Is there any way to FORCE an OS update/upgrade?

[Sal Collaziano]

I'm having some odd problem where Mac Mail just completely destroys my system as of today. Until now it worked fine. Since email is a very important part of my day, it's not something I can do without.

I went to update to the latest version of Big Sur and found I'm a few updates behind. If I try to check for an update, it just spins and sits there. I've tried various tricks I found while searching but none have worked. This even happens in Safe Mode. Is there any other way to force an OS update?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I just tried following the instructions here about upgrading via Terminal:

How to Update macOS Using a Simple Terminal Command

If you're sick of waiting for the progress bar to complete every time you reboot after a macOS software update, then you'll be pleased to...

www.macrumors.com

...but it never connects there either. What could the issue possibly be?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I almost got it working through Terminal. After several attempts, sudo software update -ia ran and completed. It automatically tried to restart but Safari was still opened and it failed. It said something about updating Safari, but then it just got stuck. So I rebooted and have tried several times since, and as usual I cannot get past "Finding available software". It's like my computer isn't making the connection most of the time. Has this ever happened to anyone else here?

 

[chrfr]

I almost got it working through Terminal. After several attempts, sudo software update -ia ran and completed. It automatically tried to restart but Safari was still opened and it failed. It said something about updating Safari, but then it just got stuck. So I rebooted and have tried several times since, and as usual I cannot get past "Finding available software". It's like my computer isn't making the connection most of the time. Has this ever happened to anyone else here?

Software Update in Big Sur does get stuck more often than it should. Try running this command in terminal, and when it’s done check for updates again:
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/com.apple.softwareupdated

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Software Update in Big Sur does get stuck more often than it should. Try running this command in terminal, and when it’s done check for updates again:
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/com.apple.softwareupdated

I did finally get updated before I saw your message. But my guess is that there would have been all I needed. Thank you for posting it!