Stop upgrade notification to Big Sur in Catalina

[Susurs]

Hi!

I am not ready to move to Big Sur, and I do not want it for now. Period.

However today Catalina greeted me with ‘Updates Availabe’ notification for Big Sur, and usual red circle.

I tried some terminal commands (replacing word ‘Catalina with Big Sur’) in order to stop it, however as far as I understand this no longer works.

Command llines I used were found here: https://www.macworld.com/article/34...-reminder-to-update-to-catalina-in-macos.html

Is there any credible way to remove the unwanted upgrade? I understand Apple pushing security and some other upgrades, however trying to push a new operating system on day one is inbelievable... Not all people want it right away.

I was able to get rid of the red circle in with:


defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0

killall Dock

and I also switched off all options under Advanced in Updates.

Will the system still try to ‘notify me’ regarding this OS upgrade? Like - remind me later / install tonight, etc?

P.S. Any way to set system as incompatible with Big Sur maybe?

 

[Susurs]

The red dot / badge is back as well automatically after some time / restart.

 

[Susurs]

Anyone?

 

[TheEnthusiast]

Assuming everything is unchecked, the only time the red icon should come back is if Software Update is opened.

 

[Susurs]

I think it checks for updates in background anyway as after running terminal command at some point - a bit later the red badge reappears automatically, and it says as well that 1 update is available when apple menu is pressed.

 

[Susurs]

What does: “Enrollment in a user-approved MDM” mean in a few words?

Preventing the macOS Big Sur upgrade advertisement from appearing in the Software Update preference pane on macOS Catalina

Not yet ready for macOS Big Sur in your environment, but you’ve trained your folks to look at the Software Update preference pane to see if there’s available updates? One of the ways Ap…

www.google.lv

 

[smithrh]

Apple took away the ability to ignore new software releases not too long ago.

 

[Susurs]

Someone on the other thread directed me to this: https://mrmacintosh.com/blog/

At least I can stop the red badge for now (the update is still there when you open updates section).

However, I do not believe this is a correct policy from Apple pushing a new OS to everybody.

If anybody know a way to stop / remove the specific OS update, please tell it.

 

[big610]

I'm on Catalina. I Took the Big Sur download. Chose to remain on Catalina.
I trashed Install macOS Big Sur.
Still Red badged. There is a location somewhere that needs to be found to be removed.

Is there anyone who did not take the Big Sur download, who is getting red badged?

 

[gmiller598]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have the update notifications and i want to get rid of them. I use some music writing software that I will not update until they confirm compatibility This has traditionally taken a couple of months but now I'm stuck with the red notifications for Big Sur and Garage Band until then unless I can turn them off.

 

[Susurs]

See this page: https://tinyapps.org/blog/202005070700_remove_catalina_notification_badge.html

and this (screenshot from the link attached as well as the article is quite long): https://mrmacintosh.com/10-15-5-2020-003-updates-changes-to-softwareupdate-ignore/

I tried the first method (Close the Settings app if you try it):


defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier && softwareupdate --list


....and it helps so as far as I specifically go to update settings again. And I personally also unticked all the boxes under updates / advanced.

Screenshot regarding the second method:

 

[edubfromktown]

See this page: https://tinyapps.org/blog/202005070700_remove_catalina_notification_badge.html

and this (screenshot from the link attached as well as the article is quite long): https://mrmacintosh.com/10-15-5-2020-003-updates-changes-to-softwareupdate-ignore/

I tried the first method (Close the Settings app if you try it):


defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier && softwareupdate --list


....and it helps so as far as I specifically go to update settings again. And I personally also unticked all the boxes under updates / advanced.

Screenshot regarding the second method:

The above command worked for me! You win the internet today!!!

Thank you

 

[big610]

For those that removed the Red 1 Banner; on December 16, where you alerted to the Security Update 2020-001 (Catalina) and then Safari 14.02, with a Red 1?

 

[Susurs]

Yes, I got the update notification when 2020-001 and Safari was available.

Re-run the command to hide BS update again afterwards.

 

[CasualFanboy]

I created an alias for this annoying nag.

Open terminal.app or whatever terminal you prefer, and run this -

echo "alias @clearbadge='defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0 && killall Dock'" >> ~/.zshrc

Then whenever you need to restart or check for other updates, which reminds Tim Cook to come back and bother you again, run this in a terminal window and you're good to go.

