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@K two I think understand now. OK, #1 has to happen first to get the Mac to see all OTA updates, beta or not. I'll then unenroll from beta to ensure only security updates get pushed through. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I have just re-implemented "catalinaswufix5amfi.command" with a GUI to allow, download and install the Catalina Beta Software Update (and public too) on any Catalina unsupported Mac, I have tested it and seems to work enough good.

I used the @Czo SUVMMFaker.dylib , @Pinarek method of OTA .dist editing for machines whitelisting, and @ASentientBot disablelibraryvalidation with AMFI disabling methods .

In case someone resets the PRAM you still should use "csrutil disable" (from an USB Catalina Installer or Recovery environment terminal) before apply the post-install patches.


I release it now, before the 10.15.5 beta 1 , the app should allow also "OTA Combo updates", for example from 10.15.0 to 10.15.4 . While usually the Delta Updates are from 10.15.3 to 10.15.4 .

After you apply the OTA update fix, these are the four apple Catalina OTA update automatic phases:

1) apple logo short loading bar followed by auto reboot OTA packages preparing the "APFS macOS Installer" temporary volume (it may take up to 10 minutes, but on average about 5 minutes)

2) apple logo long loading bar followed by Catalina logo installing (OTA pre-scripts verifying on your APFS volume) (it may take up to 15 minutes, but on average about 10 minutes)

3) Catalina circle logo with installing progress bar (OTA stage2 installation on your APFS volume) (it may take up to 60 minutes, but on average about 45 minutes)

4) apple logo full loading bar OTA post-scripts followed by direct boot to Catalina or a bootloop (because post-install patches are required) (it may take up to 15 minutes, but on average about 10 minutes)

View attachment 902487 View attachment 902793 View attachment 902490 View attachment 902486

The CatalinaOTAswufix.app source code is viewable simply browsing the Show packages Contents.

My app is totally harmless and safe for any mac.

To run properly the app don't rename it and move it to Catalina Desktop , or Applications or Downloads paths.


edit (some tips):
To receive only non-beta updates after the "Software Update fix", simply from Software Update prefpane click "Details" and "Restore Defaults" (OTA update fix will still continue work correctly):
View attachment 902307
Moreover I'd advise to set the "Advanced" menu this way, in order to have more control on how updates are downloaded and installed (to give extended time to make a backup or to build a new USB Catalina Patcher for example):
View attachment 902283
Example downloading a non-beta update (from a beta updated machine):

View attachment 902280
Just one question. How much space on disk is needed?
 
So sorry if this appeared before. Coudn´t fin it. I get this message whan running CatalinaOTAswufix.app
Mac Pro 5.1
Captura de pantalla 2020-12-25 a las 0.36.08.png
 
Ok. I could run it from the Desktop folder. However , it seems a security update is avalaible in beta channel.
Captura de pantalla 2020-12-25 a las 0.44.38.png


If I deselect the Beta channel, it appears the 220-001 update..

Captura de pantalla 2020-12-25 a las 0.50.33.png


Is it the same? The size is the same.
 
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Something went wrong. I ran the Software Update fix and it came back as OK. But when clicking OTA update fix after starting the download of the security update, I get the following message:

1608858701596.png


Anyone know how to fix?
 
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Yes, SIP is disabled.

Everything went fine at first; got success messages for both options. Installer downloaded then I rebooted the Mac. However, the update installer never started and the computer booted right back into Catalina. So, I ran both options again and the second time is when I saw that message.
 
And
Yes, SIP is disabled.

Everything went fine at first; got success messages for both options. Installer downloaded then I rebooted the Mac. However, the update installer never started and the computer booted right back into Catalina. So, I ran both options again and the second time is when I saw that message.
And you run The OTA fix first?
 
And

And you run The OTA fix first?
No, I followed the directions. Ran software update fix first. That was OK. Then ran OTA fix, that came back OK. Rebooted computer but security update installer never started. So, I tried again by running software fix. That came back OK again. Started download of security patch again and ran OTA fix and that's when that error message appeared.

I guess I shouldn't have run the software fix a second time.
 
