You can use managed software updates to update the OS of computers belonging to smart or static group membership lists, eliminating the need for inventory searches and reducing the number of screens required for deploying OS updates.
Requirements
Target computers with macOS 11 or later, supervised or enrolled via a PreStage enrollment in Jamf Pro
Note:
To have the update for computers with Apple silicon (i.e., M1 chip) installed automatically without user interaction, a Bootstrap Token for target computers must be escrowed with Jamf Pro. macOS will automatically request the Bootstrap Token from Jamf Pro to authorize updates that were scheduled to install.
In Jamf Pro, click Computers in the sidebar.
Click Software Updates in the sidebar.
If you are enabling managed software updates for the first time, click Enable.
Warning:
Enabling managed software updates will initiate a record cleanup, which includes clearing any software update commands that have previously been deployed from Jamf Pro. You can re-deploy these updates with managed software updates. When managed software updates is enabled, mass action software update commands are disabled.
Click Computer Group.
A list of smart computer groups and static computer groups is displayed.
Select a single group or multiple groups and click Update selected.
Select one of the following for Install Action:
To download the update on computers for users to install themselves, select Download only.
To download and install the update on computers automatically, select Download and install.
To download and install the update on computers, but allow users to defer the installation of the update, select Download, install, and allow deferral.
Note:Download, install, and allow deferral is only supported for minor updates.
To download the update and schedule a specific date and time for the update to install automatically via declarative device management, select Download and schedule to install (Available only for Jamf Standard Cloud-hosted or Jamf Premium Cloud-hosted environments).
Keep the following in mind about using Download and schedule to install:
Download and schedule to install requires computers with macOS 14.
Scheduling via declarative device management is not supported in Jamf Premium Cloud Plus.
Both major and minor updates can be scheduled via declarative device management.
A declaration is sent to the computer immediately after clicking Apply. When the update completes, the computer proactively reports to Jamf Pro.
The update will be enforced at the scheduled time based on the device's local time.
To revoke a declaration, use the Use new feature switch to turn the managed software updates feature off and then back on.
To download and install the update on computers automatically and force restart the computer, select Download, install, and restart.
Warning:Download, install, and restart can cause data loss because the computer will restart without warning when the command completes.
Select one of the following for Target Version:
To download the update for the latest macOS version based on each device's eligibility, select Latest version based on device eligibility.
To download the latest major macOS version, select Latest major version.
To download the latest minor macOS version, select Latest minor version.
To download the update for a specific macOS version, select Specific version and select the version from the pop-up menu.
Note:
macOS uses semantic versioning.
Click Apply.
The requested update is sent to the selected groups. A message appears indicating if the requested updates are successful. To view the status of a deployed software update plan, click the Management tab in a device inventory record.
If you experience issues with a managed software updates plan, you can troubleshoot using the information found in the Troubleshooting Managed Software Updates technical article.