Jan 19, 2020 I have macOS 10.7.5 and want to update it to a newer version as possible. Currently I’m trying to gradually upgrade it to 10.8 to download a newer version then. But I’m stuck at 10.7.5 and the components for a newer Mac OS X Lion don’t download to my Mac Book Air of 2011. Periodically, Apple releases updates to your macOS software (which can include updates to apps that come with your Mac and important security updates). If you receive a notification that software updates are available, you can choose when to install the updates, or choose to be reminded the next day.
This article explains how you can fix the software update problem. More specifically, the focus of this article is on what you can do to when your Mac won’t update to the latest version of macOS.
Some Mac users, unfortunately, have been and continue to be affected by various macOS software update issues where they may experience a stalled macOS update. By stalled, we mean that macOS updates won’t download and install successfully.
Sometimes, you may see an error message saying “The macOS installation couldn’t be completed” or “macOS could not be installed on your computer”.
Mac Won’t Update?
Jun 05, 2020 I reinstalled My windows on the other HDD due to corrupted files and after the installation bios do not detect my macOS HDD. Everything was running smooth prior to windows install. HDD(macOS) WD green 120gb showed as multipass, now it is not showing up on BIOS. I would appreciate if someone. Sep 29, 2017 Once the download process is complete. A new window will pop up asking to install the new operating system. Note: the installation process could take quite a while, though it depends on your Internet speed and the Mac model. Why isn’t this update showing up on App Store? Honestly, we don’t have the right answer. Sep 26, 2018 Another reason could be that your Mac is running an older version of High Sierra (or Sierra, El Capitan, etc.), you should get update notifications but not related to Mojave. Instead, you were prompted to update to the latest subversion. For example, if your Mac is running under 10.13.2, you’ll be prompted to upgrade to 10.13.6.
Please try the tips belove if you are unable to update your computer:
It is important that you back up your Mac before you do anything.
There could be a variety of reasons for this. Before you do anything:
Make sure there is enough space to download and install an update. If not, you may see error messages. To see if your computer has enough room to store the update, go to the Apple menu > About This Mac and click the Storage tap. You can easily free up storage space on your Mac.
If you see a “Update Not Found” error, see this article.
Make sure that you have an Internet connection to update your Mac. You can troubleshoot your connection.
Be patient. An update may take some time. Just waiting may fix your problem. Sometimes more than a few hours. Do not put your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Also ensure than your Macbook, if it is a Macbook, it is plugged it into AC power.
If the update does not complete, your computer may seem stuck or frozen, for an extended time, try to restart your computer by pressing and holding the power button on your Mac for up to 10 seconds.
If you have any external hard drives or peripherals connected to your Mac, try removing them. And try to update now.
Reset PRAM on your Mac and then try again. To reset PRAM, turn off your Mac and then turn it on and immediately press and hold the Option, Command, P, and R keys together for about 20 seconds.
It is possible that your Mac may unable to reach the update server. There could be two reasons for this:
You may have a slow internet connection. You may want to restart your router and modem to fix this problem. If you are using a Wi-Fi connection, try a wired connection, if possible.
Or there could be issues with Apple servers. It is possible that Apple servers are overloaded as a lot of people may be trying to update. You can check if Apple servers are experiencing issues.
If you are still having issues, then you may try the followings:
Safe mode
Try updating your Mac in safe mode. Here is how:
Startup your Mac in safe mode. To do that, turn off your Mac and then turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key until you see the login screen. Then release the Shift key. And login.
Now your computer is in safe mode. Try to update now.
Then exit safe mode when you are done (in either case). To exit safe mode, restart your Mac normally, without pressing the Shift key.
Combo update
You can use a combo update to install Mac updates. Please note that before you continue, you may want to back up your Mac. You can back up with Time Machine or you can use iCloud.
