Check & Download Software Updates but Disable Notifications 10.8

[arielper]

I'm trying to set up Workstations with OS 10.8 to automatically check for updates and download available updates in the background. However, I want to Disable the "New Updates Available" Alert Notification that doesn't go away unless users click "details" or "update" which then requires to enter Admin credentials. There is no option is System Preferences > Notifications or Software Update Preferences to disable the Notifications. Does anyone have a policy or a script or suggestions to turn off these notifications. So far I've found a SQL Database in ~/Library/Application Support/NotificationCenter with a GUID name that gets modified whenever the values in Notifications Preferences get changed.

A user on

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/60881/how-do-i-turn-off-app-store-notifications-in-mountain-lion

seems to suggest changing a flag value for the com.apple.appstore bundleid which shows up in the database. I've used a free SQLite Database Browser to investigate the database, but when I modify values there, they don't appear changed Notifications Preferences. I don't know if there's a process I need to stop and start for changes to be respected. Any thoughts?

[myronjoffe]

Im also interested in this...

[JPDyson]

You might consider disabling the auto-check/install functionality in the OS, and rather achieving this via a Casper policy that periodically runs softwareupdate from the shell.

[arielper]

That is a good suggestion JPDyson, Now I don't want the computers to install the updates instantly, I just want them download available updates in the background and not notify the non-admin user. Then I could choose to install the cached updates at a proper time without having to impact their network heavily as there's not a SUS set up.

[RobertHammen]

Dumb question... why no SUS? With Server.app ($19.99) or Reposado, there's no reason not to have one if you have more than 10 Macs, and a machine with ~200 GB of free space...

[Janowski]

This doesn't directly solve your issue, but one thing we're experimenting with is making software updates available to users in Self Service. So, if they have to see these notifications, they can at least do something about it.

I should also mention, we're managing the App store so that it can only do updates. More info on that here: http://www.afp548.com/2012/09/22/enable-software-update-only-mode-for-the-mac-app-store/

If you make a policy in Self Service and have that policy run a:
sudo open -a /Applications/App Store.app/

then a standard user should be able to apply the updates themselves.

[arielper]

@RobertHammen, It would not be so cheap in my case. My server is an original Mac Pro running 10.7. I have mixed 10.7 and 10.8 workstations. I would need to get a new system to run 10.8 SUS for the 10.8 clients. @Janowski, I don't really want standard users to be in control of installing updates. We normally wait to test out new updates before we roll them out to everyone.

[stevewood]

You might want to look at Reposado then. Reposado will run on 10.7 and allow you to serve out updates for 10.7 and 10.8, unless I'm mistaken. And, you can have multiple "branches" of updates so that you can do testing.

For example, you could have a "production" branch and a "testing" branch. All updates in "testing" get automatically enabled and you then test them in a lab. Once released for production, you then enable the updates in the "production" branch. You can then allow users to install via Self Service from the "production" branch.

The original post by Greg about Reposado: http://managingosx.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/introducing-reposado/

[jshipman]

Sorry to respond to an older post, but I was wondering if you found a solution to disabling the notification for software updates?

[franton]

We have two policies we implement. The first is an MCX to lock the App Store into an update only mode:

Domain:  /Library/Preferences/com.apple.appstore
Key:     restrict-store-softwareupdate-only
Value:   True

Then as a policy, we execute this command to disable automatic checking.

/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --schedule off

Lastly as part of our update policies, we execute the following command:

/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -i -a

Works very nicely so far!

[makander]

@franton, where'd you find that setting for MCX, I've been looking at my system and I cant find the entry for restrict-store-softwareupdate-only when I'm looking at it in Xcode.

[franton]

Blast from my past! To be honest, it was either here or Google ...