macOS Update Not Showing? This Powerful Terminal Fix Worked

When the macOS update was not showing on my Apple silicon MacBook Pro, System Settings insisted that no update was available. The graphical updater found nothing, but one Terminal command successfully downloaded the full installer. I suspected that software carried over from my Intel Mac might be involved, although I never proved that it caused the problem.

How I Ended Up With an Aging Intel Mac

I recently needed to revive my Mac Pro. It was one of those beautiful cylindrical machines, upgraded with plenty of memory and storage. It had been a powerhouse, but after sitting unused for years, it quickly became clear that it was no longer suitable for modern Mac development.

I originally bought the computer for my work on OmnisTools. When I purchased it from the Apple Store in 2017, it was the bomb. I maxed out the memory and upgraded the storage, thinking it would be my primary machine for many years.

Apple continued selling that same “Late 2013” design for years. A few years after I bought mine, Apple began its transition from Intel processors to Apple silicon. Intel Macs gradually became second-class citizens, and my once-powerful Mac Pro eventually stopped receiving major macOS updates.

In October 2022, the updates stopped. Irritatingly, Apple kept calling it a “Late 2013” model even though it continued selling the machine for years. Timing is everything.

Downloading development tools such as Kiro and GitHub Copilot soon became impossible because the Mac Pro was stuck on Monterey (macOS 12) without current security updates.

Migration Assistant Brought Intel Baggage With It

I bought a new MacBook Pro and was excited to get set up. In hindsight, I should not have used Migration Assistant. At the time, I thought, “An automated copy will be much faster than manually moving folders, music, photos, and everything else.”

The problem was that the old Mac Pro used an Intel processor, and Migration Assistant copied much more than my personal files. It also brought over applications and development tools. Many appeared to work after a few updates and a couple of brew doctor and brew upgrade commands, so I thought I was safe.

It turned out that some tools were only partly working. Docker, Python environments, and other development software still contained Intel components that did not automatically trigger Rosetta. Even when Rosetta could run them, I would still be using emulation rather than native Apple silicon software.

I spent a weekend uninstalling and reinstalling tools, including my LLM development software. With some help from AI, I cleaned out everything I could find that was built for Intel or running through Rosetta. For a few weeks, everything seemed fine.

Why Was the macOS Update Not Showing?

Then the macOS 27 beta arrived. Since I’m a nerd, I enabled beta updates—but the update never appeared. That was odd, but not urgent enough to investigate immediately.

Later, after my work computers had moved to the released version and my MacBook Pro still refused to update, I started digging. The update process checks whether a Mac can run the new operating system, which requires Apple silicon. My MacBook Pro met that requirement, so I wondered whether some remaining Intel software or migration metadata was confusing the check.

That remains a theory. I did not prove that Migration Assistant or any Intel component caused the missing update. What I did confirm was that the graphical updater could not find it while the command-line tool could download it.

Check for macOS Updates in Terminal

Apple’s instructions for downloading and installing macOS led me to the softwareupdate command-line tool. My first step was to check for available updates:

MacBook-Pro:~ robweaver$ softwareupdate --list
Software Update Tool

Finding available software
No new software available.

That confirmed the problem: the normal update mechanism was not finding anything.

Download the Full macOS Installer

The same command-line tool can request a specific full macOS installer. I ran:

MacBook-Pro:~ robweaver$ softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 27.0
Scanning for 27.0 installer
Install finished successfully

The list command still showed no available update, but the installer had appeared in my Applications folder:

MacBook-Pro:~ robweaver$ ls -lh /Applications | grep "Install macOS"
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       wheel    96B Sep 19 10:01 Install macOS 27 Golden Gate.app
MacBook-Pro:~ robweaver$ open "/Applications/Install macOS 27 Golden Gate.app"

Before installing a major macOS update this way, make sure you have a current backup.

Did This Remove All the Intel Software?

I still do not know whether this completely resolved the leftover Intel software or merely bypassed an unrelated update-detection problem. What I do know is that the Terminal command gave me the full installer when Software Update said nothing was available.

At least I am now running the latest macOS release—until Apple decides this Mac is too old, too. Since I bought it in 2026, they will probably call it a “Late 2022” model or something, so I should have a couple of years left. 🙂