System preferences software update badge

[J. J.]

I have updated my post with some minor edits, it should now be more clear

 

[bernuli]

This worked for me on a clean install of Mojave

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'

But there is a per user preference file that needs hosing to get rid of notification if software update already ran before you did the ignore.

In my case there was only one entry pertaining to Catalina in the following file so I just deleted the file. Might be a bad idea if there are other entries in this file that you might need:
/Users/xxxx/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

My guess is that new users created after you run the --ignore should never get the Upgrade notification in the first place.

 

[sgtaylor5]

This worked for me on a clean install of Mojave

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'

But there is a per user preference file that needs hosing to get rid of notification if software update already ran before you did the ignore

So what is the name of the per user preferences file that needs to be hosed? Thank you.

 

[bogdanw]

Thanks to bernuli for identifiing the plist responsible, here is the solution:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier com.apple.InstallAssistant.Mojave
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate ProductKeysLastSeenByUser 061-21551
killall Dock

Automatic updates can be enabled, you can search for updates from the System Preferences or with sudo softwareupdate -l and Catalina and the notification will not show up again.

 

[weup togo]

Thanks to bernuli for identifiing the plist responsible, here is the solution:

If there were a Nobel prize for posts, I would nominate you. Thank you.

 

[BarryDuffman]

I tried it on a test system, but unfortunately I cannot get it to work properly.
It had the Catalina upgrade and a Safari update for Mojave waiting in Software Update.
I am running the commands in the order provided but this one:
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
Returns the following error:

Domain (com.apple.systempreferences) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.

And when I try checking for updates afterwards I get the following error, and I am therefore not able to download and install the waiting Safari update for Mojave.

I don't know if the two errors are connected in any way.

 

[bogdanw]

I don't know if the two errors are connected in any way.

That error just states there isn't a value to be deleted, I included it just in case there was.
As bernuli mentioned, ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist can be deleted. It will be recreated by Software Update if there is a new update.
Try to make a copy

cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

and delete it

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

I have a virtual machine with Mojave developer beta and Software Update corectly shows the updates and the notification, but not Catalina.

 

[bernuli]

I think the best approach to ignore Catalina and stop the badge is the following 4 steps. I have tested this out a bit and it seems like simplest solution and least likely to break anything else. Probably might need to change these steps as future macOS releases come out. For now though, this is good for those running Mojave and don't want to upgrade to Catalina.

1) QUIT System Preferences (If the next 3 steps are executed with System Preferences running, you could confuse things.)

2) sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"

3) defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

4) softwareupdate --list

For me badge disappeared immediately after step 4

note: only use sudo for the --ignore.

 

[BarryDuffman]

That error just states there isn't a value to be deleted, I included it just in case there was.
As bernuli mentioned, ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist can be deleted. It will be recreated by Software Update if there is a new update.
Try to make a copy

cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

and delete it

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

I have a virtual machine with Mojave developer beta and Software Update corectly shows the updates and the notification, but not Catalina.
View attachment 869766

Thanks! I wasn't sure what I was doing, so that's why I didn't fully understand the error.

Unfortunately after running into the mentioned issue, deleting the plist file doesn't fix it afterwards.
But good thing my testsystem is also a VM so I rolled back and did it like this:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
killall Dock

This appears to work. At least I am now able to check for updates afterwards and install the waiting Safari update for Mojave.

I also tested Bernuli's approach above, and I can confirm that it also does the trick.

 

[avz]

I think the best approach to ignore Catalina and stop the badge is the following 4 steps. I have tested this out a bit and it seems like simplest solution and least likely to break anything else. Probably might need to change these steps as future macOS releases come out. For now though, this is good for those running Mojave and don't want to upgrade to Catalina.

1) QUIT System Preferences (If the next 3 steps are executed with System Preferences running, you could confuse things.)

2) sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"

3) defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

4) softwareupdate --list

For me badge disappeared immediately after step 4

note: only use sudo for the --ignore.

Brilliant!

 

[bogdanw]

3) defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

Deleting only that might leave ProductKeysLastSeenByUser 061-18881 in the file. That is Catalina, but might not be important.
Probably the safest way is to just delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist So:

killall "System Preferences"
sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
killall Dock

 

[bernuli]

Deleting only that might leave ProductKeysLastSeenByUser 061-18881 in the file. That is Catalina, but might not be important.
Probably the safest way is to just delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist So:

killall "System Preferences"
sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
killall Dock

I was wondering what 061-18881 was! Kinda shows up at the same time as Catalina but I did not know for sure.

I this omitting the defaults delete of com.apple.systempreferences might be ok. For me running softwareupdate --list cleared the badge immediately. No killing, no logging off. Could vary from system to system I suppose.

