Error "Failed to Activate Device" on MacBook Pro after erasing it

My colleague's apple macbook pro 16 2019 had catalina installed, when I try to install Apple configurator on it, it said I need tu upgrade to at least monterey. I upgrade his mac to macos 14.6 sonoma.

Then I try again to install apple configurator from applestore. This time, the install succeded.

And I start to follow the steps of How to revive or restore Mac firmware - Apple Support

I will call Macbook pro 16 2019 Mac A and my macbook pro M3 pro Mac B

Mac A has sonoma

Mac B Failed to activate

1. I connect Mac A to internet with a good speed and also to power till it gets full charged
2. On Mac A, I launch Apple Configurator showing the message "Connect device"
3. I shutdown Mac B and plug it into power
4. I use a Type-C to Type-C white cable of Mac A to connect the two Macs (Any type-C port of Mac A to the most left Type-C port on the magSafe side of the Mac B)
5. At this time, everything was setup and ready to start the process, I got the big breath!!!
6. On Mac B I press Power Button and the control +option + right shift, the first time I missed it and the second time I got it right.
7. I realize I got it because I press power button first just before it starts, add control+option+right shift while still holding power button. It all about timing. Power button pressed, the Mac B starts and instatntly while holding Power button, press control+option+shift for 10 seconds. I got DFU on the Mac A screen in apple configurator.
8. I restore the Mac B

I hope this come help, That what I did for my Macbook Pro. I was not believing that could work succefully as it was my first time to do it, but I was surprised and happy at the same time when I see DFU on the Mac B screen.

Good luck

*SOLVED*

Problem was under Sonoma 14.6.1 on Mac Studio with M1-max.

I finally managed to solve this under Sonoma. The really only way is via DFU. But never via the finder but always with the help of the Apple Configurator 2 which can be downloaded from the App Store.

Even though you can read everywhere that DFU can and should be done under Sonoma via the finder this didn`t work for me. I tryed 7 times in various ways with various cables etc... very annoying since every try takes a minimum of 40 minutes of waiting for the OS to be downloaded over and over again. Apple please change this. This is so unnecessary. Not to mention to activate a allready payed and 100% customer owned machine again and again is absolutley wrong.

Anyway so with Apple Configurator it also ended in various error messages alike "Firmware file is corrupted" or similiar or "you do not have enough space" and even more weired messages come up. They all mislead the real step and even the customer support and service team got cought on those wrong messages.

So the way it worked for me was using the Apple configurator but only via the "repair" button which can be found in the toplevel drop down menu "Actions"->Extended->Repair

Sorry the screenshot is in german but since my system language is in german this is the fastest way to shot it.

I hope it helps and I really can say keep on trying. This really works.

And Apple please change this complete way of how a restore and reinstall is done.

Good Luck to everyone and you are welcome to leave a comment here whenever it worked for you too.

Hello guys, I found a way to install a new macOS Sonoma on my apple MacBook Pro M3 Pro 16inch.

I had the same issue "Failed to activate device".

I ask my colleague at office to use his MacBook Pro 2019 16inch(Mac OS Sonoma) so that I will try to revived or restore my MacBook.

I follow all the steps on this link How to revive or restore Mac firmware - Apple Support

And everything went well. I have my MacBook Pro M3 pro back in business.

I hope this will help.

Note: it's not easy to get into DFU mode but just try till you get it right. it's not impossible.

Update! I did eventually get it fixed. I couldn’t find anyone of my friends with a Mac with Sonoma, and as I didn’t want to upgrade to Sonoma on my working Mac Mini, I had no choice but to take it to as Apple authorised reseller shop.

of course they didn’t at first believe that I knew what I was talking about when I told them it needed connecting to a Mac with Sonoma, and Apple Configurator downloading. But they did take it off me and I waited, about half an hour, and they said it had worked but that it was now reinstalling the OS and that would take 3 hours. So I left it with them overnight and it was working , with Sonoma on it, the next morning.

So, the message is, follow the instructions that are on the Apple website, to the letter except use Configurator on the working Sonoma Mac, not Finder. Be careful with the sequence of shutting down, restarting, which cable to use, which ports to use - that depends which Mac model you are trying to fix.

