Cannot sign into Windows iCloud: get a pop-up with only a red circle with a white cross

Me too ….

WARNING … do NOT change your password as any “working” device will start getting this same error.

(I have a parallel discussion. And someone shared this discussion. Maybe moderators can merge and get enough for an answer.)

I could not get past the red icon door message pop-up when using a different Apple ID. (Same Windows user but event two different Apple ID. No change.)

i spent an hour with Apple iCloud support this evening. (Already typed a potential work-around in the other discussion, thread/254376001.) Issue, Apple cannot say what is “blocking” the 2nd Factor piece from happening. Microsoft does not care to get involved. AND there are many pieces (other apps, VPN, firewall, virus protection, etc.) that could be causing the issue.

I just noticed that all three Apple Discussion threaded were posted on 2022 November 14. (I stated one of the discussions.) I am wondering what releases or add-one to OS, apps, iCloud signin flow / sequence or something running happened on or about November 14.

Per previous posts, I uninstalled the latest version of iCloud because of the red X issue. I tried to download the older version of iCloud and got an error message saying: "One or more users on this computer have installed iCloud from the microsoft store. All users must uninstall iCloud before this installation can continue."

Anybody have any luck fixing this issue? Now, I've added a new issue...ugh.

Here's a link to iCloud 13.4.9 which also works around this problem ... https://www.filehorse.com/download/file/WTSThe0crj7gpxjgYrjJFBJIvmfmpw25cWKFNYCXeYrzUey6P4J9s4xA7DtntiJf30qLyOlP7e62YBAKxn8oTBJPYGVTwO87mqP6EkPbhKU/

With the new data encryption in icloud, older versions cannot be used any more.

But the method described by hronk works and as J0hSe wrote, for me it was enough to delete the file in

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA.

I've been looking for a solution for months!

Following your instructions, but the files inside %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA are not text files that can be read with notepad. These are encrypted key files and I have THOUSANDS (over 500 thousand to be exact) of them across four different directories that all start with S-1-5-21...

So how do I actually find the file that needs to be deleted? Thank you!

They're binaries, but you can open them up in notepad and still see some text strings. I only had 4 though; if you have thousands I guess you'll need to use some sort of find in files tool to identify which ones contain the string APNSDaemon .

Hundreds of thousands! I used findstr, built into windows, to locate the string. Deleted the files and it worked! Thank you!

Now I get an error "unable to create a directory for icloud photos, please restart your machine". Argh.

This is disheartening that after two months, this error is still blocking people to log into their accounts! I can't log in either, and am not game enough to try deleting files, nor download an old program from a website I'm not sure is safe. Sorry I don't have anything to add, just frustrated I can't have iCloud on my PC anymore :(

The solution from hronk works! it's not going to fix itself, and the issue is not a widespread defect, so attention from apple to fix this will not be forthcoming. You'll have to spend a little time and do as hronk said, and you'll be good to go! Yes its a PITA.

I'm glad the fix is working! However as someone who doesn't do any tinkering behind the scenes, the instructions are a bit overwhelming!

(The first part I don't even know what this means:)

How I fixed it:

* certmgr.mmc, file->add/remove snap-in, certificates, my user account. There should be a certificate in Personal\Certificates with a Issued By of Apple iPhone Device CA. Delete it.

I was able to follow this next thread- and found 4 files in the S-1-5-21 folder. None of them contain much text, but the first one does have the demon terminology! I'm afraid to delete it though, as I don't know what is meant by "backup this directory before messing with it" I don't know how to back up a directory or what one even is hehe.

* In file explorer, go to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA. There should be a folder with a name like S-1-5-21...or the like. Go in there.

* Backup this directory before messing with it.

* Open each file with Notepad, starting with the oldest one. You're looking for one that has the string APNSDaemon in it. Delete that one.

* Restart the computer and icloud signin should work now.

Thanks so much for everyone that contributed. This worked great! But I'd like to add the a little correction. In this part:

* certmgr.mmc, file->add/remove snap-in, certificates, my user account. There should be a certificate in Personal\Certificates with a Issued By of Apple iPhone Device CA. Delete it.

The correct command to run is: MMC This will bring up the Microsoft Management Console. Alternative you can run the command: certmgr.msc to get directly to the snap-in.

Oh and for me I had three certificate listed in the certmgr.msc and I seemed to need to delete all of them. To be precise, I deleted the first one in the list, and delete the file in the RSA folder, but still couldn't login, I went back to the certmgr.msc and saw the other two and deleted them and that did it.

Again, I can't thank you all enough for posting to this. I had been on the phone for hours with Apple support, and they did acknowledge the issue, but told me it would require an update. Who knows how long that could take.

I have tried this 3 times and I am still getting caught with the red X of death following the verification code is it typed in. I am using current version of iCloud windows. Is there any place on Apple's site where we can get the previous version of iCloud vs a site that may not be safe? thanks -

I have tried the process that @hronk offers this 3 times and I am still getting caught with the red X of death following the verification code is it typed in. I am using current version of iCloud windows. Is there any place on Apple's site where we can get the previous version of iCloud vs a site that may not be safe? thanks -