 

[netsrot39]

Does anybody know the command for disabling the bubble inside the App Store icon in Dock? The new iMovie update supposedly breaks compatibility on unsupported Macs because it requires Metal. So I'll probably never update again on my early iMac 2009. I know on El Capitan and previous OS X version one could disable update notifications within the App Store but that does not seem to work anymore.

 

[Riwam]

Does anybody know the command for disabling the bubble inside the App Store icon in Dock? The new iMovie update supposedly breaks compatibility on unsupported Macs because it requires Metal. So I'll probably never update again on my early iMac 2009. I know on El Capitan and previous OS X version one could disable update notifications within the App Store but that does not seem to work anymore.

May I ask you how you used to disable all notifications of updates in the AppStore, as you say you did, in previous MacOS ?

 

[bogdanw]

Does anybody know the command for disabling the bubble inside the App Store icon in Dock?

You can delete it with

defaults delete com.apple.AppStore appStoreBadgeCount; defaults delete com.apple.appstored BadgeCount; killall Dock

or

defaults write com.apple.AppStore appStoreBadgeCount -int 0; defaults write com.apple.appstored BadgeCount -int 0; killall Dock

but it will show up again when App Store searches for updates.

 

[Nozgog]

Thanks to bernuli for identifiing the plist responsible, here is the solution:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier com.apple.InstallAssistant.Mojave
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate ProductKeysLastSeenByUser 061-21551
killall Dock

I used this solution but today I got this:

So I used these 2 commands and now I can install Safari 13.0.3 and Mojave Security Update 2019-001

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier
defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate ProductKeysLastSeenByUser

 

[Peadogie]

I just did a fresh install of Mojave 10.14.6. I set my user account with no wifi connection to be sure Software Update didn't call home (don't know if this is necessary). Because of this thread I ran the sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina' command before connecting to wifi,,then opening Software Update and installed the Safari 10.0.3 update. No badge after rechecking for updates. ?

Thanks @bogdanw and @bernuli for the hard work and info.

Is this persistent over restarts?

 

[Super Spartan]

I had this issue recently and the above command only hides the icon until you reboot next time.

The way I solved it was to format again and before touching anything or even clicking Software Update you need to run: sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina


This way when you check for updates, it will only find updates for Mojave and you'll never get the annoying notification to update to Catalina.

 

[Nozgog]

Is this persistent over restarts?

Yes, because your "com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist" as well as "LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier" and "ProductKeysLastSeenByUser" have not been modified.

 

[Peadogie]

I checked before and after the update. Neither were ever generated. Thats why I was so careful to make sure SU never had a chance to "call home".

 

[madrich]

I think the best approach to ignore Catalina and stop the badge is the following 4 steps. I have tested this out a bit and it seems like simplest solution and least likely to break anything else. Probably might need to change these steps as future macOS releases come out. For now though, this is good for those running Mojave and don't want to upgrade to Catalina.

1) QUIT System Preferences (If the next 3 steps are executed with System Preferences running, you could confuse things.)

2) sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"

3) defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

4) softwareupdate --list

For me badge disappeared immediately after step 4

note: only use sudo for the --ignore.

Worked for me too. Thank you.

 

[Hoople611]

Worked for me as well. Thank you very much.

 

[HaphazardMelange]

Thanks to bernuli for identifiing the plist responsible, here is the solution:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore 'macOS Catalina'
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier com.apple.InstallAssistant.Mojave
defaults write com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate ProductKeysLastSeenByUser 061-21551
killall Dock

Automatic updates can be enabled, you can search for updates from the System Preferences or with sudo softwareupdate -l and Catalina and the notification will not show up again.

I'm currently experiencing a problem after running this and I am hoping someone will be able to help.

In System Preferences under Software Updates, I am getting the notification for security update 2019-001 10.14.6 for the past few weeks.

Which is fine, I want to keep the system's security updated, and so I download it, which goes fine.

The problem occurs during the install process, which fails and I receive this message:

Which bounces me to the Choose Startup Disc screen, where I have to select the HDD before it will load back up, like loading into Recovery Mode.

And so, it goes round and round, failing to update.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Outside of a complete restore from backup, can anyone suggest a solution to get it to install this update?

 

[bogdanw]

Outside of a complete restore from backup, can anyone suggest a solution to get it to install this update?

I updated without any issues. You can try the Download Security Update 2019-001 (Mojave) https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2024

 

[HaphazardMelange]

I updated without any issues. You can try the Download Security Update 2019-001 (Mojave) https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2024

I thought I'd be facing a similar issue as trying to download and installing through System Preferences, but it has gone through and installed with no problems. Thanks. ?