It's most definitely an issue, though. Discussed both on apple support discussion forums and on the Protools forum duc.avid.com.
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Ventura magically updated to Sonoma š±
- Thread starter bobjonesco
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this is not a bug, seems t me thatwants us to upgrade no matter what
also in my experience with ļ£æ, i know more than most of the person on the other end.
im using Snow leopard now on forums and lite internet now.
Behaviour outside of what is configured in the GUI is bug. There has been no announced policy change, and apple knows full well they have customers that depend on software catching up to the new macOS version(s).
Report it. Or donāt and just complain about it, but know that wonāt help anyone.
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I am not one for conspiracy theories, but there is a little part of me that wonders if Apple have noted the problem and already fixed it.
It all started with a notification that misbehaved when dismissed.
I would be easy for Apple to just stopping sending these notifications out.
Anyway, I am sort of hoping the notification will appear on my wifeās MBA as well, so that I can screenshot all the options and record what happens after dismissal.
It all started with a notification that misbehaved when dismissed.
I would be easy for Apple to just stopping sending these notifications out.
Anyway, I am sort of hoping the notification will appear on my wifeās MBA as well, so that I can screenshot all the options and record what happens after dismissal.
If itās a genuine bug, which it probably is, then it surely must be server-side?
And if that is the case, it raises some serious concerns in my mind. Namely that a Mac can be forced to update its OS against the userās will via a network request.
Assuming all these things are true then thatās only a cigarette paper away from malware behaviour. Hopefully Iām wrong on all counts. Watching with interest š
And if that is the case, it raises some serious concerns in my mind. Namely that a Mac can be forced to update its OS against the userās will via a network request.
Assuming all these things are true then thatās only a cigarette paper away from malware behaviour. Hopefully Iām wrong on all counts. Watching with interest š
My thoughts exactly in regards to this issue being probably a server side bug and it raised the same concerns in my mind as to what control over my own Mac (including all my data) do I really have? And yes, this is happening.
On Friday I received the same upgrade to Sonoma notification first on my MBP and then on my iMac (both Intel) and both running the latest Ventura 13.6.3.
I x-ed the notification on MBP thinking it was strange to be receiving it in the first place and immediately went into my Software Update > Automatic updates settings to check if anything has been changed. My usual settings (that I've been using since at least Mojave if not even as far as Sierra on all my Macs) have been checked - 1. Check for updates and 5. Install Security Responses and system files. I turned off Check for updates, authenticated with Touch ID, noticed that Install Security Responses and system files got turned off as well and then enabled both again (as usual) not thinking much about it.
I continued using my MBP through out the day and around 8PM I closed all the software I was using and restarted the computer to do a TM backup. The battery level was at 18%. I usually do a restart before doing TM backups and connect MBP to a charger at the same time.
As I switched over to iMac I did not immediately notice how long the MBP was taking to restart. Once I did notice the slow progress bar, I first assumed that it was going into Safe Mode as my iMac sometimes does on cold boot, but it restarted a couple of times more and the progress bar moved to the bottom of the screen. At that point I thought maybe a security update was being applied and then after a third restart I saw "9 minutes to finish installation..." message under the progress bar and realized that the OS was being updated. Remembering that battery was low (at 18%) before the restart I quickly connected the MBP to a charger and let it be.
Sure enough after the installation finished my MBP booted in Sonoma. Needless to say I was royally pissed off.
Upon logging in, Coconutbattery and Firefox launched which was strange as I shut down all the software before the reboot and a notification to agree to the new iCloud T&Cs popped up. I x-ed the iCloud notification as I do not use it, and as I did that System Settings launched with the iCloud T&C pop up window. I tried to close System Settings but I was not able to do so. I then scrolled all the way down the T&C page to agree and accept it. Immediatelly I checked my iCloud settings which have not been changed.
I then went back to Software Update settings and before I could click on Automatic updates settings a pop up window came up with the following message, " Updates for this Mac are managed by "swscan.apple.com". Do you want to restore default update settings? Any previous updates will be removed." and gave me two options - Restore Defaults or Cancel. Not thinking fast enough I looked for my phone to take a picture (instead of doing a screen capture!) and by the time i grabbed my phone the message dissapearred without any input from me. The Automatic updates settings were the same - both 1. Check for updates and 5. Install Security Responses and system files were checked which I promptly unchecked and did the same on my iMac. In my 25 years using macs I have never ever seen that message before.
