Updates blank after restricting App Store

[dnaquin]

I set the app store to restrict to updates only via configuration profile. After the profile is pushed, the updates tab in the app store is blank, even though it tells me I have 7 updates waiting.

Has anyone encountered this before?

[jwojda]

yeah I have same problem. haven't found a fix (haven't looked too hard).

[primalcurve]

I have been tasked to look into this issue, and haven't been able to make much headway.

For many different reasons, we're still on Mavericks. This won't change for several months at least, so updating to Yosemite is not a viable solution, sadly.

We've got the App Store restricted via Configuration Profiles to run in Update-Only Mode. We then have a Self-Service policy that launches the App Store using sudo. Updates are available when I check the the softwareupdate command line tool, but the App Store shows as blank. It looks the same as the App Store does with no Network Connection whatsoever.

To further complicate the issue, this seems to only affect a small pool of machines, and we haven't been able to determine what the difference is between those and the affected computers. It's a hair-puller for sure.

Have any of you folks found a solution to this, or are we all hosed?

[primalcurve]

Alright. So my fix is ugly, but it does the job. I created an application using a combination of Platypus and CocoaDialog. CocoaDialog is bundled into the App so you don't need to worry about providing it as a dependency. Basically the policy I have drops the App into the Utilities folder and runs the binary. If a non-admin end user tries to run this, it fails. It's ugly, but it does what I need.

Meet The Diligent Updater:

[bpavlov]

Is this an Apple issue or a JAMF issue? I'll try to test this by creating a similar profile using Profile Manager, but figured I'd ask as well. This is quite annoying to say the least.

[bpavlov]

So this is strictly a JAMF issue it seems because I created a profile using Profile Manager with the same options and it works.

[bpavlov]

Just as a minor update, if you create the profile with OS X Server's Profile Manager and then upload it to the JSS as a custom profile it will respect the settings correctly. It won't show up in the JSS as a custom configuration and will appear as it's using the JSS's regular Restrictions payload. However it will work. Just make sure when you use Profile Manager to create the profile that you are aware of whether it's going to be a device profile or a user profile as no longer what you choose in the JSS (computer level or user level) it will stick with whatever the profile you uploaded has been set to from Profile Manager.

EDIT: I do not recommend trying to edit the profile Restrictions payload after it has been uploaded to the JSS as I'm not sure if the JSS will overwrite it with its own implementation of Restrictions. Feel free to experiment.

It's a work around for the time being, but I hope this is a simple bug that can be corrected soon. I haven't taken the time to compare the difference between the JSS profile and the Apple profile, but if I'll post an update.