This is what I see if I run Software fix again:
1608859793392.png


So I'm going to try and install the beta security patch instead:
1608859870413.png


And here's what I see when I run OTA fix while it's downloading:
1608859968771.png
 
This is what I see if I run Software fix again:
View attachment 1700659

So I'm going to try and install the beta security patch instead:
View attachment 1700661

And here's what I see when I run OTA fix while it's downloading:
View attachment 1700665
Delete the update in library/Updates, reboot and download the update again using CatalinaOTAswufix.
make sure you run the fix after the check for updates and make sure it is done before the update is finished downloading or it may not work.
 
I'm trying to restore from a previous Time Machine backup, but I keep getting this error:

"you can't restore this backup because this Mac does not support booting from apfs"

Oddly, it shows both my TM drive as well as the APFS boot drive as selectable restore sources, but when I select the TM drive, it defaults to the boot drive as a source and am unable to change it. Any thoughts?
570244e78731c0e14a6606beaa25bf86.jpg
16d0355b7706a1ba164d60127fe8e90c.jpg


1a7e027b45a1a64d2ea7dc5fd09d0e40.jpg
 
OTA worked perfectly on my MacPro 3,1. However, I got the same results as amstel78 for my MacBook Pro 5,1.
Strange because I'm having this issue on my MP 3,1. So I'm just trying to restore from a TM backup at this point and I can't even do that.
 
Delete the update in library/Updates, reboot and download the update again using CatalinaOTAswufix.
make sure you run the fix after the check for updates and make sure it is done before the update is finished downloading or it may not work.
Thank you, I'll give that a try.

Edit: deleted the updates and it seems to work.
1608864551517.png


Hopefully it takes this time. If successful, do I let the machine boot back to login then reboot again into DosDude patcher and run patches?

2nd EDIT: nope, didn't work. System rebooted after download completed, and the update installer didn't start. Went straight back to Catalina login.
 
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Got another question. Does Migration Assistant work on our patched Macs? I can't seem to restore from TM via the Recovery functions, nor booting from the DosDude1 USB patch drive.

I keep getting the following error message: You can't restore this backup because this Mac does not support booting from APFS.

I have a feeling that since this was an in computer upgrade directly from High Sierra rather than a clean install, weird stuff is happening.

I don't have a problem wiping out the boot drive and starting over as long as I can restore my programs and settings. TM has been creating backups without issue so my only concern is actually ensuring Migration Assistant works correctly.

Can anyone please confirm?
 
Got another question. Does Migration Assistant work on our patched Macs? I can't seem to restore from TM via the Recovery functions, nor booting from the DosDude1 USB patch drive.

I keep getting the following error message: You can't restore this backup because this Mac does not support booting from APFS.

I have a feeling that since this was an in computer upgrade directly from High Sierra rather than a clean install, weird stuff is happening.

I don't have a problem wiping out the boot drive and starting over as long as I can restore my programs and settings. TM has been creating backups without issue so my only concern is actually ensuring Migration Assistant works correctly.

Can anyone please confirm?
It would be easier for others to help if you put down your setup in your Signature.

I also couldn't make the Migration Assistant work. But that is no big deal.
Just re-install everything in a clean system. Take some time but worth it to save future troubles.
Because firstly the migration is slow. My experience once with it to move users and apps from one Catalina partition to another take almost an hour (SSD), probably even longer as I left on & off to do other things. Secondly, the migration isn't thoroughly complete. Some programs have problem in running in new system upon migration.
 
Good advice except as of Big Sur, Apple will no longer publish standalone updaters and security updates. Everything will go thru Software Update, see - https://eclecticlight.co/2020/12/17...ding-standalone-installers-for-macos-updates/
View attachment 1700457
Further - Case-in-point, here is Apple's current release catalog. Note H15 is the final published dot7 entry. To get H114, the current release, the only methods are to D/L the SU .dmg from Apple, here - https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2020/...-b4af-93751f8a1f66/SecUpd2020-001Catalina.dmg and employ the only slightly risky #13,107 to complete the update or use the Software Update Control Pane after the steps in CatalinaOTAswufix.app are applied. And now, the .dmgs are going away in favor of Software Update Control Pane, exclusively. H505 is already there.
Oh. This is really bad Apple is aware of whats going on it seems. Looks like for me the updates stop here. In any case I have unsupported machines and I would not like to tweak them much. Already my imac mid 2011 has gone back to graveyard because of graphic card metal going bad. So far i have both catalina and bigsur running just fine on macbook air mid 2011. No troubles so far so not keen on anymore updates either. 😁

so even after applying softwareOTAfix one still needs to patch using patcher right when no dmgs will be there. Just a thought.
 