So, to recap:
1. Download new updates when available, Install macOS updates and Install application updates from the Software Update > Automatic updates were all unchecked
2. Sonoma was downloaded nonetheless
3. Upon the restart (initiated by me) the macOS upgrade started
4. Installation proceeded even though my MBP was running on battery at low 18% (I believe that no software upgrades/installations are allowed if battery is below 50% and MBP is not plugged in)
5. Frankly I felt like I was being hacked.
Since unchecking everything on the iMac in Software Update > Automatic updates and turning it off and on twice since Friday no Sonoma upgrade was performed - good to know.
I called Apple Support yesterday and after telling the whole story to a customer representative was told that this is impossible and that I probably made a mistake. I asked to escalate the issue and talk to a Senior Adviser who was nice, told me that he personally never heard of this and could not comment on what is discussed on public forums including Apple Support Community - I brought up all the links I could find here and on Google. I gave him all the details and he said that the notes are recorded under my Apple ID and will be passed on to an appropriate department. I asked would anyone be in touch with me and he said no. He offered to help me wipe and downgrade the MBP back to Ventura and restore my data which I declined saying I do not have five hours to waste and after checking everything it seems that all my data and software is intact and working.
Apologies for a long post but I thought this should be documented here and hopefully my experience can help others.
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I do wonder if this is a world-wide problem or if it's happening only in certain countries.
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Actually I reverted to wishful thinking (or magic) and keep a copy of the Ventura installer in /Applications. I've rebooted several times, but I'm going to wait a little more and report back.
That's exactly, what it is...
...and, what takes Apple straight to the ethical level of internet subscription traps.
That's how far we have come with Tim Cook's Apple of today!
Well speaking only for myself, until I see a statement from Apple that is a) believable and b) doesnāt leave a bad taste in my mouth, all future purchases are on hold indefinitely.
It's more than that. According to my Software Update settings it shouldn't have downloaded Sonoma nor give me a notification prompt to upgrade, let alone install it.
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I don't think they will acknowledge this one. I have come to the same conclusion in regards to my future apple purchases.
Youāre probably right. But thatās fine because I have no problem buying a Dell XPS OLED and running Linux. Time will tell, but as of now Iām exercising an abundance of caution. The timing of this alongside increasing government meddling is ultra suspicious.
Really? Must be a stealth nosedive that just isn't showing up in the daily AAPL financial charts.
This is irrelevant. The issue here is forced macOS upgrades not triggered by the users.
It's only an ethical concern if it was intentional. Given no public policy change, a reasonable person would consider this a bug until confirmed otherwise.
Bugs in software happen.
Same thing happened to me. 
In my case, I received a notification that I was low on disk space... which was surprising, as I hadn't recently downloaded or created anything of any significant size. I hadn't restarted in quite some time, so I figured it wouldn't hurt, as that sometimes clears caches and temp files. My "restart" silently performed the OS update - something I didn't have enabled in the settings, nor had I OK'd in any way.
After the restart, I have plenty of disk space free. So the disk space warning must have been because the Sonoma installer downloaded itself.
In my case, I received a notification that I was low on disk space... which was surprising, as I hadn't recently downloaded or created anything of any significant size. I hadn't restarted in quite some time, so I figured it wouldn't hurt, as that sometimes clears caches and temp files. My "restart" silently performed the OS update - something I didn't have enabled in the settings, nor had I OK'd in any way.
After the restart, I have plenty of disk space free. So the disk space warning must have been because the Sonoma installer downloaded itself.
They were on hold here anyway after I found out that all my Mac mini 2018 problems since installing monterey had been due to flakey memory (memtest86 shows it) that Apple's own Hardware test doesn't report. Until I have a way of checking the memory of a new Apple Silicon Mac myself I won't buy until I am forced to.
I might be somehow paranoid. But i have my doubts in today's Apple doing so...even if "otherwise" is in fact the case.
As by now they seem to just ignore the existence or even actively deny.
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To prevent this, in System Settlngs/General/Software Update/ all Auto updates s/b turned off, including āCheck for updatesā and āInstall security responses and system filesā which prevents the Sonoma update gollywallop.
Nah, those are enabled on all my Monterey-Ventura macs, no forced updates. Also, disabling the second one looks like a bad idea, no XProtect updates?To prevent this, in System Settlngs/General/Software Update/ all Auto updates s/b turned off, including āCheck for updatesā and āInstall security responses and system filesā which prevents the Sonoma update gollywallop.
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Second this. Install security response is still possible through manual update checks.To prevent this, in System Settlngs/General/Software Update/ all Auto updates s/b turned off, including āCheck for updatesā and āInstall security responses and system filesā which prevents the Sonoma update gollywallop.