When I say macOS GUI, I’m referring to the Software Update mechanism that Apple refers consumers to: Rather than forcing updates to take place through the command line using “softwareupdate”, the user is encouraged to use the macOS GUI to update. This script is meant to be used with Jamf Pro and makes use of Jamf Helper. The idea behind this script is that it alerts the user that there are required OS updates that need to be installed. Needless to say, the rate of updates is unacceptable.

It’s a bit of a black box as to how macOS determines when to do automatic updates. However, we’ve found in our environment that after a month only 60% of computers running macOS 10.14 are up to date on the latest version. This has one benefit of doing automated authenticated restarts which is important on Macs with FileVault enabled. Since the solution to this isn’t particularly difficult to work around, I created a script to address this workflow in our environment.īefore continuing, I’d like to mention that we do leverage macOS’s ability to do automatic updates. Apple did introduce the -restart option for softwareupdate but that also comes with its own problems in that it hasn’t worked reliably in all scenarios. Unfortunately, Jamf Pro does not know how to handle this situation. However, not all software updates have a bridegeOS update which would mean a shutdown in those situations would actually leave the computer powered down. The Mac will read the shutdown and automatically power back on to apply the bridgeOS update. The problem with the software update process on Macs with T2 processors is that sometimes there is a bridgeOS update (the OS on the T2 processor) which requires a shutdown instead of a restart. It’s been requested that they address this issue in a feature request, but it’s gone completely unacknowledged (Edit: As of November 11, 2019, the feature request is now marked as Under Review). Jamf Pro has not handled software updates successfully on all Mac hardware since Apple introduced the T2 processor with the iMac Pro back in December 2017.

I would recommend checking out a new script which I’ve blogged about here: MAEDIT: If you’re reading this, please note that I’m not longer working on this script mentioned in this blog post.

What is jamf pro software