My Apple TV won't let me sign into my iCloud account

For those, like me, trying to and unable to sign onto iCloud with Apple TV 2nd/3rd generation TAKE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT FIXABLE. Error message indicating that the "account is not set up" is incorrect. Apple Support just told me that this function (ICloud to Apple TV) is not longer available. See below for older posting- NOTE THIS POSTED SOLUTION DOES NOT WORK.

Past posting from others:

"If you have an Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation) and two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, then you may be asked to type your password followed by the six-digit verification code directly into the password field. Additionally, there is a time limit, after which the code becomes invalid.

Try this: First enter the characters of your password (do not submit yet), then manually request a new verification code, then append that code to the password (no spaces or other separating characters), and then submit. That should help you get passed the time limit."

My gut feeling: this relates to the sunsetting of "My Photo Stream." I do not use iCloud to store my pictures, but I do have shared albums in my account (not discontinued). I was using an "AppleTV pics" album as the screen saver on my iCloud account, but I conjecture that because I do not save all pictures on iCloud, Apple is disallowing the ability to sign in on an AppleTV. I'm betting they didn't think this one all the way through.

Can you sign into iCloud.com on any browser in your phone or a computer/Mac? If so, then it isn't a password problem. If you can't, try resetting your Apple ID password and see if that resolves it.

Are you sure you are using the same Apple ID and password your iCloud+ account is under?

Try the following:

Make sure your Apple TV is up to date: Update Apple TV software - Apple Support

Reset your Apple TV: Reset the Apple TV app - Apple Support

If that doesn't resolve the issue reach out to Apple Support: Contact - Official Apple Support

Some people have found this helps: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254415416?answerId=258970225022#258970225022

And some of found this fixes it: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254415416?answerId=259321064022#259321064022

While others have found it eventually fixes itself (possibly suggesting a software update?)

However, others - including me - find none of these options work...

That one I can answer. You can't disable 2 factor authentication aka 2FA. Apple forced me (and everyone else AFAIK) to enable it, and they don't provide a way do disable it once it's enabled. It's for our safety you know, but in some situations it can cause problems and with older devices that they no longer support, you won't get any help from them. Sad but true.

OK thank you. This is really terrible, because it basically means we can't use our Apple TV anymore for Apple content. Next question- How do I disable 2 factor authentication :)