How to update to Mojave via Jamf?

kwoodard
Contributor III

With the current work from home environment going on with COVID19, I am trying to do some maintenance on the Macs on my campus. I have many different operating systems out there and I want to get all the computers up to macOS Mojave. I know, people are going to say "why not just go to Catalina?" Well, I have a lot of faculty that rely on some antiquated 32-bit applications that have not been updated to 64-bit yet. The world will end for them if that software isn't there...even though they haven't used it in years.

So, what I want to accomplish...

  1. I want to be able to do an in-place update to Mojave. I have to contend with many different configurations and user folders. I don't have the facilities to backup user data from 300 staff and faculty.

  2. I would like to at least have this triggered via Self Service. If there is a safe way to do this remotely, that would be even better. When I am allowed to be on campus, it's usually for only 2 hours at a time and my campus is huge. No way I could hit them all in 2 hours.

I know I will need to use a few smart groups to sort out which computers need the update. But beyond that, I am not sure how to proceed. I have looked at many of the threads on the subject and I don't feel that those really work for my needs. One thing of note, I don't have Filevault enabled on any of my computers.

4 REPLIES 4

sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@kwoodard You can use the startosinstall tool built in to the Install macOS Mojave app to initiate installation, but it does require a user be logged in. I would highly recommend you take a look at the macOSUpgrade process/script that @Rosko from Jamf created as it does a significant amount of pre-flight and error checking.

kwoodard
Contributor III

@sdagley I have been looking over the script and have a question. Do you know if it automatically downloads the Installer.app or do I have to provide it in the /Applications/ folder beforehand. I have been looking into having the version of the OS that I want to deploy already inside the applications folder. What I don't want to have happen is that file deleted and replaced. I hope this makes sense.

kwoodard
Contributor III

How this page outlines upgrading to Mojave is about how I want to do things. It talks about a script, but doesn't share what that script is...

Jamf Pro - Upgrading Macs to latest operating system

sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@kwoodard You have to create a .pkg with the version of macOS you want to have installed and then a policy that deploys it (the page I linked to details the necessary steps)