Table of contents

1. Software Update
   1. How do I apply all recommended updates?
   2. Updating Mac using the Terminal app
   3. Install all but make sure you ignore ‘JavaForOSX’ updates:
   4. To clear the list, ignored updates, enter:
   5. Update/Install OS
      1. This gives you a list of available releases you can choose from. Once downloaded it will be saved in your Applications folder
         1. Munki’s InstallInstallMacOS utility
      2. create installer
         1. run
2. dscl
   1. unhide a user account
3. chflags
   1. Hide Home folder
4. DISKUTIL
   1. find disk
   2. unmount
   3. force unmount
   4. Format drive/Volume
   5. Diskutil SecureErase
5. csrutil
6. pwpolicy
   1. Set Global Policy
7. Supported File Systems
   1. APFS
   2. HFS
   3. UDF
   4. NFS

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Software Update

How do I apply all recommended updates?

All updates that are recommended for your system:

sudo softwareupdate -r

Updating Mac using the Terminal app

To install all updates that are applicable to your system, enter:

sudo softwareupdate -i -a

Install all but make sure you ignore ‘JavaForOSX’ updates:

sudo softwareupdate --ignore JavaForOSX

To clear the list, ignored updates, enter:

sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored

Update/Install OS

This gives you a list of available releases you can choose from. Once downloaded it will be saved in your Applications folder

softwareupdate --list-full-installers;echo;echo "Please enter version number you wish to download:";read;$(if [ -n "$REPLY" ]; then; echo "softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version "$REPLY; fi);

Munki’s InstallInstallMacOS utility

Once finished, you’ll find in your ~/macOS-Installer/

mkdir -p ~/macOS-installer && cd ~/macOS-installer && curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/munki/macadmin-scripts/main/installinstallmacos.py > installinstallmacos.py && sudo python installinstallmacos.py

create installer

run

createinstallmedia command provided by Apple (opens a new window). Note that the command is made for USB’s formatted
with the name MyVolume:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

Note for users on Apple Silicon installing macOS older than Big Sur
If the createinstallmedia fails with zsh: killed or Killed: 9 then it’s most likely an issue with the
installer’s code signature.
To fix this, you can run the following command:

cd /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/
codesign -s - -f --deep /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app

You will need the command line tools for Xcode installed:

xcode-select --install

dscl

unhide a user account

sudo dscl . create /Users/hiddenuser IsHidden 0

chflags

Hide Home folder

sudo chflags hidden /Users/username

DISKUTIL

find disk

diskutil list

unmount

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk#

force unmount

diskutil unmountDisk /force /dev/disk#

Format drive/Volume

diskutil eraseDisk

diskutil eraseDisk format name [APM[Format]|MBR[Format]|GPT[Format]]MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Completely erase an existing whole disk.
All volumes on this disk will be destroyed.
Ownership of the affected disk is required.
Format is the specific file system name you want to erase it as (HFS+, etc.).
Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions),
or can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (newfs).
You cannot erase the boot disk.

 diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ UntitledUFS disk3

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ CleanDrive /dev/disk1

Formats

APFS: Allocates disk space within a container (partition) on demand.
When a single APFS container has multiple volumes, the container’s free space is shared and is automatically
allocated
to any of the individual volumes as needed.
If desired, you can specify reserve and quota sizes for each volume.
Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the
total size of the container, minus the size of all the volumes in the container.

APFS: Uses the APFS format. Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format.

APFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume.

APFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. For example, folders
named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK”
are two different folders.

APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Uses the APFS format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names, and encrypts
the volume.
For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two
different folders.

File System	Abbreviation
Mac OS Extended (Journaled)	JHFS+
Mac OS Extended	HFS+
MS-DOS fat32	FAT32
ExFAT	ExFAT

Diskutil SecureErase

Now we need to select the level of secure erase we want. There are five levels of secure erasing you can use labeled
from 0-4.

Level 0 just erases the drive by writing the number zero across every sector of the drive.

Level 1 does the same but with random data, thus taking longer.

Level 2 erases the drive 7 times with 1’s and 0’s except the last pass where it uses random data.

Level 3 is a special algorithm that erases the drives with random data as well as data compiled from a special
collection of 1’s and 0’s.

Level 4 is a little different and erases it three times, with random data on the first two passes and one set of
zeroes on the last pass.

diskutil secureErase 4 /dev/disk2

csrutil

pwpolicy

• alt man page
• alt man page - config

Set Global Policy

pwpolicy -setglobalpolicy minChars=0

Supported File Systems

• APFS

  The default file system for Apple platforms in macOS High Sierra and later, iOS 10.3 and later, watchOS 4.0 and later, and tvOS 10.2 and later.

• HFS Plus

  • Mac OS Extended file system. The standard file system for prior versions of macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

• HFS

  Mac OS Standard file system. The standard file system for older versions of macOS. File systems of this type are treated as read only in macOS 10.6 and later.

• WebDAV

  • Used for directly accessing files on the web. For example, iDisk uses WebDAV for accessing files.

• UDF

  Universal Disk Format. The standard file system for all forms of DVD media (video, ROM, RAM and RW) and some writable CD formats.

• FAT

  • The MS-DOS file system, with 16- and 32-bit variants. Fat 12-bit is not supported.

• ExFAT

  • An interchange format used by digital cameras and other peripherals.

• SMB/CIFS

  • Used for sharing files with Microsoft Windows SMB file servers and clients.

• AFP

  • Apple Filing Protocol. The primary network file system for all versions of Mac OS.

• NFS

  Network File System. A commonly-used UNIX file sharing standard. macOS supports NFSv2 and NFSv3 over TCP and UDP. macOS 10.7 and later also supports NFSv4 over TCP.

• FTP

  • A file system wrapper for the standard Internet File Transfer Protocol.

• Xsan

  • Apple’s 64-bit cluster file system used in storage area networks.

• NTFS

  • A standard file system for computers running the Windows operating system.

• CDDAFS

  • A file system used to mount audio CDs and present audio tracks on disc to users as AIFF-C encoded files.

• ISO 9660

  • The file system format used by CD-ROMs.