Every time I try to check for software updates through Apple Software Update, it keeps saying "The Apple Software Update server could not be found. Check your Internet settings and try again".
Does anyone have a solution for this?
Your Norton firewall is most likely not letting it through. Try going to the firewall settings in Norton and unblocking it.
I was prompted to update to v2.2 of Apple Software Update today. I updated and I've started getting the same error message as post 1. The server is operational and the program is not being blocked by my firewall or antivirus. Apple Support have given me instructions to uninstall and reinstall Apple software in a particular order. However, I can see from Googling the issue that others have done this and it didn't solve the problem.
I wanted to go back to the previous version 2.1.4 but I couldn't find a safe direct download link. I then restored the directory c:\program files (x86)\apple software update from a recent backup and this runs OK - but it would have been better to uninstall the new version and reinstall the old one. I suspect a serious bug in Apple's software. It looks like the quality of their software engineering is going in the same direction as Microsoft's.
Last edited by Steve C; 16 Mar 2016 at 11:58.
Quite the opposite, I would say. Software has always been Apple's weak point. iTunes is an utter disgrace. I have no idea why anyone bothers using it anymore, as third-party (even free) apps can manage the media files in the iDevices, and updates can all be done over the air. Microsoft's software is quite good, especially in the business sector.
ASU 2.2 is unable to find the server. checked hosts file & added exclusions to AV and firewall, still no go. Just spouting on whether Apple is worse or better at software is not at all helpful. Anyone have any solutions?
See my post 3 for a fix - I just restored the ASU directory from my Macrium backup. It would be better to install previous version 2.1.4 if anyone knows where to download it from.
Thanks Steve I saw your earlier post saying to restore from a backup. That's somewhat ineffective when as soon as you update iTunes to 12.3 or QuickTime, they will both overwrite your old restored ver 2.14 with the schlocky ver 2.2.
This site http://apple-software-update.updatestar.com/en appeared to have older versions avail but they all redirect to ver 2.2 so that's a no-go
Well I just noticed this problem starting too. I had updated it when it came out and it was working fine. I even used it to update to newest iTunes earlier this week. I then tested the update software in the aftermath to check and it was still working. But this morning the same error now comes up on both our desktop and laptop. Must be Apple server side issue as for both machines to to do this having worked ok is too much of conincidence. Will wait and see if it clears. A few people have reported same over on Apple forums.
within iTunes itself a check for updates works ok as it reports latest version installed. Of course that's not helpful as if an update was available then clicking it would take you Apple software update to perform the process. So Apple needs to make this work. Of course they are probably completely ignorant to the issue
Well ver 2.1.4 of ASU I reverted back to now has the same error - "The Apple Software Update server could not be found. Check your Internet settings and try again".
The must be a fundamental error with Apple's servers. I only use iTunes occasionally so I'll just let iTunes update itself.
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