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It would be easier for others to help if you put down your setup in your Signature.

I also couldn't make the Migration Assistant work. But that is no big deal.
Just re-install everything in a clean system. Take some time but worth it to save future troubles.
Because firstly the migration is slow. My experience once with it to move users and apps from one Catalina partition to another take almost an hour (SSD), probably even longer as I left on & off to do other things. Secondly, the migration isn't thoroughly complete. Some programs have problem in running in new system upon migration.
Thanks, I've added my signature (hopefully it shows). If not, I'm running a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 with 32gb RAM and a Radeon 7950. My boot drive is a 1TB SSD. The other 3 internal drives are mechanical 1TB units with one being dedicated solely to TM.

So far, everything works great however I did an upgrade vs. clean install from HS. The things I've noticed I can't do:

  1. Install security updates; it just reboots back into Cat without the update installer starting;
  2. Restore from my most recent Cat backups in TM. I get that message I mentioned in my previous post.
At this point, I'd like to do a clean install but I have quite a few applications and this PC is used for work everyday. I am on Christmas vacation at the moment, so I don't have to worry about office work, but if I can avoid potentially losing files and data, that'd be preferred.

I suppose I could do a clean install then use TM from within the desktop to restore certain files/folders not stored on my other internal, non-boot hard disks?

I'm just finding this inability to do a TM restore from Recovery absolutely mind blowing... has anyone else encountered the message "You can't restore this backup because this Mac does not support booting from APFS"? I can't even do a snapshot recovery from the boot SSD because it tells me that the computer is in an unknown/unstable state. What's the point of all these fall back mechanisms if I can't use them?
 
@K two I think understand now. OK, #1 has to happen first to get the Mac to see all OTA updates, beta or not. I'll then unenroll from beta to ensure only security updates get pushed through. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes, initially your Software Update would show nothing.
Running the Software Update Fix will subscribe to the beta channel, and thus on relaunching the Software Update in System Preferences, beta softwares appear.
But your purpose isn't to get that. So, you will switch back to Default from the left sided panel of the prefpane.
On relaunching the Software Update, released public version of OTA updates if a/v should be shown.
At this moment, you may download and install that OTA update. While downloading, launch the CatalinaOTAswufix again (you may prelaunch it actually) and click on the middle button of OTA update fix. This will patch the downloading OTA update, and a successful long message should appear.

Then proceed to install. If it fails and switches back to your old Catalina, delete any folders in /Library/Updates. Launch Software Update again and download and install the listed OTA update.
 
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Yes, initially your Software Update would show nothing.
Running the Software Update Fix will subscribe to the beta channel, and thus on relaunching the Software Update in System Preferences, beta softwares appear.
But your purpose isn't to get that. So, you will switch back to Default from the left sided panel of the prefpane.
On relaunching the Software Update, released public version of OTA updates if a/v should be shown.
At this moment, you may download and install that OTA update. While downloading, launch the CatalinaOTAswufix again (you may prelaunch it actually) and click on the middle button of OTA update fix. This will patch the downloading OTA update, and a successful long message should appear.

Then proceed to install. If it fails and switches back to your old Catalina, delete any folders in /Library/Updates. Launch Software Update again and download and install the listed OTA update.
Thank you for the very concise description and instructions. It's much appreciated.

I've done everything you've described, more than three times in fact (including deleting the downloaded update from the /Library/Updates folder and starting over. Everytime I do, I reboot then restart the download again. At that time, I'll click the OTA fix button and receive a long window showing successful changes. I let the Mac reboot after download completes but it's at that point that the security update installer never starts. Instead, the Mac will just boot right back into Catalina with no software changes taking place.
 
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