How do I schedule automatic updates on Mac that's usually turned off?












1














I have a Mac Mini (2014) with MacOS Mojave on it.

It is constantly plugged into an electrical outlet though almost constantly completely turned off (neither hibernate nor sleep). Moreover, it usually has immediate access to the internet when turned on (i.e. constant Wifi hotspot available that it knows the password for and connects to automatically).



My question is this: how do I schedule it to automatically turn on at a specific time of the week (specific day and hour) without me being there to press the power button and then have it do updates automatically if there are any and then, finally, shut back down. Again, this would ideally be done without me being there to log in or press any button. Since it has all the resources available (power and an internet connection), I imagine this should technically be possible to automate.










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  • Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 12:25










  • Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 9 at 12:46
















1














I have a Mac Mini (2014) with MacOS Mojave on it.

It is constantly plugged into an electrical outlet though almost constantly completely turned off (neither hibernate nor sleep). Moreover, it usually has immediate access to the internet when turned on (i.e. constant Wifi hotspot available that it knows the password for and connects to automatically).



My question is this: how do I schedule it to automatically turn on at a specific time of the week (specific day and hour) without me being there to press the power button and then have it do updates automatically if there are any and then, finally, shut back down. Again, this would ideally be done without me being there to log in or press any button. Since it has all the resources available (power and an internet connection), I imagine this should technically be possible to automate.










share|improve this question
























  • Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 12:25










  • Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 9 at 12:46














1












1








1







I have a Mac Mini (2014) with MacOS Mojave on it.

It is constantly plugged into an electrical outlet though almost constantly completely turned off (neither hibernate nor sleep). Moreover, it usually has immediate access to the internet when turned on (i.e. constant Wifi hotspot available that it knows the password for and connects to automatically).



My question is this: how do I schedule it to automatically turn on at a specific time of the week (specific day and hour) without me being there to press the power button and then have it do updates automatically if there are any and then, finally, shut back down. Again, this would ideally be done without me being there to log in or press any button. Since it has all the resources available (power and an internet connection), I imagine this should technically be possible to automate.










share|improve this question















I have a Mac Mini (2014) with MacOS Mojave on it.

It is constantly plugged into an electrical outlet though almost constantly completely turned off (neither hibernate nor sleep). Moreover, it usually has immediate access to the internet when turned on (i.e. constant Wifi hotspot available that it knows the password for and connects to automatically).



My question is this: how do I schedule it to automatically turn on at a specific time of the week (specific day and hour) without me being there to press the power button and then have it do updates automatically if there are any and then, finally, shut back down. Again, this would ideally be done without me being there to log in or press any button. Since it has all the resources available (power and an internet connection), I imagine this should technically be possible to automate.







macos automation updates






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share|improve this question













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edited Dec 9 at 12:27









Tetsujin

15.3k53261




15.3k53261










asked Dec 9 at 11:53









Alex

114




114












  • Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 12:25










  • Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 9 at 12:46


















  • Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 12:25










  • Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 9 at 12:46
















Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
– Alex
Dec 9 at 12:25




Thanks! I hope this will be reopened
– Alex
Dec 9 at 12:25












Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
– Tetsujin
Dec 9 at 12:46




Done & done. You should raise the same question as a separate Windows-specific version; it just fits the stack exchange format better that way.
– Tetsujin
Dec 9 at 12:46










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















0














You could use a combination of two System Control Panel structures.

There's no way to make it boot, check, shut down in a single move, but you can do it in 2 steps...



Firstly, you can set it to auto-boot [it can do this from "completely off" so long as it's got mains power] on a schedule & shut down any time later. Energy Saver prefs > Schedule... I just threw some fairly random parameters in this for the picture, as I don't use it this way myself...



enter image description here



Combined with that, so it will check & action any updates it finds during that boot period, use Software Update > Advanced & check all the boxes - this panel is new since Mojave, but essentially the same options are available in earlier OSes, in the App Store Control Panel. You can't dictate the interval between checks for this, but if it hasn't seen the internet for a day or two, it will just do it automatically, shortly after boot.



enter image description here



I'm not absolutely certain all updates can be actioned this way with absolutely no admin intervention, but it ought to get you very close to that.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1




    This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 13:11











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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









0














You could use a combination of two System Control Panel structures.

