softwareupdate command says no updates available

[PhillyPhoto]

I have a policy with the command below to install macOS updates for high priority updates like 12.5.1.

softwareupdate --install --os-only -R

However, I have a bunch of machines that state there are no updates available in the logs.

Eligible device:

Command result ("No updates are available."):

We have an SLA for zero-day patches like this of 7 days once it's released to hit 90% of eligible devices, and we've missed that, but I'd like to wrap this up ASAP.

My original command is below, but was installing things like Xcode command line tools, so I modified it slightly:

softwareupdate -i -r -R

[sdagley]

@PhillyPhoto The following script usually, but not always, fixes the visability of updates for the softwareupdate process:

#!/bin/sh

/bin/rm "/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist"
/bin/launchctl kickstart -k system/com.apple.softwareupdated

In cases where it doesn't work try restarting

[PhillyPhoto]

No lock so far with that. Here's the log results:

SoftwareUpdate.plist Found
PLIST Removal result: 0
SoftwareUpdate.plist NOT Found
softwareupdate daemon kickstart result: 0
2022-09-07 08:09:31.312 softwareupdate[18036:21907241] XType: com.apple.fonts is not accessible.
2022-09-07 08:09:31.312 softwareupdate[18036:21907241] XType: XTFontStaticRegistry is enabled.
No updates are available.
softwareupdate install result: 0

[sdagley]

@PhillyPhoto The good news is I'm seeing the same XType messages from sofwtareupdate you are, the bad news is I have no idea if they're related to why it's returning the No updates are available message, but we are seeing it on 80+ machines

[PhillyPhoto]

I just opened an AppleCare for Enterprise case for this. We still have about 175 machines that needs the update.

The workaround I'm trying now is to push the full Monterey installer to the machine and run that. A little overkill, but I need to wrap this up.

[sdagley]

I'll avoid profanity because I'm sure the forum moderators wouldn't appreciate what I really feel like saying, but macOS 12.6 RC (21G115) is now available as a developer download. It would really be nice if Apple made it possible to get a macOS update fully deployed before they released the next update.

[mooler]

The only way I found to solve this is due to two different causes of the problem (if a ordinary reboot does not "solve" it).

1. Flush system cache by policy (sudo jamf flushCache command should do the same but I haven´t tryed it) -> restart.

2. Due to the local accounts or admin account´s secureTokenStatus to be disabled and user is asked for credentials and these are not accepted as "valid" even though they are in fact valid.
Then check account status by
sysadminctl -secureTokenStatus "accountname"

If response is disabled then enable it and updates will work.

[PhillyPhoto]

I'll look in to those down the road, thanks!

[piotrr]

I had this on a handful of devices too, but eventually I just pushed the PKG to reach SLA. Lucky internet infrastructure is fast here. Once the updater was installed on the mac, software update caught on.