OS X Mountain Lion: Cannot install Software Updates through HTTPS proxy

Products Affected

OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Server (Mountain Lion)

Symptoms

Certain Secure Web (HTTPS) proxy servers may prevent OS X Mountain Lion clients from installing Software Updates.

Resolution

One option is to bypass the HTTPS proxy for the Apple Software Update servers. This can be done by your network administrator using an automatic proxy configuration or a configuration profile. You can also manually update your proxy configuration using these steps:

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Select your active network interface (usually Ethernet or Wi-Fi).
  3. Click the Advanced button.
  4. Select the Proxies tab.
  5. Enter the following hosts under "Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts & Domains:"
    swscan.apple.com, swquery.apple.com, swdownload.apple.com, swcdn.apple.com
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click Apply.

Your network administrator can also install OS X Server on Mountain Lion to provide a local Software Update server that mirrors the updates on Apple's Software Update servers. This local Software Update server will still need to bypass the HTTPS proxy to contact Apple's servers, but it will supply updates to clients on your local network via HTTP. For more information, see Requirements for Software Update Service.

Additional Information

OS X Mountain Lion uses HTTPS to make a secure connection to Apple's Software Update servers. Some HTTPS proxy servers intercept secure web connections and inspect the traffic which uses these connections. Such proxy servers prevent OS X Mountain Lion from verifying the security of its connection to Apple's Software Update servers. If OS X Mountain Lion cannot verify the server connection, it will not present or install automatic software updates.

You can also manually download and install Software Updates from Apple Support Downloads.

Not helpful Somewhat helpful Helpful Very helpful Solved my problem