29

My dock tells me I have 8 available updates:

app store

I also got the notification asking to install updates. However, when I open App Store, I only see recently installed updates (with no updates to apps or software visible):

updates installed

If the updates are real, how do I update, and if not, how do I get rid of the bubble?

Edit (more information):

$ defaults read com.apple.appstore
{
    "NSWindow Frame Preferences" = "0 116 1277 661 0 0 1280 777 ";
    "NSWindow Frame window_prefs" = "20 51 1240 726 0 0 1280 777 ";
    SeenOSUpdates =     (
    );
    Storefront = "143441-1,13 ab:WJ6jMoo1";
    appStoreBadgeCount = 7;
    "com.apple.appstore.WebKit2DeveloperExtrasEnabled" = 1;
    "com.apple.appstore.WebKit2ShowsToolTipOverTruncatedText" = 1;
    "com.apple.appstore.WebKit2SuppressesIncrementalRendering" = 1;
    "com.apple.appstore.WebKit2UserInterfaceDirectionPolicy" = 1;
    "primary.WebKit2DeveloperExtrasEnabled" = 1;
    "primary.WebKit2ShowsToolTipOverTruncatedText" = 1;
    "primary.WebKit2SuppressesIncrementalRendering" = 1;
}
$
owlswipe
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AAM111
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  • Thats odd. My output has an availableUpdates = (); block. Only thing I can think of at this moment is create a new user and see if it still shows the updates? Other than that, a reinstall of Sierra if you've tried everything I've provided. But I'd delete the apps and reinstall first. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:21
  • Created a dummy user and switched to that account, still showed 7 updates even though I did not sign into iCloud. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:26
  • I believe this is because the apps themselves are linked to an iCloud ID and you didn't need to actually log in because of that. This is to ensure the apps are legitimate, what iCloud account it was downloaded with, etc. Has to do with receipt files on your system. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:29
  • So what do I do? – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:39
  • If you don't care, don't worry about it. I'd delete apps I know came from the app store and reinstall. If I see a number adjustment I'd finish that. If not, I'd reinstall. Clean installs are always nice and fresh. However I have what I believe a fix to the number but not to possibly un-updated apps if there really is any. It'll be in my answer. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:46
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    The accepted answer in this question (which has been closed as a duplicate of this one) is the solution, and much simpler: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/258979/mac-app-store-shows-update-count-but-section-is-collapsed-empty/259001#259001 – Paul Butcher Oct 28 '16 at 10:36

7 Answers7

24

I would try the following command in the terminal to download and install updates available for your mac. All commands below require administrator privileges and will prompt for your password which is NOT relayed to the screen. You will not see the caret move at all as you type it in or be replaced by "*" per character of your password. This is normal.

sudo softwareupdate -ia

This downloads and installs all available updates.

If perhaps you have configured a different App Store catalog (Usually done in businesses) you can run the following command first and then the above command. You can run it anyway to restore the catalog to defaults if you're not sure.

Reset default catalog for App Store:

sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog

For business Macs that need to restore the catalog back to the business's you can do that with the following command:

sudo softwareupdate --set-catalog <URL GOES HERE WITHOUT BRACKETS>

The first command I stated should download and install all updates but sometimes bugs happen and things don't work. Another attempt to solve the issue could be the following command first.

Reset all ignored updates:

sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored -ai

More edits! Lets try seeing what the app store thinks is needing an update with this command:

defaults read com.apple.appstore

Last possible option I can think off is to write that no updates are available. If there are updates available this won't fix that, but it'll change the updates available number.

defaults write com.apple.appstore appStoreBadgeCount 0

This may change the badge count.

Sometimes nothing works, and a reinstall may be the best option. Steps below.

Don't forget to backup your data!

  1. Download MacOS Sierra from the app store.
  2. Reinstall by opening it and running it

OR FOR CLEAN WIPE READ ON

  1. Wipe a USB Drive or Partition it with 6GB minimum named Untitled

  2. Run the following command after downloading Sierra to create a bootable USB.

    sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app

    This may take a bit of time to copy onto the USB.

  3. Now, boot into recovery mode by holding down alt/option directly after starting up your mac.

  4. Here you will be presented with the USB option (Don't forget to plug keep it plugged in or it won't show up) NOTE If a firmware Password was set, you will be required to put it in to boot it up and choose a disk to boot from!
  5. Booting up to the USB will be like recovery mode and you can wipe your Mac's HD/SSD and reinstall a fresh clean copy of OS Sierra.

Don't forget to backup your data!

