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macOS Software Updates Issue

  • August 4, 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 32 views
A
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Hi All,

 

Is anyone seeing issues with macOS Software Updates since 11.5? Specifically updates showing as not available when no deferral set and when showing available fail with "An error occurred while downloading the selected updates. Please check your internet connection and try again", in this instance only booting into safe mode resolves it.

 

Thanks,

Andy

Best answer by Samstar777

Hello Andymallins,

 

There are a variety of reasons Mac users may see the “Download failed” error when trying to download and install a particular MacOS software update, and we’ll go through some troubleshooting steps to help resolve the issue here as well as offer an alternate solution to download macOS installers even if the System Preference panel for Software Update is repeatedly showing failure errors.

 

Troubleshooting macOS “Download failed, An error occurred while installing the selected updates.” Errors

  • Reboot the Mac
    • Sometimes simply rebooting the Mac and trying again can resolve the failed installation error.
  • Wait a bit
    • Users may encounter failures to download and install macOS updates when Apple servers are overloaded, therefore sometimes simply waiting a bit can be helpful.
  • Make sure the Mac is online and functionally connected to the internet
    • Key here is making sure, Internet is working (This may be 1 of the reason of failure)
    • It can also be DNS issue in the local mac or local router level
    • I am assuming, his internet is working correctly on iMac when he tried for the upgrade
  • Alternate Solution - Try downloading the macOS installer directly
    • This bypasses the Software Update system preference panel on the Mac
    • App Store Link

 

Hope this will help

    6 replies

    Samstar777
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    • Samstar777
    • Valued Contributor
    • 134 replies
    • Answer
    • August 4, 2021

    Hello Andymallins,

     

    There are a variety of reasons Mac users may see the “Download failed” error when trying to download and install a particular MacOS software update, and we’ll go through some troubleshooting steps to help resolve the issue here as well as offer an alternate solution to download macOS installers even if the System Preference panel for Software Update is repeatedly showing failure errors.

     

    Troubleshooting macOS “Download failed, An error occurred while installing the selected updates.” Errors

    • Reboot the Mac
      • Sometimes simply rebooting the Mac and trying again can resolve the failed installation error.
    • Wait a bit
      • Users may encounter failures to download and install macOS updates when Apple servers are overloaded, therefore sometimes simply waiting a bit can be helpful.
    • Make sure the Mac is online and functionally connected to the internet
      • Key here is making sure, Internet is working (This may be 1 of the reason of failure)
      • It can also be DNS issue in the local mac or local router level
      • I am assuming, his internet is working correctly on iMac when he tried for the upgrade
    • Alternate Solution - Try downloading the macOS installer directly
      • This bypasses the Software Update system preference panel on the Mac
      • App Store Link

     

    Hope this will help

    A
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    • andymallins
    • Author
    • New Contributor
    • 8 replies
    • August 5, 2021

    Hi,

    Thanks for the response, this is an intermittent issue but is affecting a number of users and has been ongoing for several days. A restart makes no difference and the connectivity is fine, as I said this works fine booting into safe mode. Not sure the alternative route will help here as all we are trying to do is a point update of macOS Big Sur.

     

    Thanks,

    Andy

    Fluffy
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    • Fluffy
    • Honored Contributor
    • 209 replies
    • August 5, 2021

    I have been seeing similar issues here with a small sample size. What machines are you working with? I'm working mostly with M1 machines, but will be testing for this issue with 2015 macbooks soon.

    Samstar777
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    • Samstar777
    • Valued Contributor
    • 134 replies
    • August 5, 2021

    Hi,

    Thanks for the response, this is an intermittent issue but is affecting a number of users and has been ongoing for several days. A restart makes no difference and the connectivity is fine, as I said this works fine booting into safe mode. Not sure the alternative route will help here as all we are trying to do is a point update of macOS Big Sur.

     

    Thanks,

    Andy


    Do you have any internet security tool, Proxy or firewall in middle. this plays an important role. Tried to do Wireshark log capture, reviewing the logs will help you find the root cause.

     

    Did you tried connecting to a personal hotspot or open internet in normal mode, to check if it working correctly ?

    rpayne
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    • rpayne
    • Contributor
    • 130 replies
    • February 15, 2023

    Not to resurrect an old post, but I am seeing this issue as well. Mostly on M1 machines. We have a configuration profile used to set deferment. In the case of a zero-day vulnerability, we change the deferment in the config profile. It appears some machines are not reflecting the new deferral time. Were you able to resolve this? We don't get an error per se, the newer updates just don't show. Just like the OP, this is only on a select few machines.

    Fluffy
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    • Fluffy
    • Honored Contributor
    • 209 replies
    • February 16, 2023

    Not to resurrect an old post, but I am seeing this issue as well. Mostly on M1 machines. We have a configuration profile used to set deferment. In the case of a zero-day vulnerability, we change the deferment in the config profile. It appears some machines are not reflecting the new deferral time. Were you able to resolve this? We don't get an error per se, the newer updates just don't show. Just like the OP, this is only on a select few machines.


    I don't believe I had the same issue. The best I could recommend is testing to see if restarting the machine and/or restarting softwareupdate fixes it.

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

     


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