Good luck!

I share your frustrations.

Over a few days I restored my MacBooks a dozen of times.

I used a 2019 MacBook with intel chipset running Apple Configurator.

usb-c cable should be on the left side closest to you!

The broken MacBook, usb-c cable, also left side closest to the screen.

The process I repeated was:

1. Turn off device.
2. Enter DFU mode
3. Restore using Apple Configurator
4. Enable wifi, once the restore is complete.

Now you will get the verification failed screen.

I repeated these steps the whole evening. Attempt 12 I went to a different screen after enabling wifi. This meant the verification was succesful.

I cannot guarantee this will work for you. But apple wont help you. And it seemed this method of being persistent worked for other people aswell.

Please let me know if it worked out

I have fixed my MacBooks.

After browsing reddit someone suggested to do the Restore through DFU-mode with another MacBook.

The thing is he managed to get a successful activation on his 15th try.

I had some time so I gave it a shot. On my 12th try I got a successful activation.

Please note a Restore takes roughly 30 minutes.

If you’re desperate and can’t wait, please try this option.

This pretty much worked for me too, though I had to go through a "restore" and not just a "revive". I got into DFU mode without too much hassle, and my laptop appeared in the Apple Configurator on my older laptop. Selecting "restore" started a download of a new OS which took forever (and I already had a copy). When that finished, Apple Configurator put up a prompt saying that an update was needed. This was confusing -- an update for what? I first declined to download the update, but then then the process ultimately failed. I retried again, and at least Apple Configurator realized it still had the OS to work with. I then let it download the update. Finally, after starting up Apple Configurator once again, the restore operation finally started up.

Yes I used a Mac Book Pro with a M1pro chip under Sonoma 14.6.1 and not via the Finder but with Apple Configurator 2 from the App Store.

I used the Apple Original USB C cable from the IPad to connect both computers.

in Configurator the only way that worked for me was to choose „repair“ from the top level menu und „Action“

please see my screenshot to get a better understanding.

the final overall working repair took about 1.5 to 2 hours. This is kind of crazy.

I wish you the best and I hope you have a Time Machine backup since everything gets wiped out with this method.

Genius bar today esclated to Apple engineers. Apparently this is also happening with new out of the box macs. They said I should hear something back in the next couple days, but should keep trying to activate periodically.

I do see this all over Reddit. I reccomend more people start calling support or going to the Apple store so they can esclate / expedite.

Same here with now already two devices. One Mac Studio with M1 Max after update to Sonoma 14.6.1 and now with Mac Book Pro 16“ with M1Pro after update to Sonoma 14.6.1 .

Even worse Apple support doesn’t really have a clue and now after 5 different phone chats plus webchat they gave me an appointment for Monday morning at the local Apple Store Genius Bar.

We had done 6 DFU run thrus which were confusing since after unpacking the fresh downloaded 15 Gigs ! operating system file the DFU process gets interrupted with an error message that the „Firmware file is damaged“.

further more the error message suggest just to try again.

I really hope Apple is doing something quick behind the scenes since this really turns out to become a massive problem. Even today I had to wait in line already over one hour and then hearing from the second level support tear that they have no clue what else to do. One even mentioned that the motherboard might even have a real defect now. So even worse because in my opinion this shouldn’t happen to two different device during the same period of time.

The Mac Studio btw. Is now 2 years and 4 month old and the Mac Book Pro is 2 years old.

Keep the fingers crossed for Monday. Hope the Genius Bar is not only a name for an area of no hope.

There is an issues on Apple's end. Having the same issue for two days now. Went to genius bar today.

I have the same problem with my macbook pro m3 pro nov 2023. i have bought it on sept 6 2024, i have tried to erase it, ask me login appleid, what i did . but when it comes to activate I got the same message 'Failed to activate device'. two days now.

Is there any solution about that.

Same problem for me. Currently with 2 MacBook Pro's 14 inch 2021 with M1 Pro chipset.

Had multiple calls with support. Went through all possible steps.

Last support agent told me there might be an issue on Apple's end.

Really hope this will be resolved quickly because I have 2 unusable MacBooks here.