran all the checks mentioned, including EtreCheck. This gave a list of apps installed in the past 30 days. To my surprise, there was an app "Install macOS Monterey" sitting in the main Applications folder, dated 22 Jan, 2022.

Surprise—because both iMacs have only the option "Automatically: Check for Updates" ticked. Anyway, deleting the app and restarting solved the problem. The Software Update worked perfectly, now showing Monterey as available and, for my immediate purpose, Safari 15.3 and macOS 11.6.3, which I'm now in the process of installing.

Hope this strange solution may be useful to someone else!

Open the Terminal Application and copy and paste this command Without The Quotation Marks

" softwareupdate --list-full-installers " What is the output from this command ?

When I run this command, am getting Big Sur 11.6.1 and Big Sur 11.6.2

Suggest with the issues being experience to run this command again without the Quotation Marks

"  softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.6.2 "

This will pull the Full Version of Big Sur 11.6.2 and place a new application called Install Big Sur in the Applications folder.

It will Not Automatically Launch.

Suggest making a Time Machine BAckup before moving forwards.

I find Installing an update from Safe Mode may appear as over kill but seems to give better results.

First update:

1. Wiped the disk, installed the O/S from scratch using recovery mode and I was able to update to Monterey.
2. Re-installed software such as Firefox, Google *, Zoom from distribution.
3. Used Time Machine to restore photos, bookmarks and documents, nothing else. I'm still testing (rebuilding the photo library takes for ever).

I have experienced this issue with multiple MacOS versions, most recently with Catalina. While previous occurrences of this issue were resolved by either rebooting or removing the Software Update "plists" (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist) and rebooting, in this case those solutions did not work.

And being unsure of exactly when the issue started, a Time Machine restore was not really an option. I believe, however, the currently experienced issue was caused by [APPLE-SA-2022-03-14-6 Security Update 2022-003 Catalina] recently installed...either some inherent issue with the update or perhaps the update did not install or complete properly.

In any case, using MacOS Recovery Mode (Command-R on startup) or using MacOS Internet Recovery Mode (which is what I used...Command-Option-R) and selecting "Reinstall MacOS" will re-install all operating system and related files while not touching currently installed data or applications. And that solution resolved the issue. All Software Update (GUI or Terminal) functions now work properly.

Something to consider as an option if other suggested solutions do not work.

Possible Solution: Shut down instead of restart.

I ran into this exact "checking for updates" stuck problem and like you I tried everything. I booted in safe mode, reset NVRAM, reset system preferences settings, and finally removed .plist files related to software update and Apple store. None of this worked. I had been doing these things and restarting so many times. Nothing worked until something told me to shut down instead of restart.

Sure enough this worked! I guess MacOS does something special in a shut down vs a restart.

I hope this works for you too!

Thank you so much! Your post was the key to solving my problem. It prompted me to look in my Applications folder -- without my knowledge, "Install macOS Monterey" had been downloaded there, even though I have "Download new updates when available" unchecked!

I had been unable to upgrade because Software Update would just give me a spinning wheel, and the App Store would just take me to Software Update. But I was able to run "Install macOS Monterey" from the application folder, and now the problem has disappeared!

This worked as a fix for me. Then, instead of rebooting the whole OS, software update worked after restarting systemupdated and suhelperd services, as so:

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist
sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.apple.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.apple.suhelperd
softwareupdate -l  ## works now

I fixed it by resetting the Software Update preferences. Open a terminal and type:

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

Fill in your password (it will not show that you're typing) and press enter. Then reboot your Mac.

Nevyn82 wrote:

The terminal gets stuck in the same manner, outputting only: "Finding available software".

When trying "softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.6.2 ", the only output is:

"Scanning for 11.6.2 installer"

Is there a way to use Time machine to reset the computer to a few weeks ago, before this error happened?

Or better yet, are there some plist file or cache that can be removed to reset this particular program (the update manager)?

If as one writes above the Terminal Command are getting Stuck - IMHO this computer is seriously compromised.

IMHO - a Time Machine Backup to roll back the the computer in time may or may not solve the underlining issue

Suggest downloading the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. 

