On Monday, macOS Monterey 12.1 was released, but for some reason the update has not been showing up for all Mac users. M1-based Macs seen to have an issue seeing version 12.1 in Software Update.
Fortunately, 9to5Mac – or to be more specific, 9to5Mac reader Jonlon -has found a workaround to access the update even on such machines. Here’s how you can do it:
- Start by opening System Preferences and selecting the Software Update option. If you don’t see the update there, leave the window open and proceed to the next step. (If you do see it, you can obviously follow the usual procedure without any need for a workaround.)
- Now go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor and select the View > All Processes option from the menu bar.
- Search for “com.apple.MobileSoftwareUpdate.UpdateBrainService” and force-quit it.
- macOS Monterey 12.1 should then appear in the open Software Update window.
- If this still refuses to download, force-quit com.apple.MobileSoftwareUpdate.UpdateBrainService again in Activity Monitor.
Hopefully the bug will be fixed soon, so if you don’t feel like following the instructions above, just wait a while longer.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation (using DeepL) and additional reporting by David Price.
