How do I create an iCloud account on my PC?

the6millionliraman wrote:

What happened to your longer post that was on this thread yesterday? It was a good summary of the argument dealt with here. My reply has vanished too. Are there Apple moderators editing/deleting certain posts? Is there some kind of censorship at work here? If so, it's most disconcerting.

Apparently I missed an e-mail stating my post(s) had been deleted for "Non-constructive rants or complaints."

Though they didn't offer specificity on which comments or complaits were viewed as "non-constructive." Rather subjective, it seems to me. And I'd like to think that the bulk of constructive criticism outweighed one or two snarky comments. *Sigh*

Well, since they weren't specific on what bits they viewed as offensive, we'll just hope my revised post meets their subjective views as "constructive feedback / criticism" this time, rather than unconstructive, and will be allowed to stand, as-is. *Crosses his fingers and hopes for the best.* ^_^

I've also left feedback at their strongly suggested link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

Tried to word it somewhat neutrally, but my annoyance with the process of trying to find a solution and/or related documentation may still have come through slightly. Ahh well. All things with a tough skin and a grain of salt...

So, hopefully maybe someday they'll devise / document a method of upgrading from Apple/iTunes to an Apple/iTunes/iCloud login via PC-only method... Guess we'll see. Would love to try it out without going through this whole rigamarole, song and dance, etc.

It occurs to me that there's an issue of incongruent criteria with regards to deleting so-called non

-constructive posts. I've written comments/rants on this forum that were at least as non-constructive as yours (yes, I freely admit it!), yet they seem to have successfully sidestepped the monitor's "delete" key. Similar to yourself, however, I was driven to write such zealous words due to the heinous frustration, downtime and impaired productivity generated by the apparent impossibility of resolving the impasse outlined in this thread. My negative sentiments certainly weren't abated by the sense of injustice at being brutally shut out of my decade-old MobileMe/iCloud account without any warning, from one day to the next, after I'd been a paying customer for all those years. Oops, here I am ranting again... Suffice it to say I know how you feel, MGmirkin!

All things considered, I thought your previous, censured post was fairly balanced. But that's another story.

To respond to the iCloud issue at hand, I mentioned a solution in my post of 24 September on this thread. Recapping, you need an obliging acquantance with an iDevice who will kindly disassociate said iDevice from his/her iCloud account for a few minutes in order to access your Apple account. Once you've completed the operation of associating that iDevice to your account, you will then be able to access your iCloud from your PCs without getting error messages like, "This is a valid Aple id, but it is not an iCloud account." Your iDevice-owning friend can then re-associate their iPad or whatever to their iCloud account, and everyone goes home happy!

Some time ago it was only possible to complete this operation of diassociating/re-associating an iDevice from one iCloud account to another once every 90 days. This restriction seems to have been lifted as a friend of mine successfully did it for me a few months ago (re-associating his iPad to his account immediately afterwards), thereby allowing me to get back into my account after months of being shut out.

If all you want to do is sync iTunes purchases, it sounds like iCoud might fit the bill. However, beware that iCloud wasn't really conceived as a remote digital storage in the sense that its predecessor MobileMe was. Refer to the discussion between David Goodall and Csound1 earlier in this thread regarding what kind of documents/files iCloud actually allows you to store/sync. You might be left disappointed on that front. Also, bear in mind that iCloud will only work on Apple mobile devices (there is no Android iCloud app, for example), so even if you succeed in activating your iCloud for use on your Windows PCs, you won't be able to use it via your non-Apple iOS smartphone. If you want a more general-purpose remote storage/syncing service, you might want to look elsewhere. Dropbox is one option, but there are many others, and most offer rather nifty Android apps.

If you've no intention of purchasing something Apple (i.e. hardware specifically, since you're presumably already one of Apple's valued paying customers if you're buying stuff from iTunes... but that's apparently not enough to deserve access to your own account, lol), and you don't know anyone with an iDevice, then I fear you're stymied for the time being. And I guess that's where we inevitably start getting embroiled in the delicate, censurable issue of questionable and arguably bordeline commercial strategies.

Good luck with getting it sorted!

