Managed Software Center (MSC)

Owned by Liz Christopher
Nov 21, 2022
5 min read

What is Managed Software Center?

Managed Software Center (MSC) is a tool for enterprise application and software deployment and maintenance on the macOS.  

What can I do with MSC?

With MSC users can install campus applications, upgrade the macOS, and install printers.  

Benefits of MSC

MSC's interface is very, very similar to that of Apple's Mac AppStore: items are grouped in categories, items are searchable, and a list of all items installed by the user is available for those times when you need to make more space on your hard drive. 

How do I get MSC?

All university-purchased Macintoshes already have MSC installed when they are delivered to the user. This can be confirmed by locating the "Managed Software Center" app within your Mac's "Applications" folder.

If you do not have the "Managed Software Center" application, please contact the Help Desk and create a ticket to have your Macintosh enrolled into MSC.

Install Apps

  1. Locate the Managed Software Center (MSC) application by going to your applications folder and double-clicking on its icon: 

  2. After the program loads, you will be presented with the Featured Items screen of MSC. This screen lists some of the more popular, most requested software pieces available to UW Oshkosh employees. 

    1. Also provided are helpful links to University resources and popular MSC categories. Underneath the banner on the top of the screen, there are links to:

      • UW Oshkosh IT KnowledgeBase (KB)

      • Managed Software Center Help (this KB article)

      • KB article detailing the process of applying Apple Updates in MSC

      • KB article providing information on macOS Catalina Upgrades

      • Link to the UW Oshkosh IT webpage

      • Link to Email the IT Help Desk

    2. At the bottom of every MSC window (you'll have to scroll to the end), there are links to the following MSC software categories:

      • Adobe Creative Cloud

      • Microsoft Office

      • Apple iWork Suite

      • Printers

      • Internet

      • Utilities

  3. Browse through the applications available. 

  4. Click Install on any that you'd like to install.

Sort or Find Applications

You can also click on the Categories tab to sort the applications into groups.

Type in the Search box in the upper left corner of the window to find applications by keywords.

If you do not find the application you are looking for, please contact the Help Desk to start the MSC application request process.  Most popular applications can be packaged and delivered through MSC. 

The download will begin and is noted by the "Downloading" identifier and "Downloading" progress bar on the Updates page.

Update Apps

On some occasions you will open MSC and it will default to the updates screen.

You will see a list of one or more items that are pending for install. Additionally, MSC will automatically open and show this same update screen, placing a number in a red badge on the MSC icon in your Dock and on the Updates tab selector itself. These are updates to programs currently installed on your computer.

Cancel Update

If you see a little "Cancel" button next to an update item this means that you can cancel that particular update. This does not show up for all items.

Important Notifications/Update Screen

Pay close attention to any red text at the top of this Updates screen.

This Updates screen is the best location to verify what needs to be installed as well as to see a list of software that you've currently requested to be installed. 

Restart Required

Be mindful of any updates/installs that have Restart Required in red text in their line. 

When you are satisfied with the list of updates and installations that have been queued up AND have saved all your open documents to avoid data loss during a required restart, click Update All to begin downloading and installing the software packages. 

Install Update by Date

This message will inform you that one or more updates have an "install by" date and time. 

The update(s) that have due dates will also show their install by information in their line item. DO NOT ignore this warning. 

You may safely postpone these updates by closing the application. However, once the due date has arrived your computer will begin a countdown (usually 30 minutes) to do those installs.

Remove Apps

Removing software is as easy as installing it:

  1. Click on the My Items screen to see a list of applications that you installed using Managed Software Center (MSC). 

  2. If the program can be removed, you can click the Remove button to initiate the software removal process

Only software offered by MSC can be removed by MSC.

If you did not install the program using MSC, it may still be possible to remove the software using MSC: 

  1. Search for the program in the Software screen, the Categories screen, or by doing a keyword search using the Search Box in the upper right corner. 

  2. Once you find the software you want removed, you can click Remove to initiate its removal.

  3. Once any of the removal buttons is clicked in MSC it will initiate the software removal process. 

  4. When that process is complete, MSC will notify you that the application "Will be removed."

In this example Microsoft Teams has a remove button. You can click on it to initiate a removal.  

Cancel Removal

Clicking on the Updates screen, you will see a list of software to be removed. 

If you wish to cancel the removal, click the "Cancel" button on the right of the item. You can also click on the name of the application in the list to go to its product description page and click a bigger Cancel Removal button. Below is an example of said button for Keynote.

Troubleshooting MSC?

If an application doesn't seem to be installing, click the 'x' in the upper right corner next to the app in the updates window.  This will remove the application from the updates Queue. Once it's been removed from the update queue, re-download the update or application.

If the problem persists, restart your computer.