Software Update won't install updates on restart

Question

Level 1

5 points

Software Update won't install updates on restart

This has been a recurring problem. I receive software updates and download them, but those updates that require a restart do not install. After I restart, if I check Software Update again, those same updates are still showing up as needing to be installed.

Right now, Software Update is telling me to restart in order to install Safari 5.0.3 and OSX Update Combined 10.6.6. I've restarted at least four times, trying Safari by itself, and OSX by itself, and both of them together, and I cannot get these updates to install.

I have verified the disk and checked disk permissions, and everything seems to be OK there.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 26, 2011 5:38 PM

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Answer 1

Mtext

Level 1

4 points

May 31, 2017 8:42 PM in response to danmac

Sorry for the super-necrothread here in TYOOL 2017 but I had the same problem, 7 updates with 2 requiring restart, and if I tried to Install it would ask me to restart. Restarting would be instantaneous with no evidence of installing anything, and then checking Software Update would show the same 7 updates waiting to be applied.

Eventually I unchecked the two updates requiring restarts and tried installing the other 5: this worked!

Then I installed one of the two needing a restart, and it also worked. Same for the second.

Don't know if this will work for everyone, but it did for me.

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2011 7:42 PM in response to danmac

Hi,

Just in case you aren't aware of the process, once you click the button on the small message box that the updater displays to initiate a restart, the download and installation will begin, and eventually the machine will start on its own. Sometimes, I've noticed that after the downloads complete, there can be a rather long period of time when nothing seems to be happening. If you wait long enough, the machine will restart on its own. I'm wondering if maybe you're somehow not letting the installation process run long enough on its own to complete, and you might be interrupting things.

Hope this helps,

Ken

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Answer 3

danmac Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 27, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

Nope, that's not it. The Software Update message box is showing that Safari 5.0.3 and Mac OS X Update Combined 10.6.6 have downloaded. A little triangle in a gray circle tells me that "You must restart your computer after the updates are installed." I have a blue command button that says "Install 2 Items." If I click that button, I get a pop-up that tells me "To install the updates, you must restart the computer." I have two buttons to choose from: "Not Now" and "Restart."

If I click the "Restart" button, the computer restarts. HOWEVER, if I relaunch the Software Update after restart and check for new software, the message box shows that neither Safari nor the OS X update have been installed. They are still listed as "New software available for my computer."

That is the problem: Even when I restart the computer, it does not install the software that I have downloaded.

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Answer 4

Jan 28, 2011 12:30 PM in response to danmac

Have you tried going to http://support.apple.com/downloads and getting the two updates and downloading them, and then running them in the Installer (as opposed to the Updater.) If it's a problem with just the Updater, then maybe the Installer can fix it? (You should Install them one at a time and reboot in between.)

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Answer 5

danmac Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 30, 2011 7:54 AM in response to cathy fasano

That fixed it, or at least it enabled me to download the updates; I may still have a problem with the Updater. (It was also telling me to install OS X 10.6.6 when I was running 10.6.4, so I installed 10.6.5 first.)

Thank you!

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Answer 6

dahle13

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2012 7:13 PM in response to danmac

I have the same problem. I have like 5 things to do download including the latest operating system. Do I have to download each thing individually or did you find a fix?

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