Level 1

79 points

Finish Changing your iCloud Password Prompt / Nag Screen

Around every other day, I receive the prompt to "Finish changing your password":

Your password also protects access to data stored in iCloud. To Finish changing...

I believe the prompt started when I changed my login password to El Capitan, which is not the same password as my iCloud / AppleID password. I have tried to change my iCloud password to get rid of the box but nothing makes it go away, it pops up every few days and continues to pop up now that I upgraded to Sierra.

I'm logged in fine to iCloud and my computer. I don't have any issues with either password, they both work fine.

How in the world do I get this box from nagging me every day? Is there a plist file or some preference I need to delete to make it stop bugging me?

Posted on Oct 31, 2016 8:37 AM

Top-ranking reply

Andy Hilton

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 5:19 AM

@NewYorkYogi - as the previous replies had mentioned, the solution appears to be that you *must* specifically log out of iCloud on your mac (go to System Preferences --> iCloud then log out), and then log back in again.....

It does seem an odd way to do it - especially given the grief you are given when trying to log out of iCloud on your mac - but that also appears the only way of overcoming this issue......

Andy

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33 replies

rmohare

Level 1

8 points

Feb 22, 2017 5:57 AM in response to plochner

Bump. I have the same issue after changing my MacBook login. I actually followed through the first time on the iCloud password update to a new password (it seemed like good a time as any to do a routine password change for iCloud and I made it completely separate from the MacBook password that I had just changed) and it stopped the notification on the MacBook. But I then had issues with each one of my other iOS devices having to sign out of iCloud and then signing back in to ensure Continuity worked across all devices (text messages, handoff, etc. wasn't working after doing the iCloud password change). This was a huge task just to change a password.

This has to be a bug. Anybody at Apple have any comments (or better yet a solution) to this?

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:53 AM in response to plochner

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Move the following to the Trash and restart.

Close all running apps. Put the following items in the trash:

1) In the ~/Library/ folder, put the Caches folder in the trash.

2) In the ~/Library/Application Support/ folder, put the folder iCloud in the trash.

3) In the ~/Library/Preferences/ folder, put the file MobileMeAccounts.plist in the trash.

Learned from Kurt Lang

plochner Author

Level 1

79 points

Mar 21, 2017 8:46 AM in response to dannymichel

I can also confirm that above solution did not work. Our systems are tied into a corporate Active Directory system, and if I enter too many bad passwords, by design, it purposely locks out my account.

If I go through the process to "Finish changing my password", no matter what I put in there, it hammers my AD system so quickly that it locks my account in a couple of seconds. There's no reason it should be querying my AD credentials to change my iCloud password, yet it does. That's why I think when I change my iCloud password with that box, it also tries to change my system password.

It's not that big of a deal, other than the annoying nag box which I have to click on every couple of days. I don't even care about solving whatever underlying issue (if it even can be solved, nobody seems to know how). I just want to get rid of the nag box.

May 25, 2017 3:00 AM in response to plochner

I too have the same issue. Changed my password on my MacBook (which I have done a few times before with no issues). Now have same popup message asking me to 'finish changing your password'. I do not wish for my AppleID / iCloud password to be the same as my login password for my MacBook. Message is annoying!

Updated from El Capitan to Sierra and the message is still there. Has anyone managed to resolve this issue yet?

Feeling hopeful,

:-)

Aug 21, 2017 5:13 AM in response to plochner

It's been a few months since anyone's replied to this thread. Any solutions? I've been getting the exact same prompt/nag screen since I changed my login password a couple of weeks ago. Using El Capitan 10.11.6. MacBook Pro mid-2014.

Apr 10, 2017 3:59 PM in response to dannymichel

Yes, it's pretty annoying. Just updated my macOS and now I'm getting this alert:

I can't get rid of that Confirmation alert :/

Dec 12, 2017 5:01 AM in response to NewYorkYogi

First : back everything up. Second : back everything up !

Yes the scary message is real......it does delete everything (which is kinda wrong if you ask me but thats another point) - the good news is that when you sign in to iCloud again it copies it all back again.......some kind of demented plan to use bandwidth !

And yes, as someone with many thousands of photos etc - it takes a while and make sure you have a good connection and plenty of time to do this......

*But* - it works to stop the annoying message......

Andy

brenden dv

Community Specialist

Nov 1, 2016 10:12 AM in response to plochner

Hello plochner,

Thanks for seeking help with the alert about your iCloud password here in the Apple Support Communities. I'm happy to offer some information.

The first thing is to check your password. Click "Close" the next time you see that alert, then go to this link: iCloud.com . Attempt to log in with the same Apple ID that is showing up when you click details on that alert. Are there any alerts, errors, or any other messages? Sometimes we received these alerts when we are required to change an Apple ID password. If you clear the alert or message that shows up while at iCloud.com, you should no longer receive any alerts on your Mac. If that does not help, or there are no alerts or messages when you log in at iCloud.com, it may be best to change your password while at iCloud.com.

