softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer 10.15.* only fetches Big Sur seed

Question

Created Jul ’20

Replies 2

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Views 10k

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Code Block $ softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer 10.15.6
Downloading and installing com.apple.InstallAssistant.Seed.macOS1016Seed1 installer
Installing: 2.0% [cancelled]
$ softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer 10.15.4
Downloading and installing com.apple.InstallAssistant.Seed.macOS1016Seed1 installer

I have a machine with a beta version of 10.15.1 and Xcode 12 on it. To run the new Xcode, I need to upgrade to at least 10.15.4. System Preferences/Software Update only allows upgrading to Big Sur. Clicking on App Store/macOS Catalina/Get takes me back to the Software Update/Big Sur panel. Even the softwareupdate utility (which I have never used before) is forcing me to take the latest Big Sur seed.

How can I upgrade to a recent Catalina build?

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Answer 1

springo OP

Jul ’20

[UPDATE]
I retried the console command then next day with seeming success. The download failed. The retry failed as before with Big Sur being pulled.

Bizarre behavior.

Code Block $ softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer 10.15.6
Downloading and installing (null) installer
Install failed with error: Installation failed 
$ softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer 10.15.6
Downloading and installing com.apple.InstallAssistant.Seed.macOS1016Seed1 installer
^C

0

Answer 2

matt.mali OP

Dec ’20

A bit late to the conversation, although still applicable/relevant with Big Sur 11.0.1 (20B50) ... Happy Christmas, 'Arry Pottah!

After experiencing OP's error/result, upon trying to obtain the latest macOS installer through CLI/Terminal, muscle memory took over and subconsciously browsed to the "/Library/Preferences" directory to do some old-fashioned side-by-side baseline comparisons (between Catalina and BS installations): by opening both "com.apple.commerce.plist" and "com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist" preferences. Noticed that the "LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier" property was a new member to the preferences party, additionally, it was unconfigured and with a string to its name (empty/null-valued, see below):

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.commerce.plist (macOS BS 11.0.1)

Code Block {
    AutoUpdate = 1;
    AutoUpdateMajorOSVersion = "10.14";
    AutoUpdateRestartRequiredMajorOSVersion = "10.14";
    LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier = "";
    LockedFilePaths =     (
    );
    MajorOSUpdate =     {
    };
}

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist (macOS BS 11.0.1)

Code Block {
    AutomaticCheckEnabled = 1;
    AutomaticDownload = 1;
    AutomaticallyInstallMacOSUpdates = 1;
    ConfigDataInstall = 1;
    CriticalUpdateInstall = 1;
    LastAttemptBuildVersion = "11.0.1 (20B50)";
    LastAttemptSystemVersion = "11.0.1 (20B50)";
    LastBackgroundCCDSuccessfulDate = "2018-11-15 23:03:06 +0000";
    LastBackgroundSuccessfulDate = "2020-12-16 22:39:07 +0000";
    LastCatalogChangeDate = "2020-06-23 08:59:24 +0000";
    LastFullSuccessfulDate = "2020-12-17 08:52:03 +0000";
    LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier = "";
    LastResultCode = 2;
    LastSessionSuccessful = 1;
    LastSuccessfulDate = "2020-12-17 08:52:22 +0000";
    LastUpdatesAvailable = 0;
    PrimaryLanguages =     (
        en,
        "en-US"
    );
    SkipLocalCDN = 0;
}

tl;dr

Code Block $ /usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.commerce.plist LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier "com.apple.InstallAssistant.macOSBigSur";
$ /usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier "com.apple.InstallAssistant.macOSBigSur";
$ /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer;
$ open /Applications; clear && echo "...Profit?";

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