

Critical and non-critical updates are not installed.AnyDesk is a free alternative to TeamViewer for establishing a remote desktop connection. The downloaded updates are stored on the target machine for later installation. Softwareupdate -d -a: Executes software update remotely and downloads all pending updates.

Softwareupdate -i -r: Executes software update remotely and installs pending updates that are flagged as recommended by Apple only. Softwareupdate -l: Executes software update remotely and prints a list on-screen of all the available updates pending download/installation. d | –download: The software update will only download pending updates to the target computer however, it will not install them. a | –all: Installs all updates - critical and non-critical. r | –recommended: Installs only updates flagged as recommended by Apple. i | –install: Installs updates and may include additional arguments, as found below. l | –list: Lists the available updates after checking Apple’s update catalog. With that out of the way, let’s examine the softwareupdate command and some of the more commonly used arguments to control it. The requirements are: SSH is enabled and configured to allow your user account remote access, and the account used to manage software updates must have admin-level privileges on the target machines. The softwareupdate command is part of every version of OS X it executes commands that will perform whichever update task(s) you wish to remotely manage. However, if you don’t have a go-to management console, then your trusty pal Terminal and SSH are the perfect duo to remotely execute these commands - or better yet, script them so they launch on a regular schedule.

If you answered via Apple Remote Desktop or any other third-party management suite, then you’ve got a solution available to you. Simple, isn’t it?īut what happens when you’re tasked with managing multiple Macs across a network? Can you really trust your end users to not forget to run updates in a timely manner? If a critical vulnerability is patched, and the update needs to be deployed immediately, how is that handled? One or only a few more clicks, and the selected entries are downloaded and installed. A couple of clicks, and a full listing of pending updates display. When it comes to updating Macs, Software Update, which is built in to Apple’s App Store, makes it a pretty straightforward process. Get Terminal and SSH to remotely execute Apple software updates, or script them to launch on a regular schedule. How to manage Apple software updates remotely via the command line