Please note that combo updates let you update your Mac from a prior version of macOS within the same major release. A combo update is a combined update that means that it contains all of the changes since the original release of that major version. This further means that, using a combo update, you can update from macOS 10.15 directly to Mac OS X 10.15.2, skipping the 10.15.1. But you cannot go from, let’s say, 10.14.x to 10.15.x. For example, using a combo update, you cannot upgrade from macOS Mojave to macOS Catalina.
Please note that combo updates are huge. Here is how you can use them:
Find the right combo update. And download it. As stated above, they can be huge. The combo will download as a .dmg file.
Now quit all apps on your Mac.
Double-click the downloaded file, if it does not start automatically.
Follow the onscreen instructions.
Using macOS Recovery to update your Mac
If you still could not update, you may try this. To do this, you need to restart your Mac from macOS Recovery. Using the method below, you will be able to upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Here is how:
Turn off your Mac.
Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the Option-⌘-R keys together until you see the Apple logo or the spinning globe icon.
Login.
Click Reinstall macOS and follow the onscreen instructions.
See also: How to fix Catalina update problems
After updating to the latest version of macOS, some readers report problems with their macOS app store updates page. Apparently, the app store shows needed updates, but when clicking on the updates icon, it tells you “No Updates Available.”
But the app store badge continues to show needed updates. So there seems to be a disconnect between the app store badge and the app store updates page. And it’s rather infuriating!
Luckily, we have a couple of fixes that seem to do the trick for this macOS app store updates issue!
First of all, problems like this often occur in the hours and days following the release of a new macOS update. These requests to update inundate Apple Servers.
And often, the servers just can’t keep up. Consequently, your computer shows a disconnect between what is actually needing updates versus what is already updated.
In this case, your applications are up to date, but the badge is indicating updates are needed still appears. These are called ghost updates.
Alternatively, for some unknown reason, your software does indeed need updating, but the app store is not making those updates available for download even though it shows a badge indicating updates are needed.
So your app store shows you have some updates. But when you click the tab, it doesn’t show any update button or even indicates which apps need updates. Another disconnect! Ugh…
If your issues are that the app store is blank (nada, nothing), then check out this post.
So let’s get to it!
Contents
2 If macOS app Store Updates Continue Not Showing Up
3 Download and Install a Combo Update
4 Use Terminal for Checking macOS app Store Updates
5 Take Finder for a Spin
6 Summary
The First Rule of Apple’s Thumb–Try a Restart
Before you spend a lot of time trying to fix your macOS app store updates issue, let’s shut down and then power back up.
Sometimes, performing this simple action resets the app store, so it recognizes what needs updates and what is currently up-to-date.
So give this one a try and shut down then power back up.
Best practice is to fully shut down and NOT restart
Why? Well, a shutdown powers down your computer almost entirely and only starts the operating system again when you press the power button.
A shutdown dumps everything and boots from an entirely zeroed state. All processes are released and reinitiated from scratch. If there is anything residual in any cache, it’s overwritten when you power back on.
On the other hand, a restart simply ends your session in macOS and then reloads the operating system. Restarts clear some caches such as processor hard drive and memory.
So that’s the short version on why we recommend shutting down versus restarting in this particular case.
If macOS app Store Updates Continue Not Showing Up
So if shutting down did nothing for you, and you continue to see badges indicating updates are needed, take a look at your System Preferences for the app store.
Go to System Preferences and select the app store, turn on Automatically check for updates and checkmark ON all the options.
This includes download, install app updates, install macOS updates, and install system.
Once selected, click on the button “Check Now.” See if making changes to your System Prefs makes a difference and solves your issues.
Check app Store Purchases
If changing the System Prefs didn’t work for you, let’s check your app store for Purchased.
With the app store open, select the Purchased icon. You may need to sign in with your Apple ID and password to view all your previous purchases.
Often going to the “Purchases” tab reveals that you’re logged out of the store somehow.
And it asks you to log in again. Once you do that, you’ll be able to download updates.
Try the Manual Method
Look closely at your purchased apps and see if you can update the apps from there. This is considered the manual update method.
So, unfortunately, updating apps via purchased page is done one at a time, but this strategy updates any app that truly needs one.
