Downloading a macOS Installer Application from Apple

The following command is useful for Jamf Pro administrators to source a macOS installer manually or to run remotely on target computers to instruct them to download the update directly from Apple. Consider using a macOS caching server to optimize network bandwidth when multiple devices upgrade while on a managed network.

Example:

Execute the following command to instruct a computer to download a full installer for macOS 12.2:

/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 12.2

Note:

Computers running this command can only download installers that are compatible with the specific hardware model.
A restricted software record may prevent macOS updates using this command.
If the target computer already has the requested macOS version, the following error message will display: "No new software available".

For more information, see How to download and install macOS from the Apple support website.

Open Terminal and execute the following command:
```
/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer
```
Use the --full-installer-version flag to download specific macOS versions or to see which versions are available for a computer.
Enter man softwareupdate in Terminal to view additional information.

The macOS installer application downloads to the /Applications directory.

You can now create a smart computer group to identify target computers and then create a policy for upgrading macOS automatically or via Self Service.