iCloud on Mountain Lion will not accept my existing @icloud email to set up email

Question

iCloud on Mountain Lion will not accept my existing @icloud email to set up email

Hi there: I've previously been an email-only .mac and me.com user, and having recently purchased an iPhone I wanted to get iCloud set up.

I have entered my apple ID (both old .mac primary, me.com and also iCloud) into the system preferences iCloud login, but it refuses to set the tick box on Mail and Notes. When I click to set the tick box, I get a message asking me to create a new email - I don't want to, I have an existing @icloud email that is the same as my apple ID and I don't want a new one. If I enter my existing email, it says its already taken.

If I set up Mac mail and put in my @icloud email, it all goes through sucessfully but then for some reason the incoming mail server is not set up. When I go to account settings, I cannot edit the incoming mail server, yet it is blank and I cannot make any other changes to the account because..... incoming mail server is blank.

If I set up Mac mail and forcibly tell it its an IMAP server not iCloud, it uses the me.com IMAP server and, I log in fine and see all my emails, but iCloud will not work online.

I have the @icloud mail account and also the apple ID, so it is definitely me, and not somebody else. I want to use this iCloud account and set up Mail and Notes syncing to use with my iPhone, but it will not let me.

I note that in an earlier OS/X version the iCloud email setup used to be able to let you hold 'alt' to accept an existing email account.

How do I make this work? Not suprisingly, this is infuriating as I have been a long term (since .mac days and before) Apple OS/X user, and iCloud seems to be exactly what I want and need to keep all my work emails and contacts accessible.

I have searched the forums, and found no other solutions that are relevant other than 'create a new email' I shall not, and will not do so, as I have an existing number of emails in that account and other people use it to contact me regularly.

Does anyone have a solution? Is this a Mountain Lion Bug? do I need to find an old Lion machine and set up my account there before it will be accepted on a Mountain Lion system?

This seems to be purely a bug in setting up an Apple ID account that has not been used with iCloud before, when using a Mountain Lion system.

Any comments?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), iCloud mail not previously used.

Posted on Mar 23, 2013 4:45 AM

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Answer 1

Imp68

Level 4

2,672 points

Mar 23, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Zoe Sutherland

Sounds like you have multiple Apple IDs.

Click your apple >> System Preferences >> iCloud >> Account Details. Make a note of what you see there beside Apple ID.

Now, in your web browser, go to appleid.apple.com, click 'Manage Your Apple ID' and sign in with your existing @icloud.com address. Make a note of what you see under "Apple ID and Primary Email Address".

Do the two address you made a note of match?

When you sign into appleid.apple.com using your @icloud.com address, what you see for your Apple ID is what you would normally see under account details in the icloud preferences. Now, you CAN sign in to the icloud preferences with your icloud address (or @me or @mac), too, it may be complicating things for you.

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Answer 2

Mar 24, 2013 2:20 AM in response to Imp68

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is unfotunately not the solution, nor the problem.

Like all original .mac users, my primary Apple ID is @mac.com. I have a secondary of @me.com, which is, again standard. I do not have any other Apple Id's (honestly).

If I log in to iCloud with .mac or me.com adresses, then it does not enable email either.

It then asks me to create an email address, and will not accept my existing @icloud.com address - it tells me it is already taken, exactly as before.

Mac Mail setup also completes, but it broken as before (no incoming server setup).

This is with both .mac, me.com and iCloud signin identities, on three different machines, one even reinstalled from scratch with no backups.

This is plainly broken.

Any other suggestions?

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Answer 3

Imp68

Level 4

2,672 points

Mar 24, 2013 6:05 AM in response to Zoe Sutherland

I do have a really good understanding of how it all works. I'm going to assume that when MobileMe ended, you did migrate your account to icloud, right?

So, lets do this one step at a time.

Go to appleid.apple.com and sign in to "manage your apple id" with your @icloud.com (do not use @mac or @me) address.

Does the prefix for your email address (before the @), under "Apple ID and Primary Email Address", match the prefix of your @icloud.com address that you just signed in with? Does it show an @mac or @me address under "Apple ID and Primary Email Address"?

As a former @mac and @me user, they should match.

Answer the above and we'll go from there.

(edits made - reread before answering)

Message was edited by: Imp68

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Answer 4

Mar 24, 2013 3:31 PM in response to Imp68

Thanks for taking the time to walk me through this, it really is very much appreciated! :-)

When I sign in with my @icloud.com address, I get the listing of my email adresss as usual, and all the prefixes for @mac.com, @me.com and @icloud.com match (see below).

When I log into the appleid.apple.com as @icloud.com : (don't worry, this information is already out there):

Your Name

Zoe Sutherland

Edit

Apple ID and Primary Email Address

Alternate Apple ID

You can use your Apple ID or your Alternate Apple ID to access everything you do with Apple.

Alternate Email Addresses

Verified

Edit Delete

Verified

Edit Delete

Verified

Edit Delete

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Answer 5

Imp68

Level 4

2,672 points

Mar 24, 2013 3:25 PM in response to Zoe Sutherland

Ok, now click your apple >> system preferences >> icloud >> account details. Is the Apple ID that shows there, the same as what you have at appleid.apple.com under Apple ID and Primary Email Address?

And by the way, you shouldn't post that private information.

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Answer 6

Mar 25, 2013 9:05 AM in response to Imp68

Thank you - yes, the iCloud account details are the same as what was provided as my primary apple ID and email address (@mac.com). The Mail and Notes checkboxes are not ticked, and when I tick them, it asks me to create an @icloud.com email address, and it won't accept my existing @icloud email address which has the same prefix as my @mac.com and @me.com email addresses (and which also works when using the apple IMAP servers).

Signing out of the iCloud system and removing all data just results in the same situation, I've even tried a new account on a MacbookPro with Mountain Lion which asks for your iCloud details and then fails to set up Mail.

I'm going to try setting iCloud up from my iPhone when it arrives to see if this is a Mountain Lion problem. Will post the results.

(Thanks - looks like the host has removed the information)

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Answer 7

Mar 26, 2013 8:15 AM in response to Zoe Sutherland

Well. Here's the end of the story:

Got my iPhone, went through setup, entered in my primary Apple ID (@mac.com), setup completed.

Except it didn't set up Mail or Notes.

So, going to Settings>iCloud and setting the switch to ON, I was presented with a dialog asking me to 'Create' an iCloud mail account - no place to input a choice of email.

After doing so, suddenly all the online mail started working.

Then on the Mac: Going to SystemPreferences>iCloud and signing out, then signing back in, suddenly everything works.

And my original @icloud.com mail is the one it 'created'.

Looks like a Mountain Lion issue from here. If I didn't have an iPhone, I would not have been able to set up iCloud mail.

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Answer 8

Dec 2, 2013 3:31 AM in response to Zoe Sutherland

Thank you for your followup note on successfully setting up iCloud with an iOS device.

I was facing the same issue as, in setting up an old .Mac account for use with iCloud. When trying to turn on iCloud Mail in Mountain Lion, it would ask to create an iCloud address... entering the existing one would invariable say it was already taken (yes, by this account).

Found this thread after a google search... followed your advice and tried it on an iPod Touch with iOS 6.x... and successfully "created" the iCloud mail account as you described.

Just wanted to say the workaround to use an iDevice worked for me.

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