softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer command no longer works

howie_isaacks
Valued Contributor II

I wanted to download macOS Catalina to run on a VM, and when I run the command to download it, it no longer works. The command I have been running in Terminal is:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7

Is anyone else having this issue? This used to work up until a few weeks ago. I just downloaded it using the App Store link in Apple's support article here (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683), but if I wanted to trigger this download on a Mac managed through Jamf Pro, the command above is what I would want to use.

The error I get is: softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7
Scanning for 10.15.7 installer
Install failed with error: Update not found

9 REPLIES 9

kishoth_p
New Contributor II

@howie_isaacks - Yes you are right, I also downloaded it from app store & It's no longer available to download using terminal. I didn't see any updates from apple support/stack exchange forums. I foresee lot of terminal level changes in upcoming apple releases. Hope we have all the necessary interims available.

howie_isaacks
Valued Contributor II

Well this is annoying. Apple needs to wake up and understand that using their consumer level methods is just stupid.

mcrispin
Contributor II

You might want to give this a go again, the service has had a couple of outages, but as of right now, it is working for me. I had the issue previously, but it's gone now.

mbootes
New Contributor II

This still isn't working for me on Big Sur. Does appear to still work on Catalina.

kai_wang1
New Contributor III

it worked for me on 12/9, just got some error at the beginning. i tried just now, it works for me on 10.15.7 % softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7
Downloading and installing 10.15.7 installer
SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)"
SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)"
Installing: 1.0%

user-FukArcsyxy
New Contributor

Only works under Catalina. Why is Apple making it ... Learn more about Jamf ... The fetch full installer command was introduced on macOS Catalina. ... Code=1 "(null)" Install failed with error: Update not found. when running softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer with or without --full-installer-version ?

user-FukArcsyxy
New Contributor

Only works under Catalina. Why is Apple making it ... Learn more about Jamf ... The fetch full installer command was introduced on macOS Catalina. ... Code=1 "(null)" Install failed with error: Update not found. when running softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer with or without --full-installer-version ?

mbootes
New Contributor II

Looks like it was fixed in 11.1

donmontalvo
Esteemed Contributor III

Running it now to get the latest Big Sur installer.

$ sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.1   
Scanning for 11.1 installer
Installing: 4.0%
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