I found this thread while trying to solve the same issue--for an entirely different reason.

Why I am trying to use iCloud: I am a PC and just installed Outlook on my laptop. For some reason, Outlook does not offer me a .pst file to use as my data file and, by default wanted me to use either MobileMe or iCloud (I have never used nor heard of either, but somehow they were already partially installed on my PC--possibly as a result of having downloaded iTunes?) In any event, creating a properly functioning data file is the only way Outlook will let me open the program and I STILL cannot open Outlook because I still don't have a properly functioning datafile.

The reason for that is: I tried setting up iCloud to function as my datafile to store email messages and documents, as that is apparently my only option. So, I went to http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/pc.html, and followed what appeared to be very simple instructions:

1) I downloaded the iCloud control panel,

2) I go to my start menu, click on the iCloud control panel, and the instructions tell me to "Enter the Apple ID you used to create your iCloud account" which is troublesome because I was never asked for this information when I "created my iCloud account" in fact, I can't create an account because when I enter my Apple ID, it tells me the same initial error "This Apple ID is valid but is not an iCloud account."

The "Learn More" button is utterly unhelpful as it brings me back to the exact same "simple" instructions to "Set up iCloud ON MY PC" which doesn't work!

So, I found this thread which began to seem that it might be helpful, then it went into politics and what you hate about this and that. I can see why some of your posts have been deleted. We come here for answers to problems, not to read your personal opinions/views on situations.

Ultimately, the answer which seems to finally have been reached is: you can download iCloud on a PC, but you must have an Apple product on which to setup the iCloud account. The best suggestion I heard above was if you don't have an Apple product, borrow someone's, set up your account, then once it's done, have your friend disconnect your account from their product.

I plan to try this, as I have found no other solutions to this error thus far.

the6millionliraman wrote:

If all you want to do is sync iTunes purchases, it sounds like iCoud might fit the bill. However, beware that iCloud wasn't really conceived as a remote digital storage in the sense that its predecessor MobileMe was. Refer to the discussion between David Goodall and Csound1 earlier in this thread regarding what kind of documents/files iCloud actually allows you to store/sync. You might be left disappointed on that front.

Well, that all sounds disheartening, considering the hype on its own introductory pages:

"iCloud does more than store your content — it lets you access your music, photos, calendars, contacts, documents, and more, from whatever device you’re on."

That seems like a pretty broad / clear statement, to me. If it doesn't live up to that, then maybe it wouldn't suit my needs, if it can't in fact act as a digital storage locker for media files. Here I'm basically thinking of my CD import library / MP3s and digital copy movies, mostly.

the6millionliraman wrote:

Also, bear in mind that iCloud will only work on Apple mobile devices (there is no Android iCloud app, for example), so even if you succeed in activating your iCloud for use on your Windows PCs, you won't be able to use it via your non-Apple iOS smartphone.

Again, I don't have a smartphone, Apple or otherwise and have little interest in one. I was thinking more along the lines of streaming / syncing media files across windows-based devices onto which iCloud could potentially be installed: laptop, netbook, tablet PC of some sort? And desktops at different locations.

If that's not what it's intended for, then perhaps all this hullabaloo will be for naught unless/until better functionality is enabled...

But, right now I'm just in the "I'd like to be able to USE the software, for argument's sake, to test it out" phase. I'm a relatively avid technophile and sometimes ENJOY breaking new software. Err, 'breaking in' new software. 😉

But I can't even do that, due to the inability to simply LOG IN to the software and no apparent remedy to the situation. Thus, negating the point of having PC client software to begin with. What good is it, if it's non-functional out of the box, on its own (ie, w/o buying additional unnecessary hardware/software that wouldn't actually be used in the operation of the PC client)?

Just my 2c.

If nothing else, I might be able to finagle my grandma into letting me poke around in iCloud on her machine, just to set it up. Though I'm loathe to screw anything up and not know how to reset it, for fear of "never hearing the end of it." =o\ Seems a rather arbitrary / unnecessary "workaround" in lieu of an actual solution.

