System preferences software update badge

[allan.nyholm]

Delete because of unnecessary steps

 

[bogdanw]

I simply deleted this
/Applications/System Preferences.app/Contents/PlugIns/SystemPreferencesDockTile.docktileplugin

What you've done is totally unnecessary and makes sense only if you never want to see a notification badge about any software update.

 

[allan.nyholm]

What you've done is totally unnecessary and makes sense only if you never want to see a notification badge about any software update.

Agreed. Thanks for commenting. I don't know what I'm doing.

 

[newellj]

Try

defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs; killall Dock

Thank you (belatedly)!

 

[camelia]

What a mess

Came

 

[golfnut1982]

I think the best approach to ignore Catalina and stop the badge is the following 4 steps. I have tested this out a bit and it seems like simplest solution and least likely to break anything else. Probably might need to change these steps as future macOS releases come out. For now though, this is good for those running Mojave and don't want to upgrade to Catalina.

1) QUIT System Preferences (If the next 3 steps are executed with System Preferences running, you could confuse things.)

2) sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"

3) defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

4) softwareupdate --list

For me badge disappeared immediately after step 4

note: only use sudo for the --ignore.

Thanks, this worked for me. I still get updates.
[automerge]1576345022[/automerge]
So what are the commands to reverse this and check for Catalina? Obviously for future reference?
[automerge]1576345202[/automerge]

Thanks, this worked for me. I still get updates.
[automerge]1576345022[/automerge]
So what are the commands to reverse this and check for Catalina? Obviously for future reference?

Here it is
sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored

 

[bo-waleed]

I am still confused.

What exactly should I do after I install Mojava ?

 

[shafez]

I am still confused.

What exactly should I do after I install Mojava ?

1- Run the following commands in terminal
- sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"
- defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0 && killall Dock
3-Using PLIST Editor , Edit com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate under User Folder/Library/Prefrences with Plist Editor and remove the first entry "LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier".

hide-macos-catalina-software-update-mac

 

[bo-waleed]

1- Run the following commands in terminal
- sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"
- defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0 && killall Dock
3-Using PLIST Editor , Edit com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate under User Folder/Library/Prefrences with Plist Editor and remove the first entry "LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier".

hide-macos-catalina-software-update-mac

Thanks too much.

 

[camelia]

3-Using PLIST Editor

I do not know any "PLIST Editor"
Where I can get one?

Thanks
Came

 

[madmin]

I do not know any "PLIST Editor"
Where I can get one?

Hi Camelia, I don't know about a plist editor but PLIST files can come in three different formats:

Binary version 1
XML version 1 - (text like)
or JSON - (JavaScript Object Notation format which is also text like)

On macOS many PLIST files are stored in binary format on disk so you can't just edit them with a normal text editor, but you can easily convert them to XML1 format which is like plain text and then edit them with a normal text editor. For example for the PLIST file mentioned above you can run these commands to edit it:

cd ~/Library/Preferences # to change directory

# to save a copy of the plist file before changing it in case something goes wrong ->
cp com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist.orig

plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist # convert plist file to XML1 format

nano com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist # edit plist file using the nano text editor

cd - # change directory back to original directory

Hope that helps

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[bogdanw]

I do not know any "PLIST Editor"Where I can get one?

You don't need it, just use:

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

 

[camelia]

You don't need it, just use:

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

Ok then the walkaround is:

1.- Run the following commands in Terminal:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0 && killall Dock

Then @bogdanw suggestion:

defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

Done...

Instead of

Using PLIST Editor , Edit com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate
under User Folder/Library/Prefrences with Plist Editor and remove
the first entry "LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier".

I am right?

Will we need to revert all this changes if Apple fix this issue in the next security update for macOS Mojave? (SecUpd2020-003Mojave.dmg)

Thanks
Camelia

 

[bernuli]

I’d like to vote again for what I think is the safest simplest solution to clearing the sys pref notification badge.

1) QUIT System Preferences

2) in terminal run:
sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"

3) in terminal run:
defaults delete com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier

4) in terminal run:
softwareupdate --list

For me badge disappeared immediately after step 4

note: only use sudo for the --ignore In step 4

 

[yukari]

Strangely, mine disappeared on its own today.
I had that stupid badge for OSX update on the "System Preference" menu, but when I checked today (for no reason except to access other system preference), I noticed the badge was no longer there.

Anyone else see this?

 

[bernuli]

Sometimes the badge there for other reasons. Like if you signed in to iCloud at some point, then later it wants you to sign in again.

Strangely, mine disappeared on its own today.
I had that stupid badge for OSX update on the "System Preference" menu, but when I checked today (for no reason except to access other system preference), I noticed the badge was no longer there.

Anyone else see this?

 

[yukari]

Sometimes the badge there for other reasons. Like if you signed in to iCloud at some point, then later it wants you to sign in again.

Not this time. It was for updating OSX to Catalina.

I ignored it since Catalina came out. All of a sudden it disappeared today.

 

[bernuli]

Interesting. I wonder if that is because we might be in between 10.15.2 and the release of 10.15.3

Not this time. It was for updating OSX to Catalina.

I ignored it since Catalina came out. All of a sudden it disappeared today.

Not this time. It was for updating OSX to Catalina.

I ignored it since Catalina came out. All of a sudden it disappeared today.

 

[Monet O]

Same problem here

 

[VTRN]

I did by editing com.apple.dock.plist
changed "dock-extra" from YES to NO for system preferences and no more red annoyance.

 

[bogdanw]

I did by editing com.apple.dock.plist
changed "dock-extra" from YES to NO for system preferences and no more red annoyance.

Thanks for the tip, it works for App Store as well. It's worth mentioning that it will completely disable the badge for any updates or other notifications from System Preferences.

 

[allpar]

First, tried this today, and nothing worked to get rid of the Catalina update.
Second, someone asked about a plist editor - BBEdit works out of the box for that.

 

[Nozgog]

After Security Update 2020-003 for Mojave, I am unable to get rid of the Catalina update in system preferences.

I used all the commands I used to make it work before but now it just keeps coming back???

 

[bogdanw]

chrfr explained the situation here

Apple has removed the ability to ignore the next major update beginning with today’s security updates and 10.15.5 update. You’re stuck with the badge now.
“Major new releases of macOS are no longer hidden when using the softwareupdate(8) command with the --ignore flag”

Until a better solution is found, if any, the method proposed by VTRN above seems the most elegant and it works.