Try updating just one app via the App Store Purchased page.
Some readers report that after manually updating one app, the remaining apps populate as normal in Updates window. Go figure!
Check Featured
Similar to your purchased apps, with app store open select the Featured icon. Then locate your apps on this Featured page.
Check and see if any of your apps have an update button underneath them. If so, update these apps from there.
Mac Os Will Not Update
You may discover that after updating one app from the Featured page that any remaining apps needing updates show up in the Updates window as normal. If so, update from that window.
Download and Install a Combo Update
A combo update contains all of the changes since the original release of a major macOS or OS X version. Combo updates often fix problems with previous updates because they are full versions of the software, not just updates (called deltas.)
Combo updates actually replace most of your operating software with a fresh version. But they do not overwrite or remove any of your user’s data and information.
Update Your Mac With a Combo Update
To locate the combo update for your Mac, visit Apple’s Support website and type in the Search Bar the word Combo Update followed by the macOS or OS X version you want.
Then in the search results, locate the download for that combo update for the version you want.
So, for example, you want the combo update for macOS High Sierra
In the search bar, type combo update macOS High Sierra
Then scan the search results for download macOS High Sierra Combo Update
Tap or click to open that result
Select the Download button and follow all on-screen instructions to save the update and install it
Alternatively, take a look at Apple’s Downloads page and locate the combo update there.
Mac Software Not Showing Os Updates Windows 10
Use Terminal for Checking macOS app Store Updates
The terminal is not for the faint of heart but the courageous.
So, use this method with caution and only if you feel comfortable. And remember that all terminal commands require administrator privileges and you must know and enter your admin password.
Open a terminal window and try the following command in the terminal to download and install updates available for your mac.
This command downloads and installs all available updates.
The caret does not move at all as you type and is not replaced by “*” per character of your password. Don’t worry when you don’t see it move; it’s totally normal. You get a message “Finding available software.”
After a few moments or minutes, a message appears letting you know what software has updates available.
Finding available software Software Update found the following new or updated software:
If Terminal locates any software updates, the following command updates all available updates
Find Out What Your app Store Thinks You Need
Terminal also helps to uncover what the app store THINKS needs updating.
So if you are still stuck with your macOS app store updates not showing up, let’s try another terminal command.
Take Finder for a Spin
Finder is our friend, so let’s ask it to help us out on this one by clearing the app store cache. Just remember to backup before you delete any files.
Delete App Store Cache
Go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
Type in ~/Library/Caches/
Find the folder com.apple.appstore
Delete this folder (com.apple.appstore)
Again, go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
Type in /private/var/folders
Open each of these folders and each subfolder until you find the folder com.apple.appstore
Delete this folder
Restart your Mac
Delete App Store Preferences
Go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
Type in ~/Library/Preferences/com
Find the file com.apple.appstore.plist
Delete this file (com.apple.appstore.plist)
Again, go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
Type in ~/Library/Preferences/com
Find the file com.apple.storeagent.plist
Delete this file (com.apple.storeagent.plist)
If you do not have this file move to step 7
Restart your Mac
Summary
When your app store gets a little gaga, it drives us really, really bonkers! Hopefully one of our methods helped you update your apps or removed your ghost updates so that all is well in your macOS world.
And no more annoying badges prompting you to look just one more time at the app store Updates page.
We love to update our software as soon as an upgrade is available. But sometimes it pays to wait a few days or weeks before updating, so all the kinks are worked out and connecting to Apple Servers when demand is down (usually a week or so after an update is released.)
Spending time troubleshooting does reap some rewards–you certainly get to know a few things about your Mac.
But time is money and troubleshooting requires patience. So next time you, think before you jump on the update immediately bandwagon.
Decide beforehand, so you’re prepared if things happen…
And of course, always alwaysbackup before you do any major update to your iOS, preferably following our 2X2 rule (2 local and 2 remote backups.)
And lastly, if you discovered some other ways to deal with these issues, keep us in the loop and share in the comments. We love to share and learn from you all.
For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!
Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.
Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.