Big Sur Upgrade Bash Command

when run with /Applications/Install macOS Big Sur.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --forcequitapps --nointeraction = prompts for password

when run with sudo /Applications/Install macOS Big Sur.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --forcequitapps --nointeraction = runs (upgrades) with no issues

I had been ripping my hair out trying to get this to work. I think I found the combination that does now.

I removed the pop-up interaction from the policy to inform users what they're getting into (Guess they'll have to read the email).

The policy runs a script with this line:

sudo '/Applications/Install macOS Big Sur.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall' --agreetolicense --forcequitapps

For whatever reason, removing --nointeraction worked. It took about a minute or so for the policy to run in self service, but it finally did.

NOTE: Also, do NOT copy paste the line into Jamf. I had to type it all out. Jamf doesn't seem to like removing metadata from copied text.

@mwu1876 are you sure? I just ran the Big Sur startosinstall binary without those arguments and it installed fine

Hey Michael. These are the commands I'm using. They worked with Monterey last year and they work with Ventura this year as well. These commands assume that you're allowing end-users to initiate the installation via Self Service, and that Install macOS Ventura.app is already cached on their machine (I use a separate policy to download the installer silently to compatible Macs that don't have it yet).

Note that the Apple Silicon variant requires you to list the password of a local Administrator account in the command.

Also note that if your users are running this from Self Service, in my experience it can take a while (10-30 minutes) for the Mac to restart while MobileSoftwareUpdate runs in the background. The only indication your users will have as the Mac prepares for the update will be the spinning circle in Self Service, so you might want to give them a heads up about that. ☺️ 

Intel
/Applications/Install\\ macOS\\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --forcequitapps --nointeraction && sleep 10 && osascript -e 'tell application "Self Service" to quit'

Apple Silicon

echo <local admin account password> | /Applications/Install\\ macOS\\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --nointeraction --user itdepartment --stdinpass && sleep 10 && osascript -e 'tell application "Self Service" to quit'

I used something like this back in the Big Sur days.

Do you have the policy you use to cache the Ventura.app on the computer if they don't already have it installed?

Sure—that policy is pretty simple. I just host the package in Jamf Pro, add it to the policy, and then scope the policy to a smart group that looks for Macs that don't have Install macOS Ventura.app installed. 

What method have you been using since the Big Sur days? How's it been working for you?

Same here, I had a InstallAssistant package that would download the 12GB installer to their computer once deployed. Not sure where to find those packages anymore.

I believe you can find them from MrMacintosh here: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-ventura-13-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/

To get the installer these days I just use the following code to grab the latest version of the installer:

I just download Install macOS Ventura.app from the app store onto a Mac, package it up using MegaPKGr.zsh since it's too big for Composer to handle alone, upload it as a package to Jamf Pro, and deploy it to Macs from there.