Catalina 10.15.7 and "A software update is required to connect to iPhone"

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Catalina 10.15.7 and "A software update is required to connect to iPhone"

I was having difficulty updating my phone's OS on my iphone SE (2nd gen) so thought I would do it manually via the mac. In the end, by turning the phone on and off again (obviously!), I managed to update it wirelessly - so no problem now with my phone but I'm still bothered that my mac won't update.

When I connect the phone, the mac tells me "A software update is required to connect to iPhone". When I select install, it downloads 1 item, the progress bar chugs along for a few seconds installing then announces "Can't install the software".

I am plugging a USB-A to lightning cable into the USB port on the computer. The iMac is quite old so the latest OS that I can run on it is Catalina 10.15.7.

Looking in the logs I don't really understand what it is doing. One attempt had four services "exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[144]" followed by "...com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.SoftwareUpdateC.91592): Failed to bootstrap path: path = /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/Resources/SoftwareUpdateConfigData, error = 2: No such file or directory"

and then the same for SoftwareUpdateC.91595 - these both seem to be cable-related updates.

In finder I can see all the files in the path /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/Resources/SoftwareUpdateConfigData.

Any ideas???

Thanks in advance :)

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 18, 2023 7:37 AM

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Answer 1

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Bill_T1

Community Specialist

Jan 19, 2023 2:52 PM in response to pointydog

Hi pointydog,

There are many reasons why an update may not install. The simplest to isolate is possible software complications. To test, use the steps from How to use safe mode on your Mac to try to update in safe mode and if necessary, create a new user account and attempt the update in that account. This and other items to check are also outlined in If an error occurred while updating or installing macOS.

Regards.

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Answer 2

pointydog Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 20, 2023 8:21 AM in response to Bill_T1

Hi Bill_T1

Thanks for this. I had thought of trying the install in safe mode but - probably as a result of more serious issues! - I can't seem actually to do a reboot into safe mode. I have tried a number of times but each time it freezes on the full progress bar and I don't get to the login screen. The one time I did get the log in screen, I didn't get any choice of mode to start in.

Anyway, after disconnecting my back-up hard disk and reconnecting the phone, I did get more progress with the installation. It took longer, pausing a few mins with "1 min 32 secs remaining", but then the install window disappeared and now when I plug in the phone, it no longer triggers the request for update.

Sadly, though, now it seems worse than before! Now the mac doesn't protest that it needs updating but I can't see the phone attached at all (whereas before it would at least show me it but only protest when I attempted an update). Hey ho.

It isn't a big problem for me, so I will leave it at that.

I just assume my machine is just a bit too old for fancy modern iphones!

Many thanks though for your advice.

Kind regards.

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Answer 3

pointydog Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 20, 2023 8:40 AM in response to pointydog

Hold on a minute, though! It is now showing on the mac - it is fixed!! what a strange beast it is :)

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Catalina 10.15.7 and "A software update is required to connect to iPhone"

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