Q: Unable to sign into iMessage after El Capitan upgrade

Hi,

Thanks for that info.

It proves two things.

1) The iCloud Pane in System Preferences > iCloud is not used in the Login of iMessages (even if you are using the same Apple ID)

2) the the issue might be (possibly) multiple items in the Keychain.

Having said that I have also seen another posts start suggests that resetting the app on the iPhone also does this.

See Re: iMessage on my Mac no longer sends messages. It only sends SMS, even to contacts that have apple ID

As each device has a unique Login to the iMessages servers it does seem unusual that turning the iPhone version Off then On again (and filling in some of the details again) actually works but it might reset the links between Apple ID and iPhone number which may help.

5:01 pm      Saturday; January 2, 2016

This Messages problem has frustrated me on and off forever.. but ffosterdd's solution worked for me.

I had been using @me, @mac, @icloud interchangeably.  For Messages I used @icloud, for iCloud account I used @mac.  I changed Messages to @mac and it worked.

Ive tried all the trix posted here and nothing worked.

Just now I wrote an iMessage with my phone and directly after that I got an alert on mac asking if I want to turn on iMessage (or something like that) and now it works. I guess this was just a coincident. But you never know.

I have the same problem!

I have use the reset the NVRAM and now my Messages work!

Reboot while holding command-option-P-R until you hear a second chime.

I have the same problem. After installing OS Captain on my Macbook pro (MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)) iMessage stopped working.

A pop up window appeared saying:

"Mensajes se está actualizando..." (Messages is being updated)

But nothing else happens.

I tried:

1. Reset your computer's NVRAM

2. Boot your computer in Safe Mode

3. Log into FaceTime and Messages

4. Reboot into Normal Mode

And when I entered as a guest I was able to check and send messages, but again on my admin account, I'm unable to.

Anyone knows what to do?

Thanks,

Angela

Hi,

Open a Finder Window

Use the Go Menu but also hold down the ALT key.

Select the Library that appears in the Menu when you do this.

Navigate to Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages

In here should be a folder called Archive.

Often in the case you describe it has become a File of some sort that the update process cannot work with.

Change the name of this File.

Create a new Folder called Archive.

If you have Time Machine or some other Backup then restore the Contents before restarting Messages.

9:24 pm      Wednesday; April 20, 2016

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for answering, and for your suggestion.

I was working yesterday afternoon and suddenly iMessage, the new version, started working well.

I'm just checking the folder you are telling me about (by the way, such a cool tip. I always try to find that folder and is never visible) and I just checked that it has all my conversations in iMessage. It's a heavy folder. With lots of conversations and pictures. I sense that's why it took it so long to update.

It took 8 hours for it to fully update the data base.

So, I guess you are right on spot with what you said. Since it's working now I'm not gonna rename the folder, but I think it would have solved the issue.

I want to mention to anyone who is also looking for solutions that I twitted about my problem, a bit upset that every time I make an update something stops working. And, actually, I received a wonderful service through twitter from the Apple Support Center. They tried to solve the issue by texting back and forth, but since it wasn't solved, they set up a call (even though I don't live in The States) for someone more technical to help with the service.

I actually think that communities (like this one) work a lot faster, and there very savvy people who do help a lot.

So thank again Ralph.

Angela

Hi,

I had not heard of anyone having an Archive Folder that was so big that I had not even considered that time might be an answer in itself.

Glad to hear you have it working.

6:59 pm      Friday; April 22, 2016

Delete in User/prefs files start with apple.com.iChat, com.apple.imagent, com.apple.imessage, com.apple.imservice (9 files for me)

Reboot twice with cmd-opt-p-r.

Works for me (OS X 10.11.5)

Hi,

This thread was marked Solved on the Oct 13th 2015 Re: Unable to sign into iMessage after El Capitan upgrade

This was the NVRAM reset that they were talking about at the time.

The folder is also actually ~/Library/Preferences  and not ~/Preferences as you indicated.

For me  those starting com.apple.imservice is only three files but include two FaceTime ones

This com.apple.imessage is actually com.apple.imessage.bag.plist and only holds the server info

com.apple.ichat.plist itself holds nothing about iMessages

Neither does the com.apple.iChat.AIM or the Jabber one or the Subnet one (Bonjour only) or the Yahoo one

com.apple.iChat.StatusMessages.plist only holds the Saved Status Messages used by Buddy Lists (not iMessages)

You may have com.apple.iChat.LSSharedFileList.plist depending on how you updated.  It used to hold the Recent Chat lists but this is no longer in the File Menu and the content is now stored in com.apple.ichat.plist itself - not that you can use it anyway.

This might also be present if you had older versions where you could format Messages com.apple.ichat.TranscriptRenderingService.plist

I make that 12 on my computer.

You have missed the iMessages one

Just this one, com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist will cause you to re-enter the Apple ID and accept Pop ups about other devices if you delete it.

That is to say only this one will reset the iMessages account.

com.apple.ichat.plist will cause the Preferences and many Menu items to be reset to default.

8:22 pm      Thursday; May 19, 2016

I am still suffering by this problem, I asked Apple Support for help and get a Capture_Data App to collect my information for investigation, but I cannot open it.

I also did what you mentioned, but never worked,too...

Hi,

Go back to Apple Support and explain the issues you are having with the App they sent you. You will have to install it as an Admin User (your Mac User Account needs to be an Admin one or you need to login as the Admin)

This Thread is also so old and marked as Solved that it will probably pay to post your own Thread.

9:18 pm      Thursday; June 16, 2016

I need help .. i formatted and reinstalled IOS el captain version is 10.11.15 and now i can not seem to log in to imsg nor to FaceTime . on imsg it tells me "Could not sign in to iMessage. An error occurred during activation. Try again." what can i do to activate my imsg . help anyone .. thank you

Hi,

Does that mean a nee Mac User account or did you migrate anything from anywhere to do with another Mac User account ?

Also if you did migrate stuff did that include the Keychain ?

8:03 pm      Sunday; July 3, 2016

Thanks so much. This helped.