The application is free or paid from added features. 

Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).

It will take a Snap Shot -  both the hardware and software.

 The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.

This includes AntiVirus, Disk Cleaners, Disk Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.

This will include CleanMyMac 

This will include BitDefender 

The The Built in Security  is all that is required.

I had the same problem. No luck using the <softwareupdate> commands in Terminal. Before I gave up, I suddenly realised that years ago I had created an Administrator account that I never used. Switching over to this account immediately solved the problem and provided the desired update in System Prefs.

I have a 3yr old iMac that was running Catalina. Wanted to upgrade to Monterey just had not done so yet. Apple came out with a security update 1-26-22 which I did on 1-31-22. Proved quite toxic! Right after update "Software Updates" ceased to function--constantly spinning gear. (I had backed up right before the 1-31-22 update I did.) During last week, talked with 2 Apple Senior Advisors and one regular advisor, and all 3 said upgrading to Monterey will fix the glitch. Yesterday, with Apple advisor, upgraded to Monterey but had to do so via Recovery Mode. That's because with Software Updates was so nonfunctional, when I first went on App Store to "Get" Monterey, it stayed stuck with "finding update" as another contributor has said. So in Recovery Mode, got Monterey. All last evening after Monterey was all up and running, 3 times I checked Software Updates, and it worked perfectly. Gear spun for a few seconds, and reported "Mac all up to date---Monterey 12.2". Logged out last evening, put Mac to sleep. But this morning, to my dismay, problem back!! I guess while sleeping last night, the Mac did more adjusting to new OS. Seeing this this morning, I then tried booting in Safe Mode. Yeah! Software Updates worked in Safe Boot. Went out of Safe Boot, rebooted normally, and back to non functioning Software Updates. Talked today to 2 more Senior Advisors. Really aggravating and I hope Apple is reading all these posts. Apple needs to realize this is not just a bad Catalina and Big Sur issue with their most recent updates. It drags forth into Monterey! Now trying to decide if I should have advisor help me get the Mac back where it was before the Catalina update mess, with my backup. I wonder if that would fix it. Back to before the glitch, then proceed to do Monterey after that??? Before the glitch, Monterey was sitting in my System Updates, waiting in the wings. Also, at that time, Monterey installer was sitting in my Applications. Or just forget the whole thing and realize when any updates are available, I have to do them in Safe Boot (which Senior Advisor said is fine to do.) Apple needs to send through a fix ASAP, but then how can users get the fix if their System Updates is nonfunctioning? I guess I will find out tomorrow if Safe Boot still allows me to check for updates.

Rebooting in Safe mode resulted in Software Update actually not having and seeing the Safari 15.3 update. After install, I rebooted in normal mode and Software Update doesn't hang now but quickly reports that the Mac is up to date.

In other words, doing the update under Safe Mode fixed the issue for me.

Hi. I’ve had exactly the same problem on Catalina 10.15.7, spinning forever in software update with no result. I’ve tried safe mode, deleting prefs etc. no joy.

Then I tried unchecking “automatically keep my Mac up to date” in the software update panel. Then shut down my Mac and rebooted.

After a few seconds of being back into my desktop I’m given a notification that I have updates and would I like to install now or later etc.

Back in software update it only spins for a few seconds and it’s all back to normal and I can select an update and it’s all good again.

Success!

Hopefully it’ll work for someone else too.

I had this exact problem with Big Sur 11.6.4. It happened after the security update. It was fixed by booting into Safe Mode and the Software update found Monterey immediately. It installed and after nearly 48 hours and the computer sleeping over night, the Software update function seems to be operating as expected. Hope this helps anyone. Worth a try. Much easier than entering terminal commands or wiping disks.

This solution from Jamf worked for us. As soon as we entered the command

sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/com.apple.softwareupdated

I immediately got a popup notification about new software being available.

I clicked on Software Update, and this time, instead of spinning, the window showed MacOS Monterey available.

Tomorrow morning I will check to see if this was just a one-time solution, or if the solution maintained. I'll edit this post afterward.