VonGonPC wrote:

I went to http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/pc.html, and followed what appeared to be very simple instructions:

1) I downloaded the iCloud control panel,

2) I go to my start menu, click on the iCloud control panel, and the instructions tell me to "Enter the Apple ID you used to create your iCloud account" which is troublesome because I was never asked for this information when I "created my iCloud account" in fact, I can't create an account because when I enter my Apple ID, it tells me the same initial error "This Apple ID is valid but is not an iCloud account."

The "Learn More" button is utterly unhelpful as it brings me back to the exact same "simple" instructions to "Set up iCloud ON MY PC" which doesn't work!

Precisely.

And, just a bit of trivia: the initial post for the thread has 92 "I have this same question" clicks registered to date. 😉

So, it's apparently not an uncommon question.

VonGonPC wrote:

Ultimately, the answer which seems to finally have been reached is: you can download iCloud on a PC, but you must have an Apple product on which to setup the iCloud account. The best suggestion I heard above was if you don't have an Apple product, borrow someone's, set up your account, then once it's done, have your friend disconnect your account from their product.

I plan to try this, as I have found no other solutions to this error thus far.

Well, for lack of an actual solution, yes, that's the leading theory on a workaround. That seems to be the consensus, silly as it is and wholly unsatisfactory from both a consumer and end-user standpoint. And borderline bad 'tying' mojo...

So, anyway, submit 'feedback' at the link provided above, asking them to create a PC-based method of upgrading an Apple/iTunes account login to an Apple/iTunes/iClould login. If they don't get '92' feedbacks (based on the 92 'I have the same question' clicks registered on the original question in the thread) over the course of a couple months, saying people want this, they may never actually *do* it.

In the interim, it sounds like, short of paying for hardware / software you have no intention of using, the best option is to borrow someone else's Apple-based product and utilize it to activate iCloud login capability on your account, disconnect from that device and then go back to using your PC-only setup.

MGmirkin wrote:

And, just a bit of trivia: the initial post for the thread has 92 "I have this same question" clicks registered to date. 😉

Plus, with going on for 10,000 views, it's also among the most referred-to threads on this forum.

But I'd be surprised if that's enough to make Apple get the lead out their backsides and develop a proper iCloud/PC set-up procedure that doesn't involve hot-wiring your account from someone else's Apple hardware. There's no incentive for Apple to do so for a variety of reasons, including the "polical" ones deemed irrelevant by VonGonPC (whose criticism regarding overly opinionated posts is certainly justified though - I accept your point!).

Hot-wiring is the solution I found and it worked for me. Please post if it works for you guys too.

Good luck and all the best!

To say something for the discussion:

I got an email from a friend who sent me an icloud fotostream. Once I had an iphone 3G and also an apple-id. I downloaded the PC-App and tried to log in but same proplem. Valid ID but not for icloud.

This just for the question "Why should someone use icloud without having an apple product"...

One thing more to my "Why I do not like Apple"-list

The reason I downloaded icloud onto my pc is because I got tired of staring at the little cloud next to some songs that I purchased several years ago when I had an ipod. I still have itunes downloaded because when my ipod was stolen, putting all of my music on itunes and purchasing from them had become habit. Had I known that I wouldn't be able to create an account for icloud, from my pc, I would have saved myself the ENTIRE DAY looking for how to, by NOT DOWNLOADING IT. But, lesson learned. I'm glad I finally found my answer from dudualmeida, or I would still be trying to figure it out.

Kappy, can you explain a bit? you mentioned you can use icloud without an ios device? I have a friend that wants to share photos via photo share but i cannot get an icloud account. i have an apple id etc and an apple tv but can't get the error "This is a valid Apple ID but not an iCloud account" . I have searched several forums for hours but can't seem to sort it out. everyone mentions that you need an iphone/pad/pod or mac computer to create an icloud account. you seemed to hint otherwise.

You can not open an iCloud account using a PC. You must have a Mac, or an iPhone/iPad.

It is nice to see that some people still have some "common sense" and don't follow blindly because of stupid trends.

2013 and I still have the same questions... Apple is still quiet.

my ipod is outdated and so I cannot access icloud on it and I have no other apple product...and when I see that I can't access it without have an apple product

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