Creating a Policy for Upgrading macOS Automatically or via Self Service

Technical Paper: Deploying macOS Upgrades and Updates with Jamf Pro
Solution
Application
Content Type
Technical Documentation
Utilities & Services
ft:locale
en-US

Requirements

To upgrade macOS automatically, you need Intel-based computers that already have the macOS installer staged on the computer.

  1. In Jamf Pro, click Computers in the sidebar.
  2. Click Policies in the sidebar.
  3. Click New.
  4. In the General payload, enter a display name for the policy (e.g., Upgrade macOS).
  5. Select a trigger event to determine when the policy is initiated.

    For more information about running a policy, see Policy Management in the Jamf Pro Documentation.

  6. Choose "Once per computer" from the Execution Frequency pop-up menu.
  7. Select the Packages payload and click Configure.
  8. Click Add for the macOS installer package file.
  9. Choose an install action from the Action pop-up menu.
  10. (Optional) To use a script that uses additional logic to install macOS, use the Scripts payload to add the script and configure the settings.

    For information, see Scripts and in the Jamf Pro Documentation.

    Note:

    You can also use Jamf Helper to add additional end user messaging.

  11. Select the Files and Processes payload and click Configure.
  12. In the Execute Command field, enter the file path to the installer with the --startosinstall command.
    Example:
    If the installer is located in the /Applications folder on the target computer, the following is an example of a command to upgrade:
    /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense
    1. (Optional) To erase data while installing macOS, add the --eraseinstall flag to the command.
    2. To suppress end-user messages during installation, add the --agreetolicense flag to the command.
  13. Click the Scope tab.
  14. Click Add.
  15. Click the Computer Groups tab.
  16. Click Add for the smart computer group with the cached macOS installer package file you just created.
  17. Do one of the following:

    • To install the upgrade automatically:

    1. Click the User Interaction tab.
    2. Enter messages to display to users or allow users to defer the policy.

    For more information, see User Interaction with Policies in the Jamf Pro Documentation.

    • To make the upgrade policy available to users in Self Service:

    1. Click the Self Service tab and select Make the policy available in Self Service.
    2. Configure how the policy is displayed in Self Service using the settings on the pane.
  18. Click Save .

The trigger selected in the General payload determines when the upgrade installs on computers in the scope. For example, if you selected the trigger Recurring Check-In, the policy will initiate at the next recurring check-in configured in Jamf Pro.

If you made the policy available in Self Service, macOS is upgraded when users run the policy from Self Service.