[Bug]: Updater section and update channel missing from admin UI when no update is available

[tjirka-dcit]

⚠️ This issue respects the following points: ⚠️

• This is a bug, not a question or a configuration/webserver/proxy issue.
• This issue is not already reported on Github OR Nextcloud Community Forum (I've searched it).
• Nextcloud Server is up to date. See Maintenance and Release Schedule for supported versions.
• I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.

Bug description

Summary:
Even when the system passes integrity check, config.php is valid, and occ update:check returns “Everything up to date”, the Settings > Overview page doesn’t display the “Update” or “Update channel” section.
This is confusing for administrators, as it may look like update functionality is broken or misconfigured.

Expected behavior:
Update block should still appear, showing “You are running version X.Y.Z”, and optionally the channel (even if no update is currently available).

Environment:

Nextcloud Hub 10 (31.0.6)

updater.release.channel: stable

All integrity checks pass

Steps to reproduce

1. Install or update to Nextcloud Hub 10 (31.0.6)
2. Ensure all integrity checks pass (via occ integrity:check-core)
3. Ensure updater.release.channel is set in config.php (e.g. 'updater.release.channel' => 'stable')
4. Run occ update:check — confirm output: “Everything up to date”
5. Navigate to Settings > Administration > Overview

Expected: update section should be visible
Actual: update section is entirely missing

Expected behavior

The “Update” section should always be shown in the Overview, even if:

• there is no update available, or
• the current version is already the latest.

This allows the admin to verify:

• what channel is selected (e.g. stable, beta),
• when the last update check occurred,
• and that the updater is properly configured.

Removing the section gives the impression that updater functionality is broken.

Nextcloud Server version

31

Operating system

RHEL/CentOS

PHP engine version

PHP 8.3

Web server

Nginx

Database engine version

MariaDB

Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?

Updated from a MINOR version (ex. 32.0.1 to 32.0.2)

Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?

None

What user-backends are you using?

• Default user-backend (database)
• LDAP/ Active Directory
• SSO - SAML
• Other

Configuration report

List of activated Apps

Nextcloud Signing status

Nextcloud Logs

Additional info

No response

[kesselb]

It makes our triaging of issues on GitHub much harder when people leave out parts of the issue template. We ask those questions for a good reason. I’ve seen a similar report just a while ago, and the reason for the missing updater section was that the "updatenotification" app was disabled.

Is the updatenotification app enabled on your instance? If not, do you see the section once you enable it?

[tjirka-dcit]

updatenotification is enabled, as confirmed by the full occ app:list output below,
yet the Update section is still missing in Settings › Overview.

`Enabled:

• activity: 4.0.0
• bruteforcesettings: 4.0.0
• circles: 31.0.0
• cloud_federation_api: 1.14.0
• comments: 1.21.0
• contactsinteraction: 1.12.0
• dashboard: 7.11.0
• dav: 1.33.0
• drawio: 3.1.0
• federatedfilesharing: 1.21.0
• federation: 1.21.0
• files: 2.3.1
• files_downloadlimit: 4.0.0
• files_external: 1.23.0
• files_mindmap: 0.0.33
• files_pdfviewer: 4.0.0
• files_reminders: 1.4.0
• files_sharing: 1.23.1
• files_trashbin: 1.21.0
• files_versions: 1.24.0
• firstrunwizard: 4.0.0
• guests: 4.2.0
• logreader: 4.0.0
• lookup_server_connector: 1.19.0
• nextcloud_announcements: 3.0.0
• notifications: 4.0.0
• oauth2: 1.19.1
• onlyoffice: 9.9.0
• password_policy: 3.0.0
• photos: 4.0.0-dev.1
• polls: 8.0.4
• privacy: 3.0.0
• profile: 1.0.0
• provisioning_api: 1.21.0
• quota_warning: 1.21.0
• recommendations: 4.0.0
• related_resources: 2.0.0
• secrets: 2.1.2
• serverinfo: 3.0.0
• settings: 1.14.0
• sharebymail: 1.21.0
• support: 3.0.0
• survey_client: 3.0.0
• systemtags: 1.21.1
• text: 5.0.0
• theming: 2.6.1
• twofactor_backupcodes: 1.20.0
• twofactor_totp: 13.0.0-dev.0
• updatenotification: 1.21.0
• user_status: 1.11.0
• viewer: 4.0.0
• weather_status: 1.11.0
• webhook_listeners: 1.2.0
• workflowengine: 2.13.0
  Disabled:
• admin_audit: 1.21.0
• app_api: 5.0.2 (installed 4.0.0)
• encryption: 2.19.0
• files_lock: 31.0.2 (installed 31.0.2)
• files_rightclick: 0.15.1 (installed 1.6.0)
• files_texteditor: 2.15.1 (installed 2.15.1)
• groupfolders: 19.1.1 (installed 19.1.1)
• suspicious_login: 9.0.1
• twofactor_admin: 4.8.0 (installed 4.8.0)
• twofactor_nextcloud_notification: 5.0.0
• user_ldap: 1.22.0
  `

[kesselb]

There’s also a configuration option 'updatechecker' => false, to toggle that section off (we would have seen that in the configuration report, by the way). Then it’s also possible to limit the updatenotification app to a given group (people in the group, without administrator rights, will not see the section).

If neither of the above is the case, the logs might tell us more, and we should also consider a frontend issue. Therefore, please open your browser’s inspector tools and check the console for errors when you visit the overview. Also try reloading the page after opening the browser’s inspector.

[tjirka-dcit]

✅ Resolved: The issue was caused by 'updatechecker' => false in config.php.

---

Follow-up:

After further investigation, I found that the config.php already contained 'updatechecker' => false as early as June 3, 2025, verified via backup file restore.

Back then, the Update section still appeared in Settings > Overview, which suggests that in earlier versions of Nextcloud (prior to 31.0.6), this setting was either ignored or not fully respected.

In Nextcloud 31.0.6, the behavior appears to have changed: 'updatechecker' => false now correctly suppresses the Update section, which led to the confusion. It looked like something was broken or misconfigured.

After running:

occ config:system:set updatechecker --value=true --type=boolean

…the Update section reappeared immediately in Settings > Overview, and everything now works as expected.

Thanks again for your help!

[kesselb]

As reference: #52771

[koying]

Thanks for this.
I was banging my head trying to understand why that section disapeared :(
Kind of a "breaking fix", imho ;)

[dajiahao]

I followed those instructions about the config settings and changed them, but still not seeing it in the webui, I updated now via occ to 31.0.8, but what else could I check

[nwl]

Still seeing this issue in 31.0.9 and have the config setting set to true.