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gshenaut Author

Level 1

0 points

Apple Remote Desktop update issue in Yosemite

I bought ARD in 2009, before the App Store. It has been updating itself, and in fact, I now have the current version (3.7.2). I just upgraded to Yosemite. All other apps appear to have been updated correctly, but App Store appears to be confused about ARD. It shows version 3.7.2 (the version I have) as an available update. If I try to update it, it fails with a generic error message, either “We could not complete your purchase. Remote Desktop is already installed on this computer. Choose Software Update [sic] from the Apple menu to check for available updates.” OR “Update Unavailable with This Apple ID. This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled.” However, I continue to see an update badge on the App Store, and I receive notifications that I need to update ARD. It's annoying.

I tried various Apple IDs and always got the same result (which is logical, since I didn't buy ARD from the App Store).

I suspect that my purchase of ARD has “aged out” of being supported by the App Store program, which now apparently assumes that all installations were purchased from the App Store. Is there some way to make this work correctly, short of completely uninstalling the version I have and buying the App again from the App Store?

Greg Shenaut

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 8:03 AM

165 replies

Dah•veed

Level 9

65,551 points

Oct 22, 2014 2:43 PM in response to Fofer

I seed test Apple software. We turn in bug reports all the time and when this is the answer, ignore it, that's usually the end of the line. So I'm a glass half empty kind of guy in this case from experience directly with Apple engineering.

Oct 22, 2014 3:17 PM in response to gshenaut

I've updated my blog post, check this out 🙂

Oct 22, 2014 5:37 PM in response to gshenaut

Still no luck here!!!!

On a new Yosemite installation using original ARD install disk doesn't work, I was able to move the app from another system and get it to lauch and ask for the serial number and finish the setup - then dealt with the annoying upgrade message in app store by using mathewhellums fix which worked great - unfortunately ARD still isnt working because now it crashes the minute I try and access any client systems. Thankfully I have a couple three and four year old macs around that I never upgraded to save me till Apple gets it straightened out.

Oh but on a funny side note while mathewhellums' fix got rid of the annoying upgrade message, because I used Pages for the _MASReceipt now the APPSTORE launches Pages instead of ARD when I click the open button from the store. 🙂

bodyxs

Level 4

1,164 points

Oct 22, 2014 7:15 PM in response to gshenaut

There's, no fix for this by now. Please to “all users”, send the feedback directly to Apple so they can address this issue ASAP

http://www.apple.com/feedback/remotedesktop.html

Oct 22, 2014 7:35 PM in response to bodyxs

I am seeing this problem as well. I have an older version of RDC (Yosemite upgraded from Mavericks) yet the app store thinks I have.

Note that in my case, this ONLY affected the Mac Mini I upgraded from Mavericks. My Mac Mini I did a full install of Yosemite on does NOT have the problem for some reason (i.e. not installed).

Hope Apple gets around to fixing this SOON!

Oct 22, 2014 8:51 PM in response to bodyxs

Thanks for posting the feedback link. I didn't know they had such a page. I sent my complaint/feedback.

Oct 23, 2014 1:39 AM in response to mathewhellums

Thank you, mathewhellums , that fixed it for me!

dolfke

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2014 4:31 AM in response to gshenaut

For me it helped deleting the ARD app, including the pref file, then empty the trash, restart the mac, and then installing it from the app store, but its still an OUTDATED version, as Yosemite uses the 3.8 client, and 3.7.2 does not handle the client OS X numbers quite good (still indicating they are on 10.9.5, while they are running 10.10)

Apple, pls wake up ?

))

Oct 23, 2014 5:34 AM in response to gshenaut

Found a fix that I just tried and worked perfectly.

Background - We had purchased ARD before it was on the app store. After I installed Yosemite, my ARD (version 3.7.1) was quite buggy, so I tried to update it. When that didn't work, I uninstalled and tried to reinstall, which failed. Anyway, here's the thread for the fix:

ARD admin doesn't work with Yosemite

Good luck.

zdemoss

Level 1

4 points

Oct 23, 2014 5:48 AM in response to gshenaut

Same issue here, ARD from 2009... updated to 10.10 and now nothing. Apple please get on this.

peisert

Level 1

7 points

Oct 23, 2014 10:40 AM in response to gshenaut

Official update from Apple Support:

If the Mac App Store offers you an updated version of Apple Remote Desktop when the latest version is installed

Fofer

Level 1

149 points

Oct 23, 2014 11:35 AM in response to peisert

Yes, this link was posted earlier in the thread and I am really hoping this is just a preliminary response while Apple works out a "proper" fix. Even if it's granting us a code (or a validating app?) for a free conversion to the Mac App Store version of Remote Desktop.

I'm pretty sure I paid ~$130 for the boxed version of Remote Desktop, many years before the Mac App Store existed. And if Apple expects me to just happily ignore the big red badge alerting me to a non-existent update for this app, I'm going to be really disappointed in them. I'll stay patient for now though...

Oct 23, 2014 11:41 AM in response to gshenaut

"You can safely ignore these messages. You do not need to install this update if you already have Remote Desktop 3.7.2 installed."

OK... I know that I can ignore it, but my brain don't like red dots with numbers... I've to press it over and over...

jimkamm

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2014 12:02 PM in response to gshenaut

I texted with Apple Support about this today, am in a very similar situation. Not bought through AppStore, and it's not updating.

Haven't tried this yet myself, but the solution is supposedly to log out of iCloud in System Preferences, iTunes and iPhoto, then log in with your institution's AppleID (supposedly, every institution with purchased Apple software has one, or can maybe), then download and install the update(s) to ARD, then log out of that AppleID, and then you can log back into your own iCloud account in System Preferences, iTunes and iPhoto.

So the key is that alternate AppleID, supposedly. Or contact Apple via Chat (they're responsive on support.apple.com) to find out how it would work for your own situation. I believe this is because AppStore has completely taken over Software Updates.

Good luck to all of us!

Oct 23, 2014 12:48 PM in response to jimkamm

I'm yet another person with this same issue but I'd much rather enjoy Apple Remote Desktop working correctly than an annoying available update. Since using 10.9 I was purposely using 3.6.2 until things were better. I'm happy for now until they release v3.8 to be caught up with Yosemite.

Apple Remote Desktop update issue in Yosemite