Various Software Update problems

In one of our "MacFixIt Answers" articles and other recent postings, we addressed a few Software Update issues users were having when trying to update their software. We found that the problems might have been because of faulty receipt files that are generated for each installed update.

Faulty receipt files can cause an additional problem when software update appears to ignore the status of software installed on your system and either repeatedly installs updates or refuses to do so, claiming software is up to date when it isn't.

Apple Discussion poster "go4thetop" writes:

"When I start my apps (eg. iMovie) the app sometimes pops up a window to say that there is an update available (eg. 8.0.2) and gives me the option of open Software Update presumably to download and install said update. When I do that the Software Update app does it's thing and comes back to tell me, 'nope, everything is up to date'."

When this happens, you can try downloading the specific update manually from Apple's downloads page, or you can remove the receipts for the updates. The receipts are located in the /Macintosh HD/Library/Receipts/ folder and should be the same name as the update you are trying to install (with ".pkg" as the suffix). Move the receipt to the trash, and then try Software Update again.

One other problem you might encounter is when updates pause at the "Configuring Installation" step and do not continue. Apple recently released a knowledgebase article on what to do when Software Update hangs in the "Configuring Installation" step. In essence, this problem is because of a corrupt installer file, and you must remove the faulty installer and let Software Update download the update again. To do this, quit Software Update and then go to the /Macintosh HD/Library/Updates/ folder and remove all the contents of the folder. Then run Software Update again.

Resources