Why won't my Apple ID work in the iCloud preference pane? (It's accepted everywhere else.)

Question

Level 1

4 points

Why won't my Apple ID work in the iCloud preference pane? (It's accepted everywhere else.)

When I try to sign in to iCloud on my Mac, I get two simultaneous error messages.

At the lower left of the iCloud preference pane, in red, I'm told "Unrecognized Apple ID or password." At the same time an alert slides down from the top of the window saying "You can't sign in at this time. Try signing in again."

I'm using the very same Apple ID and password that I use successfully for iTunes on my Mac and also use constantly in the App Store on my iPad, so I know it's good.

Why won't it work on the Mac and how do I fix it?

Thanks!

Jophan

Flushing, NY

Mac mini (Early 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.2), 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Feb 1, 2012 12:03 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jophan Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 11, 2012 2:34 AM in response to Jophan

Updating my original post, I'd like to note that I tried switching to a new password and it made no difference.

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 11, 2012 3:43 AM in response to Jophan

Jophan wrote:

I'm using the very same Apple ID and password that I use successfully for iTunes on my Mac and also use constantly in the App Store on my iPad, so I know it's good.

It may be good, but it also may well not be the correct ID for iCloud: many people have different ID's for iTunes and iCloud - this doesn't present any problems as long as you don't get them confused.

You need to sign in with the iCloud you used to create your iCloud account - this may well be your @me.com email address; if you migrated from MobileMe it will be.

Reply

Answer 3

Jophan Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 15, 2012 8:00 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thanks, Roger, but I've only ever had one Apple ID that I've used everywhere, including when I set up iCloud on my iPad and my iCloud me.com email account.

I never had a MobileMe account, so that's not a factor.

Reply

Answer 4

Jophan Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 19, 2012 10:59 AM in response to Jophan

I'll just add that I've now also tried changing my Apple ID password a few times, complete with successful email verification. But I STILL can't log into the iCloud preference pane on my Mac.

Is it possible there's some special port iCloud uses for authentication that my firewall is blocking?

Reply

Answer 5

n1x

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:44 AM in response to Jophan

i changed my apple ID yesterday (we had a change of our email addresses at my university), got it confirmed and everything. today i wanted to get icloud back to work by updating the emailaddress in system prefs (by the way i had to delete my "old account" first, wasnt possible to change just the mailaddress) but i got the same error you got Jophan!

there was no problem with changing the ID on my iphone, also i successfully logged in on icloud.com and itunes.

in addition, when i click on "create a new apple id" (just tried everything possible), it keeps telling me, that it's impossible to create a new ID at the moment!

any idea for a workaround?

Reply

Answer 6

Caprar

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 3:31 AM in response to Jophan

Same situation happens to me!

My Apple ID does work on my Iphone, but keeps poping error on my mac.

Although I cant log in on icloud.com by safari, firefox can make it.

So weird...

Reply

Answer 7

n1x

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 5:39 AM in response to Caprar

solution that worked for me:

stop little snitch (although i granted access to the net for icloud/system prefs), log in to icloud in sys prefs, start network filter again, works

Reply

Answer 8

Caprar

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 5:54 AM in response to n1x

thanks n1x

I tried as you posted, but the sys still pops error "Unrecognized Apple ID or password", pls try later, bla,bla.

Reply

Answer 9

Caprar

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 11:02 PM in response to Jophan

Finally, It's done.

I unblocked the "entrust **** certification" in keychain access and icloud works.

Reply

Answer 10

Jophan Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 22, 2012 12:57 PM in response to Caprar

Caprar, that sounds promising.

Could you please be more specific about where in Keychain Access one finds this item?

Thanks.

Reply

Answer 11

Jophan Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 23, 2012 6:31 PM in response to Jophan

In my continuing search for a solution, I've come across another discussion of this problem that may be useful to some. You will find here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1250735

It offers two ideas to try.

First, if you are using Little Snitch, try turning it off when you want to log into iCloud. (As it happens, I do use LS, but turning it off made no difference for me. Some of the posters do report success, however.)

Secondly, try deleting the ~/Library/Application Support/iCloud/Accounts folder. (Again, some posters report this solved the problem, but it didn't work for me.)

Let us know if you have luck with either of these.

Jophan

Reply