Due to bandwidth restrictions I need to schedule software updates to run between midnight and 5am.
I have looked at solutions such as installing a launchd agent to run a command (/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -d -a), but I'm not too confident on creating my own plist.
Is there a way to schedule the utility or specify a time?
MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)
There is no user configurable scheduling for software update. The operating system will run a software update daemon every six hours to check for available updates, even during Sleep, as it is configured to use PowerNap.
Here is my System Preferences : App Store settings which allow me to manually install updates on my own convenience schedule. Notice that I prevent automatic background update downloads.
Is there some location where you are not bandwidth restricted, and you can download updates as they become available to your MacBook Pro?
There is no user configurable scheduling for software update. The operating system will run a software update daemon every six hours to check for available updates, even during Sleep, as it is configured to use PowerNap.
Here is my System Preferences : App Store settings which allow me to manually install updates on my own convenience schedule. Notice that I prevent automatic background update downloads.
Is there some location where you are not bandwidth restricted, and you can download updates as they become available to your MacBook Pro?
If you have many Macs and are worried about bandwidth you can download updates via Apple Support Downloads
and just copy the download over to your other Macs rather than having all Macs download via the App Store.
Apple - Support - Downloads updates appear here approximately one to two days after they appear in the App Store.
Please note not all updates appear here such as those for Safari, but most of the heavy bandwidth updates are listed here.
Thank you for the help. I'm looking for scriptable solutions as it might need to be implemented on multiple macs.
I think I found a solution searching homebrew casks. mas-cli looks promising. I will tinker with it a bit over the weekend.
Thank you! It's been a number of years since I've used that option. Google failed me to the point where I thought that option was deprecated.
How to schedule software update downloads?