Once you change your password, please open this help article and ensure you go through the entire list, as any one of them may prompt for an updated password: What to do after you change your Apple ID email address or password .

The last thing I can think of to check if nothing else has worked so far is to change your Apple ID password to match your computer login password. You may have some setting checked such as use Apple ID to reset Administrator or FileVault password. Since the two do not match currently, it may be causing the alert. I only bring this up because you mentioned that you changed the password for El Capitan, it is no longer the same, and this stated after you upgraded to macOS Sierra. During the macOS Sierra setup, there may have been a default setting or new feature added that was inadvertently checked or left enabled (most heightened security features are on by default in the Mac operating systems), which is why we are only now seeing this alert.

Thanks again and have a wonderful day.

plochner Author

Level 1

79 points

Nov 1, 2016 10:29 AM in response to brenden dv

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I've tried everything you've mentioned:

My iCloud password has been changed several times in an effort to solve this problem.

Logging into iCloud after receiving this alert (using my iCloud password) shows no prompts or warnings or anything unusual.

I do not have AppleID setup to reset Administrator or FileVault password.

This problem existed before I upgraded to Sierra. When I was on El Capitan it started only after I changed my computer login password. The upgrade to Sierra did not resolve it, it's still bringing up that prompt.

Unfortunately, I am not going to change my iCloud password to match my computer password as that's a security concern. I don't see why the two would be connected to each other anyway.

Other than using the iCloud control panel to attach my AppleID to my Macbook for Messages and Contacts and Find My Mac, I am not really tied into the AppleID ecosystem on this computer. I'm not using it for backup, not using it for Photo stream, nothing like that.

That's why I'm hoping there's some plist or terminal setting I can invoke to just tell the thing to stop nagging me. The passwords are fine, I can log into my computer with my new password, I can log into my AppleID with my new passwords on all my devices. I just can't get my Mac to stop nagging me for an error that doesn't exist.

Eric--F

Community Specialist

Nov 1, 2016 11:59 AM in response to plochner

Hello plochner,

Thanks for continuing our troubleshooting here in the Apple Support Communities. Thanks for also checking everything provided in the previous reply. If the alert does not go away when you set the Apple ID password to match the Administrator login password, then please contact an AppleCare Advisor to have them check out your iCloud account. You can find the best contact option for you location using this help article: Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security .

Thanks and have an awesome day.

plochner Author

Level 1

79 points

Nov 1, 2016 12:10 PM in response to Eric--F

Hi Erik-F and thanks for barely reading my response before adding your pre-scripted reply to mine!

My iCloud password is fine, I can log into it from multiple devices including the laptop.

I already told you I'm not setting my Administrator password to my iCloud password. That's a big no no, unless you don't care about using separate passwords for all your computers and accounts.

Even if I did want to follow poor security policy, the two should have nothing to do with each other because I don't tie in my AppleID to my computer password. I've never logged into my computer using my iCloud password. They have always been purposely separate. I've had an Apple ID for years and years and a Macbook Pro for years and years and it's never nagged me like this.

This has nothing to do with Apple ID Account Security. I'm able to get into my Apple ID just fine and I'm able to get into my computer just fine using a different password. I've changed passwords multiple times and it still nags me.

It's a nag screen that won't go away, and I want to know how to make it go away. It even yells at my when my computer isn't on the Internet - if it can't check my AppleID online, how does it know that there's a problem and thus to bring up the nag screen?

plochner Author

Level 1

79 points

Nov 15, 2016 1:06 PM in response to plochner

Another couple of weeks, another 10 or 15 nag screens about this. Have I truly found the most impossible to solve bug in any Mac software release, ever? Should I inform the media and accept responsibility for Apple's stock tanking now that an apparently unsolvable issue has occurred with the security settings on their cloud service and flagship OS?

DJRobX

Level 1

4 points

Dec 28, 2016 3:56 PM in response to plochner

I have this problem too. It's super annoying.

I do not want to change my iCloud password when I change my OSX system password. Thanks for the suggestion, but now how do I make it go away?!?

plochner Author

Level 1

79 points

Dec 28, 2016 4:05 PM in response to DJRobX

It's impossible to solve. I have a couple of users at work that have the same problem. If you change one password, it asks you over and over again to also change your iCloud password.

The only fix I can tell is not use iCloud on Sierra, or keep the two passwords the same, which is horrible security policy. It has never stopped nagging me, months later.

Genius bar was stumped at this one too and suggested changing all my passwords to see if it syncs back up, but I wasn't about to do that just to guess if it fixed the problem when the Genius bar had no idea if it would or not.

Mar 17, 2017 4:55 PM in response to plochner

Same issue

Anyone resolve theirs?

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Finish Changing your iCloud Password Prompt / Nag Screen