There's no way to make it boot, check, shut down in a single move, but you can do it in 2 steps...



Firstly, you can set it to auto-boot [it can do this from "completely off" so long as it's got mains power] on a schedule & shut down any time later. Energy Saver prefs > Schedule... I just threw some fairly random parameters in this for the picture, as I don't use it this way myself...



enter image description here



Combined with that, so it will check & action any updates it finds during that boot period, use Software Update > Advanced & check all the boxes - this panel is new since Mojave, but essentially the same options are available in earlier OSes, in the App Store Control Panel. You can't dictate the interval between checks for this, but if it hasn't seen the internet for a day or two, it will just do it automatically, shortly after boot.



enter image description here



I'm not absolutely certain all updates can be actioned this way with absolutely no admin intervention, but it ought to get you very close to that.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1




    This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 13:11
















0














You could use a combination of two System Control Panel structures.

There's no way to make it boot, check, shut down in a single move, but you can do it in 2 steps...



Firstly, you can set it to auto-boot [it can do this from "completely off" so long as it's got mains power] on a schedule & shut down any time later. Energy Saver prefs > Schedule... I just threw some fairly random parameters in this for the picture, as I don't use it this way myself...



enter image description here



Combined with that, so it will check & action any updates it finds during that boot period, use Software Update > Advanced & check all the boxes - this panel is new since Mojave, but essentially the same options are available in earlier OSes, in the App Store Control Panel. You can't dictate the interval between checks for this, but if it hasn't seen the internet for a day or two, it will just do it automatically, shortly after boot.



enter image description here



I'm not absolutely certain all updates can be actioned this way with absolutely no admin intervention, but it ought to get you very close to that.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1




    This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 13:11














0












0








0






You could use a combination of two System Control Panel structures.

There's no way to make it boot, check, shut down in a single move, but you can do it in 2 steps...



Firstly, you can set it to auto-boot [it can do this from "completely off" so long as it's got mains power] on a schedule & shut down any time later. Energy Saver prefs > Schedule... I just threw some fairly random parameters in this for the picture, as I don't use it this way myself...



enter image description here



Combined with that, so it will check & action any updates it finds during that boot period, use Software Update > Advanced & check all the boxes - this panel is new since Mojave, but essentially the same options are available in earlier OSes, in the App Store Control Panel. You can't dictate the interval between checks for this, but if it hasn't seen the internet for a day or two, it will just do it automatically, shortly after boot.



enter image description here



I'm not absolutely certain all updates can be actioned this way with absolutely no admin intervention, but it ought to get you very close to that.






share|improve this answer














You could use a combination of two System Control Panel structures.

There's no way to make it boot, check, shut down in a single move, but you can do it in 2 steps...



Firstly, you can set it to auto-boot [it can do this from "completely off" so long as it's got mains power] on a schedule & shut down any time later. Energy Saver prefs > Schedule... I just threw some fairly random parameters in this for the picture, as I don't use it this way myself...



enter image description here



Combined with that, so it will check & action any updates it finds during that boot period, use Software Update > Advanced & check all the boxes - this panel is new since Mojave, but essentially the same options are available in earlier OSes, in the App Store Control Panel. You can't dictate the interval between checks for this, but if it hasn't seen the internet for a day or two, it will just do it automatically, shortly after boot.



enter image description here



I'm not absolutely certain all updates can be actioned this way with absolutely no admin intervention, but it ought to get you very close to that.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Dec 9 at 12:52

























answered Dec 9 at 12:44









Tetsujin

15.3k53261




15.3k53261








  • 1




    This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 13:11














  • 1




    This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
    – Alex
    Dec 9 at 13:11








1




1




This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
– Alex
Dec 9 at 13:11




This is exactly the answer that I was looking for :) Thanks and also thank you for editing my answer as well! Have a nice day!
– Alex
Dec 9 at 13:11


















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