Reinstalling via alt/option + command + r into the internet recovery (If available on your mac model) will revert and download and old OS that it came with out of Apple's Facility then to Sierra, so a bootable USB is a good option and you can keep it there for another use.

grg
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Jahhein
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  • I only found 1 update with softwareupdate -l – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 00:23
  • More than likely it was the newest iTunes update just released a few hours ago. Which in that case didn't solve your problem. I'm getting an SSL error for those photos preventing me from seeing them. Today was the expiration date on the certificate. Sorry about that. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 00:37
  • I noticed that you said -l for list. Can you do a sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored and then -ia which installs all. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 00:38
  • Why sudo? it works fine without. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 00:46
  • It only found iTunes. It installed the update, and now the bubble is back to 7. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 00:49
  • What mac OS are you running? – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 00:54
  • macOS Sierra 10.12.1 – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 00:54
  • If you know what the apps are that are requesting to be updated, try deleting them and reinstall them. Some less drastic measures may be available but I need to locate the command to allow the App Store Developer menu item to appear. From there we can try and clear the cache. Another is System Preferences > App Store > Check updates. Another is from the App Store menu > Store > Check unfinished downloads. My final though is this is an update from another Mac on your account which is being requested for. In the App Store Preferences you'll see a "Automatically download apps on other Macs". – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:00
  • Sorry just noticed the "Why sudo?" And because the command does actually require administrator privileges because you're installing software. But even if it doesn't it makes the process of ruling out that you can't even update because of a standard user restriction. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:02
  • Don't know the apps, and I don't believe I have more than seven apps on my computer! Also, no other Macs use my account, and I am my computer's admin. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:05
  • Can you run a command defaults read com.apple.appstore and copy the output and put it in your question for me? lets see what these updates are. The debug/developer menu option isn't working or I've got the wrong one for sierra. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:08
  • ok done, edited – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:17
  • I ran that command, it did not produce any error, but it did nothing. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:50
  • I did a defaults read com.apple.appstore and it produced an output stating 0. Try a reboot. I changed it from 2 to 0. I have two currently available. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:51
  • Rebooted, nothing happened. I don't know what's going on! – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:52
  • After rebooting, I ran $ defaults read com.apple.appstore appStoreBadgeCount and got 7. I reused the command in your answer, and then read the badge count again and got 0. The icon did not change however. EDIT: After rebooting again, the badge count is back to 7. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:54
  • I'm sorry. I'm out of ideas aside from reinstall apps and then OS if it's annoying and can't get it to zero. You sure your apps are all located strictly in the /Applications folder and not a local drive/USB? – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 01:57
  • How would I reinstall my OS? Redownload the Sierra installer app? – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 01:58
  • Added to answer. – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 02:10
  • Thank you for all your help @Jahhein, I really appreciate it. – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 02:32
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    No problem @OldBunny2800 however I'm sorry we couldn't solve it without a reinstall. I tried everything I could think of. Thank you for still accepting the answer. :) – Jahhein Oct 28 '16 at 02:34
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    Why wouldn't I? You've been helping me, a complete stranger, for no compensation for the past two hours straight. I would give you a bounty if I could! :) – AAM111 Oct 28 '16 at 02:36
  • This discussion should probably move to chat instead of using Comments. – fsb Oct 28 '16 at 02:41
10

Updating from the purchased tab on the app store fixed the problem.

ashokrajar
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7

The App Store was having problems since yesterday afternoon.
It was not your fault, the problem was on their end.
But it is back now.

GEdgar
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  • I also believe this is a server overload issue where the update catalog being served to the Mac clients causes wrong calculations. Nothing has changed on dozens of Macs we manage that had this issue other than time passing and this issue has cleared up across the board now. – bmike Oct 28 '16 at 13:45
0

Go to System Preferences and search for Updates, activate Auto Update and the Updates will be downloaded -> automatically.

enter image description here

I still don't see the available updates, but they have been updated and installed in the background. And since I guess, that this is just a temporary bug (it can't be coincidence, that thousands of users have the same issue simultaneously...) , this should work as work around.

David Seek
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0

The simplest solution I found was to go into cache and delete two folders called com.apple.appstore

  1. Go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G;
  2. Locate ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore and delete com.apple.appstore which are cache files;
  3. Then press again those commands and go /private/var/folders, open each folder and each subfolder (probably C subfolder) until you find com.apple.appstore and delete this folder;
  4. Restart your Mac.

original answer found at: How to fix / Reset App Store app on Mac OSX - El Capitan

Community
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Federico
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0

I've found that, when that happens, going to the "Purchases" tab will usually reveal that you've been logged out of the store somehow, and it will tell you you need to login again. Once you've done that, you'll be able to download updates.

Kevin McKenzie
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0

Sign Out and Sign in again, and then Check for Unfinished Download solve the issue for me

Sign Out:

In the app store menu, click Store -> Sign Out

Sign In:

In the app store menu, click Store -> Sign In

Check for unfinished download:

In the app store menu, click Store -> Check for Unfinished Download

Yana Agun Siswanto
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