Software Update's badge won't disappear after the update to Catalina 10.15.4

[akkra_tuns]

Does anyone experience the same issue? Would anyone here be able to help to guide me to make the badge disappear?

I am running the latest Catalina on mid-2012 Macbook Pro. Just updated it from Mojave. It is a little annoying to see the red badge on the System Preferences all the time after the update.

 

[Tony_YYZ]

Does anyone experience the same issue? Would anyone here be able to help to guide me to make the badge disappear?

I am running the latest Catalina on mid-2012 Macbook Pro. Just updated it from Mojave. It is a little annoying to see the red badge on the System Preferences all the time after the update.

You sure it's the software update badge and not one for your Apple ID?

 

[Nguyet-Minh Dao]

I have the same problem. I have my computer restart multiple as it suggests but the badge won't go away.

 

[akkra_tuns]

You sure it's the software update badge and not one for your Apple ID?

Thanks so much for your reply. But yes, once I opened up System Preferences, the badge is clearly on Software Update icon. Right now I unchecked “check for updates” and reset the dock Badges with Terminal (the “killall Dock” Command). It works at the moment, but I’m a little sad that I won’t be notified for the next updates. If any of you have a better solution for this bug, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[bogdanw]

Try in Terminal

defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs; killall Dock

 

[akkra_tuns]

Try in Terminal

defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs; killall Dock

Thank you very much. That’s exactly what I’ve done. But if I make it automatically check for the updates, the badge will reappear again in a matter of minutes.

 

[bogdanw]

Thank you very much. That’s exactly what I’ve done. But if I make it automatically check for the updates, the badge will reappear again in a matter of minutes.

We had the same problem when ignoring Catalina in Mojave, try to delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
This is the thread regarding Mojave https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/system-preferences-software-update-badge.2204123/page-2

 

[Shark5150]

try signing out of your iCloud account. Then sign back in. Worked for me.

 

[akkra_tuns]

try signing out of your iCloud account. Then sign back in. Worked for me.

I just did as you advised. Unfortunately, the problem still persists.
[automerge]1585245840[/automerge]

We had the same problem when ignoring Catalina in Mojave, try to delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
This is the thread regarding Mojave https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/system-preferences-software-update-badge.2204123/page-2

I tried to fix it the easy way out, by updating to Catalina. Didn’t know that the same problem would still be there, except now without the ability to run some of my favourite 32 bit apps... 😢

 

[mrochester]

Hi all.

My MBP has the latest version of Catalina installed and when I open software update there are no updates to be installed.

However the system preferences icon in my dock is still showing a red dot to indicate there is 1 software update available.

How do I get rid of this?

Many thanks.

M.

 

[MJCDFW]

I have the same issue - updated to Catalina last night and the software update badge shows "1" update available even though there are no updates available.

 

[bogdanw]

Close System Preferences and try from Terminal

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs
defaults delete com.apple.systempreferences DidShowPrefBundleIDs
killall Dock

 

[Kennyyoli]

I am having the same problem. The above works in terminal, removes the badge until the machine searches for update again, and it resets. I just turned off the auto update, and it has stayed off.

 

[bogdanw]

I am having the same problem. The above works in terminal, removes the badge until the machine searches for update again, and it resets. I just turned off the auto update, and it has stayed off.

After the badge shows up again, could you please read the contents of com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist with

defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist

and post the result.

 

[auxbuss]

I had this problem after updating to Catalina. It cleared itself after I updated Command Line Tools (CLT) for Xcode (with xcode-select --install) for homebrew. Might be worth a try, even if you don't use homebrew.

If needed, CLT can be deleted from /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

 

[bruha]

Same problem with the badge without actual updates, Catalina 10.15.4

 

[Tygernoot]

Same here. I just upgraded to Catalina and have the (1) badge.

 

[tamaralig]

If you have Automatic Updates on in the App Store, the app may have already updated, the badge stays on to let you know there was a recent update. If you don't have Automatic Updates on, make sure your App Store is signed in, sometimes it'll show the update badge but won't update if your login has timed out.

 

[Jason-a-MacUser]

I have the same issue.

@tamaralig - this is actually an issue with Software Update in System Preferences pane in MacOS Catalina, vs. App Store updates.
@bogdanw - Contents of com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist are as follows below:
---------------------------
{
LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier = "com.apple.InstallAssistant.Catalina";

ProductKeysLastSeenByUser = (
"061-90745",
"061-61260"
);
}
---------------------------

 

[OldGreyGuy]

Same thing happening on my 2018 MacBook Pro, not happening on my 2018 Mac Mini. Both on Catalina 10.15.4.

 

[Jason-a-MacUser]

@auxbuss - I was intrigued by your experience and interested to see if updating Command Line Tools for Xcode would fix mine too.

I had once installed Xcode in the past, but had since removed it. My theory was maybe MacOS was detecting old bits of it leftover as being an out of date installation that needed updating.

However, when I installed both Xcode and Xcode Command Line Tools from the App Store (this is how I obtained them previously), and rebooted, unfortunately it had no effect and the red number badge remains.

 

[bogdanw]

@bogdanw - Contents of com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist are as follows below:
LatestMajorOSSeenByUserBundleIdentifier = "com.apple.InstallAssistant.Catalina";
ProductKeysLastSeenByUser = (
"061-90745",
"061-61260"

Well, according to Apple’s update catalog for Catalina (long link) 061-90745 is SecUpd2020-002Mojave and 061-61260 is Safari13.1MojaveAuto.
It think, for whatever reason, Software Update is showing you updates for Mojave, that it can not obviously install on Catalina.
Check /Library/Updates/, if folders named 061-90745 and 061-61260 are present, delete them.
Delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist and run from Terminal sudo softwareupdate -l

 

[auxbuss]

@auxbuss
However, when I installed both Xcode and Xcode Command Line Tools from the App Store (this is how I obtained them previously), and rebooted, unfortunately it had no effect and the red number badge remains.

Ah well, that's a shame. Also, to be clear, I didn't install Xcode; only Command Line Tools via:xcode-select --install

 

[jazzer15]

I have the issue as well after update from Mojave yesterday.

 

[Kennyyoli]

@bogdanw I followed directions you gave to @Jason-a-MacUser above, as I had one of the same product key folders in Update folder. I deleted it, and the com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist file. Then ran the sudo update command. Badge is gone now (many thanks!), but I noticed it did not rewrite the Library/Preferences/com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate.plist file in the folder. Will this affect any future updates or cause any issues?