M1 Big Sur Major updates via "Install macOS Big Sur.app"

[SCCM]

Just a bit of background we have some M1 macs out there on 11.1.0 these machines do not seem to update via software update policies / remote commands & doing a update via system preferences. Apple have advised we need to down load the big sur app and run upgrade these machines, rather than doing a standard update.

I have tried to package the big sur app and deploy it via jamf cloud. This part works the users get the app on thier machines, however they do not have admin rights to install the app themselves.

I tried to create a policy to run the install with the command "/Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --forcequitapps --nointeraction "
This does not seem to work on M1 machines.

This gives the following error:"failed to authorize for installation. Provide a password with --stdinpass or --passprompt.
By using the agreetolicense option, you are agreeing that you have run this tool with the license only option and have read and agreed to the terms.
If you do not agree, press CTRL-C and cancel this process immediately".

if i try the command with either --stdinpass or --passprompt nothing seems to happen the policy just keeps running, iam guessing the password prompt is hidden in a terminal command somewere.

We do not want to type the username and passwords in plain text in a command line in order to run the install, and i cant seem do find a way around doing this.

Jamf suggested using nudge to complete this task, however i can see the app downloads the app, but dont see any notes on how it will bypass the need for credentials on M1 machines.

If anyone has not the above working on M1 machines i would love to know the workaround. The above used to be easy to do on Intel machines.

@dan-snelson i can see you wrote the Jamf Pro Guide on git hub: Jamf Pro Guide · macadmins/nudge Wiki · GitHub 

by anychance do you know if nudge can actually do a major version upgrade on M1 machines and bypass the need for a username and password needing to be entered?

[sdagley]

@SCCM You cannot bypass the password prompt for the full macOS installer on M1 Macs, but if you use @grahamrpugh 's erase-install script to run the installer it will take care of prompting the user for you. And ignore the erase portion of the name, that is optional.

[SCCM]

Thanks @sdagley i will have a look at the script. So the script is able to do a upgrade without wiping the drive / current contents?

[sdagley]

@SCCM Correct, the erase is optional, and the script can be used to do an in-place upgrade of the OS on the Mac.

[bwoods]

Force a Computer Restart to Install macOS Updates - Jamf Nation Community - 265982