Internet Accounts not working

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Level 1

26 points

Internet Accounts not working

I have several Mac Book Pros we just added that cannot add Google Accounts. We set them up new and users cannot add an internet account. When we try to add, we see a pop up saying that Google needs to authenticate in a browser and click Open Safari. Nothing happens. Then another pop up opens saying the authentication failed. These computers have never been connected to a Google account. The same thing happens if we try to set up a Yahoo account. No user name is ever prompted. Safari doesn't open and if Safari is already open, it doesn't prompt for a google login. All the machines are running 10.15.3 with all released updates installed.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Mar 4, 2020 2:51 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 4, 2020 6:47 PM in response to swatki1

I understand you are unable to load certain websites. Please review the following Apple Support documents. Some of the information will be redundant but review everything to determine if there is something you may have overlooked.

Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues - Apple Support
If Safari doesn't load a page or webpage items are missing - Apple Support
How to use Internet plug-ins in Safari for Mac - Apple Support
"Safe Mode": Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support. Determine if the problems exist in Safe Mode. Then, restart normally.

If you don't get anywhere, you can use the following procedure to determine if the problem is internal or external to your Mac. Causes may involve your router, your ISP, the DNS Server(s) it uses, or certain user-configurable options.

Shut down your Mac.
Load macOS Recovery by holding ⌘ and r (two fingers) while you start your Mac with a third finger.
At the macOS Utilities screen, release those two fingers.
Choose Get Help Online.
Safari will launch, but it will lack your bookmarks, favorites, history and other preferences.

Determine if the problem persists while using Safari in that mode. After that, restart your Mac normally, and reply with your observations.

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Answer 2

swatki1 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 4, 2020 6:42 PM in response to John Galt

It's not Google. Safari won't open to allow me to even get to Google. Choosing Yahoo does the same thing. I can choose other and set the google account manually.

When I check console after clicking the "Open Safari" button I see several lines and an error that says

sandbox mdwrite system policy deny(1) file-write-xattr /System/Library/PReferencePanes/internet accounts.prefpane

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Answer 3

swatki1 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 4, 2020 7:10 PM in response to John Galt

Safari works just fine as a browser. I can use it to log in to google with no errors. Literally the only thing I can’t do on these computers is create an internet account using the preference pane because when I click “open safari” so that I can authenticate, nothing happens then it tells me it failed to authenticate but it never even let me enter a credential to try.

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Answer 4

swatki1 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 4, 2020 7:51 PM in response to John Galt

Here is what happens

System Preferences->Internet Accounts. Click Google to add a new account. Pop up says that I need to authenticate using my browser and has a button to cancel and a button to open safari. Click open safari. Nothing happens. Safari does not open if closed and does not open a window for me to be able to enter credentials if it is open. New pop up opens without me doing anything. This pop up says failed to authenticate.

Same thing happens if I click Yahoo, so it’s not a Google issue.

Safari works. I can open it and go to any website. I can log into a google account in Safari. We can add the Google to Mail but only if we go to accounts other and manually add imap or smtp servers. However we are not using Calendar because we cannot add a Google account because we never get the opportunity to authenticate in the internet accounts preference pane. The preference pane will not open a browser window in order to add the account.

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 4, 2020 8:06 PM in response to swatki1

System Preferences->Internet Accounts. Click Google to add a new account.

Result:

Open Browser result:

That's as far as I get, unless I choose Create account:

I understand that's not happening with your Macs, and I have no explanation for the reason it's not working that way.

Google works differently than any other Internet Account choice for reasons known only to them, which is the reason I suggested contacting them. If you don't get anywhere with Google then I suggest downloading and running EtreCheck on one of the problematic Macs, which might offer additional insight:

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

At your option include its report in a reply to this Discussion. Due to its length you will need to use the "additional text" icon, which that User Tip explains.

For it to be useful, EtreCheck has to be run from an Admin account and be granted full disk access.

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 4, 2020 4:04 PM in response to swatki1

The context of your question seems to imply those Macs were deployed for institutional or organizational use. Are they individually owned and controlled, or managed?

Same question applies to the network(s) they're using.

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Answer 7

swatki1 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 4, 2020 4:06 PM in response to John Galt

They are owned by our office but individually managed by the user. We normally just set up the user and set up their G-Suite account in the Internet Accounts. The individual user accounts have admin privileges. We haven't had this issue come up before

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Answer 8

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 4, 2020 7:23 PM in response to swatki1

I'm confused. You wrote Safari won't open to allow you to even get to Google. Now I understand that Safari opens and you can load webpages, but Google will not allow you to create an account, but you are under the impression it's not a Google problem. This makes no sense to me.

Once again please contact Google for assistance. It's their product. I am unable to offer any assistance with it.

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Answer 9

swatki1 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 4, 2020 8:37 PM in response to John Galt

Yes but I never get to the google window you show. I do on other computers, but not these. Clicking open browser does nothing. There is a 1 second pause and then a failed to authenticate message appears. However the error message I presented earlier appears in the system log every time I click open browser. Is it possible that something in the sandbox is preventing new accounts from being created using that preference pane? Is there a setting or command that could correct that?

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Answer 10

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 4, 2020 6:34 PM in response to swatki1

Contact Google for assistance with their products: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support

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Answer 11

John Galt

Level 10

147,068 points

Mar 5, 2020 4:26 AM in response to swatki1

Yes that's possible. The question is, what's different about those Macs? EtreCheck may offer additional insight. For example, is an MDM configuration profile present?

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Internet Accounts not working

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