Unable to add Apple Pay wallet after restoring a Time Machine Backup

If you have a backup of the "applepay" folder before before you set up, maybe that would work. I'm not sure how easy it would be to copy across while keeping the permissions as carbon copy cloner does.

I didn't have that option as I had Apple Pay set up before my logic board packed in and didn't backup the "applepay" folder before restoring from my pre-failure backup.

I actually tried to perform a non-fresh re-install of macOS. It didn't work. I assume you'd have to format your partition and re-install a completely fresh copy, and then manually install and bring everything across from a backup. That would be a nightmare!

mpt-matthew and rumpadunk,

As I stated earlier, using mpt-matthew's shared Apple Pay folder didn't work for me...likely because of unique attributes associated and assigned on a per-machine basis. However, I followed mpt-matthew's entire process to fresh install MacOS on another partition, ccc the folder over to my current install, and boom, it worked beautifully. The steps he laid out were meticulously beautiful and worked like a charm.

Wow, and to think I was SO CLOSE to install a fresh version of MacOS on my system over something that could very well be fixed by Apple. I agree with Mpt-matthew's recommendation in that the "Reset Apple Pay and Add Card" button needs to be fixed to perform the equivalent of what this remediation accomplishes...especially since most (if not ALL) of us are getting our Macbooks and Logic Boards replaced due to a manufacturing defect (Apple's Fault!).

Well done, mpt-matthew...great investigative and troubleshooting work! Thank you!

VERIFIED SOLUTION!!

The steps that mpt-matthew laid out worked PERFECTLY for me and fixed the issue! I was ready to perform a fresh install (via Apple's only recommendation), but mpt-matthew saved the day. It took me about 30-60 minutes to perform the steps this user outlined, but it worked perfectly. Thank you very much!

Another solution, slightly easier if you have parallels.

Backup

Install macOS in a new parallels VM.

Install parallels tools

Open Terminal in the VM

Type:

sudo cp -r /private/var/db/applepay /Volumes/SharedFolders/Home/

(I think SharedFolders is correct from memory...if not, type 'ls /Volumes/' to see a list of directories in Volumes, the Shared mount being one)

On the host mac, in Terminal

sudo mv /private/var/db/applepay{,2}

sudo mv ~/applepay /private/var/db/

sudo chown -R _applepay:_applepay /private/var/db/applepay

sudo pkill seld

sudo pkill nfcd

Open Apple pay and add a card. I got an error the first time, but the second time it worked as normal, including adding a card after a reboot, and the cards appear in Safari.

In fact it might work just copying the applepay directory from another Mac, moving it in place, and running

sudo chown -R _applepay:_applepay /private/var/db/applepay

sudo pkill seld

sudo pkill nfcd

Please see the attached link. I fixed the issue using that method. FYI, restart your MacBook before you can add new apple pay cards.

https://blog.yimingliu.com/2017/06/15/resolving-endless-apple-pay-add-card-loop- after-time-machine-restore/

I opened 'Terminal' and inputed the steps that John Benninghoff suggested and Apple Pay is now working. There are a couple of notes based on how Terminal responded to each step.

Hi

I suggest that you continue your dialogue with Apple Support, if necessary including asking for the matter to be escalated.

Same here. I've reported it as a bug.

thanks a lot. this worked great. after a month and a half of wasting time with apple customer service and getting nowhere, this is fantastic. I hope one day stupid apple engineers can learn this!

Tremendous instructions. Worked perfectly.

Thank you!

I used step 1,2,5,6 and this fixed it for me.

Apple support's first suggestion was to contact the banks.

I didn't need to reboot, it worked instantly.

Many thanks.