"Computer account creation failed" error on fresh install of Big Sur 11.1

I found a similar solution and it worked perfectly. These are the exact steps I took:

1. Boot to recovery

2. Launch Terminal

3. Run terminal command: resetpassword

4. Click on the Reset Password window , then choose Recovery Assistant in the menu bar then select Erase Mac.

5. Click Erase Mac in the window that opens, then click Erase Mac again to confirm. When done, your Mac restarts automatically.

6. If you are on 11.0.1 it will automatically reboot after the erase is complete. After the reboot select wifi appears, and will prompt you for activation. When activation completes, you need to choose the option of [Exit to Recovery Utilities] which brings us back to the main recovery screen.

7. If the activation fails, make sure you are connected to the internet via your Wifi icon. 

8. Once activation is completed. You will see the normal restore options. Choose reinstall macOS Big Sur.

Credit: Blackhawkdriver (macrumors)

i also had the same problem on a macbook air 2020 version. i was trying to install os big sur version 11.2 on "Macintosh hd'', but once i got to the create computer account it would fail. i tried configurator 2 and putting the computer in dfu mode connected to my macbook pro with usb -c cable, but no luck. i also tried resetting the password by clicking option then terminal, no luck either. i went back to recovery mode then disk utility and erased "Macintosh hd" and i think "Macintosh Data", so the only thing there that was visible was "apple ssd big sur media", i think thats what it said, cant remember. this when i thought i made my problems even worse because there wasnt a hdd partition for me to re-install the os, if i tried to re-install there would be nothing there for me to install to. Any way i create a partition from "apple ssd big sur media", went back to re-intall os screen and the newly created partition showed up so i re-install it there, got to the create account part, prayed to the creator lol, and it went through, from there on it was smooth sailing.

Found a solution!

When you boot into recovery options (just hold power button till you see gear-icon)

Look in the upper tab for terminal -> in terminal type 'resetpassword' and hit enter. (don't know if this is necessary)

Then you have to go to disk utility

The trick is to delete the partitions

You'll see your HD in the left column - you have to delete the data partition (not erase but delete) -> do this by pressing the '-'-icon above.

Once you have done that you can install Big Sur again and set up your account (that did the trick with my M1 MacBook Pro)

Hey there EOCIRL,

We want to make sure you're able to create your user account as expected.

Does this seem to persist using different usernames and passwords?

Have you tried restarting to test? If so, can you test the issue in and out of safe mode?

Start up your Mac in safe mode

If you continue running into the complication you can reach out to Apple Support and report the issue.

Get Support

Cheers!

I had the problem described above, in my case it turned out that it was signed up to the beta.

Follow the steps (for terminal install) at:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983

Once in, I removed from beta enrolment and works like a charm.

EDIT: if you do have beta install option available, you will need to amend the command

cp -R '/Install macOS Big Sur.app' private/tmp

to

cp -R '/Install macOS Big Sur Beta.app' private/tmp

(I think, can't 100% remember, just make sure you have the correct name for the .app)

Me too.. spent a long time with Apple support trying different ways of formatting the disk, low level resets in recovery mode, removing the Mac Mini from my Apple id. No luck. Machine not useable and machine being replaced by Apple.

Apple support feel it’s something in the new chipset hold and corrupting credentials and preventing accounts from being created during rebuild.

Mac Mini M1 16gb 512gb storage.

Same here. I was on phone with multiple Apple techs and wiped the computer and reinstalled Big Sur multiple times. This is a HUGE problem. Turned my MacBook into a paperweight. I can get to the page where you set name and admin password and it fails. Yet it still creates the file, but the passcodes and recover by apple id does not work. Heading to Apple Store to exchange it out because the apple geniuses were unable to fix the issue. I was told it must be a hardware issue, but I am skeptical of that since my Macbook is 7 days old.

MacBook Pro M1 1TB 16GB

I'm also running into this on a re-install of Big Sur on an M1 MBP. No resolution yet. Kind of crazy that this is still an issue. I'm just trying to do a clean install of the OS on this MBP and re-create the same user I had before.

Also in case it's helpful to anyone - after restarting I did see two different accounts that I tried to create during the setup process. However, the passwords didn't work for either of them. Also I couldn't use the "reset password from icloud account" function from the login screen. What a mess.

I tried your solution. Thank you! It’s the only thing that worked. It appears it does have something to do with the Mac being not properly de-authorised when you want to do a completely clean reinstall and that causing the issue — my hypothesis anyway.

But, yeah, this solution worked perfectly.

This worked exactly as described, on step 8 once activation was completed, I went into disk utilities to look-see that I only had one partition called "untitled", so without changing anything went back to restore options and chose to reinstall macOS Big Sur on the untitled partition. Knowing I could change the drive name later. 

After about 2 hours, I got the screen about language preferences, entered my new iCloud Id then let the system suggest the new Account name and User name (will that change later too), entered at least a 4 digit password and Wa-lah it worked, next page passcode setup…. 

Thank you!! 🧐 This was much easer than going the Apple Configurator 2 route suggested elsewhere on Apple’s support. Glad I tried this first. 🙄 Nowadays you have to be your own CE to successfully own and operate a Mac. I went through other dilemmas last year with my Mac mini (2018) i7 64GB which I still refuse to upgrade to Big Sur from Catalina yet again. I tried it once and there were so many bugs, half my Adobe apps stopped working. This M1 Silicon is only 16GB and is a snap faster so far. Love them both so far having come from 2 Mac Mini (2011) High Sierra’s. 

But I have a feeling we’ll come to more headaches once I start migrating my apps and using Rosetta. 

Another bridge not so far… probably see some of you down that road too. 😅

Thanks again for helping Apple make their own stuff work better. 🤓

Peace Out!! ✌🏽☮️ ✝️

Make sure to remove your Mac from iCloud before doing this and turn of FIND MY for the Mac.

1. Turn off your mac and Boot to recovery

2. Launch Terminal

3. Run terminal command : resetpassword

4. Click on the Reset Password window , then choose Recovery Assistant in the menu bar then select Erase Mac.

5. Click Erase Mac in the window that opens, then click Erase Mac again to confirm. When done, your Mac restarts automatically.

6. If you are on 11.0.1 it will automatically reboot after the erase is complete. After the reboot select wifi appears, and will prompt you for activation. When activation completes, you need to choose the option of [Exit to Recovery Utilities] which brings us back to the main recovery screen.

7. If the activation fails, make sure you are connected to the internet via your Wifi icon on the right top corner.

8. Once activation is completed. You will see the normal restore options. Choose reinstall macOS Big Sur.

****** If it still doesn’t work repeat the above steps and after step 7 , go to Disk utility and remove the partitions by deleting the partitions (do this by pressing the '-'-icon above ) till your left with apple ssd. Then create a partition and name it “Macintosh HD” . If you desire you can create another partition called “Macintosh HD - Data”. Then exit disk utility and reinstall Mac OS on Macintosh HD*****

I was in a huge stress because of this but finally all of these steps worked for me .

Prueba con Apple Configurator 2 y el modo DFU.

https://support.apple.com/es-es/guide/apple-configurator-2/apdd5f3c75ad/mac

Read This documentation

https://support.apple.com/es-es/guide/apple-configurator-2/apdd5f3c75ad/mac

Did tou find a solution?

Returned my M1 to Apple store. They could not figure it out and swapped mine out with a new one.