@clearbadge

The dock will be unavailable for about ~2 seconds and then comes back with no red badge.

For anyone who may be unfamiliar with shell interaction:
The "@" symbol is just my personal style of indicating a custom alias, but isn't necessary, the alias can be anything that doesn't conflict with another command.

 

[big610]

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier && softwareupdate --list

I spent the time reading the three links thouroughly. Thanks Susurs used your suggestion, which still appears the best option, even though I identified when I added to terminal, I found my downloads in Chrome & Firefox, become hidden, buried in the browser Download, requiring you to manually go in to un-release, unhide it, to get it into the Finder. I checked for updates to un-release, got all my Downloads stuck, to go to Finder. Weird that is happening, and why. Back to the Red 1 Banner for me.

 

[robertcailliau]

Hi, I'm joining the club: I do not want to be nagged by the notifications that I should upgrade to Big Sur, and I don't want Big Sur. I'm also afraid that one day I'm going to click on the wrong part of the notification. The suggestions made here by many valiant people are however confusing me because there are so many. Can anyone be so kind as to sum up the current state in a few sentences? I.e.:

-- is it possible to switch off software update notices entirely? (I'm not worried about the red dot, only about the notice itself popping up)
-- if so, what are the commands to issue?

Thanks very much.

R.

 

[jagan]

Have people tried "Big Sur Blocker"?

GitHub - hjuutilainen/bigsurblocker: Block Big Sur installer app from launching

Block Big Sur installer app from launching. Contribute to hjuutilainen/bigsurblocker development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Susurs]

How is it possible to create an executable script with the following terminal command? :

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier && softwareupdate --list

It would be easier for me to launch it instead of copy / pasting it each time I need it.

P.S. Found some kind of a tutorial here (Haven’t tried it yet, but seems easy): https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/run-terminal-commands-from-a-script-on-macos/

 

[ignatius345]

Same boat here. I don't want to update this 2014 iMac 5K for fear Big Sur will make it too slow to use. I just moved System Preferences out of my dock so I don't see it anymore.

 

[ignatius345]

I'm also afraid that one day I'm going to click on the wrong part of the notification.

You'd have to accidentally click a bunch more buttons before you'd actually install Big Sur. Worst that happens is you start a big download that you then cancel. Could be an issue if you're on a data cap, I guess, but otherwise really more irritation than anything else.

 

[ignatius345]

How is it possible to create an executable script with the following terminal command? :

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier && softwareupdate --list

It would be easier for me to launch it instead of copy / pasting it each time I need it.

Alfred is amazing for this. You can set little bits of code to run via a quick command. I had a problem some years back with the coreaudio process freezing up and I'd have to run sudo killall coreaudiod periodically. With Alfred I'd just type my short text shortcut and it would launch Terminal with the command already pasted in to run.

edit: turns out there is in fact already an Alfred workflow to do exactly what you need.

Workflow to get rid of the Big Sur update badge

Usage: Just type sur and then upt to get rid of the red badge. Please note: After rebooting your Mac the red badge will appear again. Apple has stopped the possibility to permanently hide this update notification. ++++ USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! ++++ Please note: You need to manually close the termina...

www.alfredforum.com

 

[Susurs]

Thank you! I think I just found some kind of a tutorial here as well (Haven’t tried it yet, but seems easy): https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/run-terminal-commands-from-a-script-on-macos/

 

[posguy99]

Have people tried "Big Sur Blocker"?

GitHub - hjuutilainen/bigsurblocker: Block Big Sur installer app from launching

Block Big Sur installer app from launching. Contribute to hjuutilainen/bigsurblocker development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Does what it says on the tin. Doesn't stop System Preferences badging the icon, but it won't let the installer run.

 

[posguy99]

I would REALLY like to figure out what the difference is between my iMac that was upgraded to Catalina, and my 2020 MBP that started life as Catalina.

I'd done the several things to stop Mojave on the iMac to not notify about the Catalina upgrade, and that all worked out really well. Then I upgraded it to Catalina, and have yet to see a pop or a red badge. I'm talking in like WEEKS... I finally installed Catalina on it in January. System Preferences >> Software Update says the iMac updates are being "managed externally". That's fine, except it's not, bought it new in 2017, it isn't a DEP machine, it isn't enrolled in anything, doesn't have any profiles on it. I'd really like to move this state over to my MBP as well.
Any idea what it's looking at to make it think it's in this state?