In this guide, we will show you the steps to fix the issue of Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”. Recently, users on Monterey are going through a rather wired issue wherein their Mac tends to download the “Install macOS Monterey.app” after every few days. This happens inspite of the fact that their mac is already running the said OS.
Moreover, another major concerning factor is that the size of this app is 12GB. So it is leading to unnecessary data exhaustion as well as the consumption of the storage space. When the downloading is happening in the background or even upon successful completion of the same, you wouldn’t get any notification whatsoever. The only way users were able to get hold of the culprit was by monitoring their hard disk space or network activity.
This is when they suddenly noticed that this huge file was being downloaded. While this is no doubt quite a concerning issue, the good thing is that there do exist a few nifty workarounds that shall help you out. So without further ado, let’s check out the methods to fix the issue of Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”.
Table of Contents
Fix Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”
It is recommended that you try out each of the below-mentioned workarounds and then see which one spells out success for you. So with that in mind, let’s get started.
FIX 1: Using InstallAssistant.pkg
Using the culprit as the fix, well, it can’t get any better! So we will first extract the 12GB “Install macOS Monterey.app” file and get hold of the Monterey.app which is of just a few MBs. We will then put this file in the Applications folder. The Software Update app will then notice that the Monterey.app has already been downloaded and hence it wouldn’t download it again! Before starting, just make sure to delete the existing Monterey.app file present in the Applications folder.
- To begin with, launch Finder and head over to the below location
/private/var/folders/
- Do a little bit of searching and you should find the InstallAssistant.pkg file.
- Extract it using the Pacifist app and should get the Install macOS Monterey.app.
- Now transfer just this app [which would be around 43MB] to the Applications folder.
- Make sure that you don’t copy the larger SharedSupport.dmg file.
- Now the Software Upgrade will perform a check and since the app is already there, it wouldn’t download a fresh copy.
So this was perhaps the best approach when it comes to fixing the issue of Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app. However, do note that you will have to manually update this Monterey.app to the latest version every time a Monterey update is released.
So what you could do is stop the update at around 100MB [by then, the Monterey.app will be downloaded]. Then rename InstallAssistant.pkg.partial to InstallAssistant.pkg and extract the Monterey.app using Pacifist [the package has the ‘partial’ extension because we had stopped the download mid-way]. After that, transfer only that app to the Application folder and your task stands complete.
FIX 2: Using the Text Edit File
Similar to the above fix, here will be using a TextEdit File to get this job done. As before, make sure to delete the existing Monterey.app file present in the Applications folder before proceeding ahead.
- To begin with, create a new text file and type in any random characters in it.
- Then save it as Install OS Monterey.app and transfer it to the Applications folder.
- Now right-click on it and select Get Info. Then check Locked under General.
- When the Software Update will find that the file is already present there, it wouldn’t download a new package.
- So this should fix the issue of Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app.
FIX 3: Disable Content Caching
If the Content Caching feature is enabled on your Mac, then it might lead to the OS downloading the same file over and over again. Therefore, it is recommended to turn off this feature, using the instructions given below.
- Click on the Apple logo situated at the top left and select System Preferences
- Then click on Sharing and uncheck Content Sharing from the left-hand side.
- Check if it fixes the issue of Mac downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”.
FIX 4: Verify macOS Update Settings
You should verify that the settings related to automatic download and installation of updates haven’t been enabled.
- To begin with, open the System Preferences menu and click on Software Update
- Then make sure that you haven’t checked “Automatically keep my Mac up to date”.
- After that, click on the Advanced button and uncheck “Download new updates when available”.
- Verify if these tweaks fix the issue of Mac downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”.
FIX 5: Edit the Host File
In this method, we will be assigning the localhost IP to the Mac server address from where it tends to download the updates. The OS wouldn’t be able to access the website and hence wouldn’t be able to be able to download the update. Whenever you need to actually download a software upgrade, then just undo the change [delete the below line of codes from the host file].
- Open Finder, go to the etc folder, and open the Host file.
- Then copy-paste the below lines of commands in this file-
## Mac Software Update #/System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/Resources/softwareupdated 127.0.0.1 swdist.apple.com 127.0.0.1 swscan.apple.com 127.0.0.1 swcdn.apple.com #127.0.0.1 xp.apple.com #/usr/libexec/mobileassetd 127.0.0.1 gdmf.apple.com 127.0.0.1 xp.apple.com #/usr/libexec/nsurlsessiond 127.0.0.1 mesu.apple.com 127.0.0.1 updates.cdn-apple.com #download url
- Finally, save the changes. The OS will no longer download the Install macOS Monterey.app” on your Mac
That’s it. These were the five different methods that shall help you fix the issue of Mac automatically downloading the “Install macOS Monterey.app”. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.
