iCloud in El Capitan keeps asking for Apple ID

Clarification question - are you actually signed out of iCloud?

Signing out and then in again did not bring much - iCloud kept asking for my Apple ID all the same.

As you advised, I pulled the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file from ~/Library/Preferences to the desktop and then restarted the computer.

I am now very much afraid to call it the way I see it in order not to, knock on wood, endanger the success but it has magically worked:

System Preferences behaving like it used to and NOT asking for my Apple ID anymore!

Let the night pass by and let me test it tomorrow again. I will come back to you by any means.

Still knocking on wood and keeping all my fingers crossed - thanks a million for now!

Thank you so much for your reply, LarryHN!

1) LittleSnitch has been there since the day I bought this computer while the problem with iCloud asking for my Apple ID started only about a year ago. Actually, LittleSnitch has migrated to this machine from my old iMac (i. e., 6+ years ago) and has regularly been updated. I will however, as you advise, disable it and see what happens even if I for one do not quite believe it would change much. But I will check it anyway.

2) If, as you suspect, LittleSnitch causes my problem, then why not every time I startup my machine, but rather inconsistently, say, 8 or 9 start-ups out of 10?

3) Which ad blockers are incompatible with each other on my system and which one of them is too many? Could you please be more specific?

Thank you very much again for you help!

Hi LarryHN,

1) Disabling LittleSnicht hasn't brought anything, so it wasn't LS's fault.

2) Various ad blockers in addition to uBlock, which you caught your attention on my system, have never been loaded (s. my etreCheck report above) - they are most probably a migration residue from my old iMac and I didn't even know that they slipped into the new machine. So in the end uBlock was actually the only active ad blocker Safari was using, except that I almost do not use Safari at all, Firefox being my browser of (deliberate) choice. All this, as you see, has nothing to do with my being lazy to read uBlock's documentation. But thanks for the pointer anyway.

3) Besides, I do not quite follow you... What have (not loaded!) Safari extensions to do with iCloud asking for its password BEFORE I start any browser at all, least of all Safari?

Thank you again.

Hi Eric,

I was away from my iMac yesterday, but when I booted it up today the problem of iCloud asking for my Apple ID re-emerged as if nothing has happened the day before… More than that - System Preferences froze every time I typed in the Apple ID, so much so that I had to shut it down forcefully and reboot the machine.

1) I’ve run Disk First Aid - no help

2) I’ve trashed yet again

~/Library/Caches folder

~/Library/Application Support/iCloud folder

~/Library/Preferences/MobileMeAccounts.plist

alas, no help either…

Just by chance, and other tips up your sleeve?

Lots of thanks in advance!

Hi Eric,

very much afraid to scare off my luck, hence only whispering … but it seems to work! I have restarted my computer several times today, shut it off and on again and … psst… it hasn’t asked me for my Apple ID so far. I keep on knocking on wood just in case ;-)

Here’s hoping I will not have to bother you again and my most sincere thanks for your kind help!

Hi Eric,

very sorry indeed to bother yet again…

After about 24 hours of lull the problem - iCloud asking for my Apple ID - has unfortunately re-emerged.

The pattern of this misbehavior has changed though: if earlier iCloud was asking for Apple ID at about 9 out of 10 start-ups, it is now vice versa - this System Preferences window pops up after one to two start-ups out of ten. (Of course I do not switch off and then turn my computer on again so frequently on any given day - on the last two days I did so for testing purposes only.)

I am totally clueless about what causes this problem to return over and over again… Since I’ve done all the repairs which you have suggested (and which did help in the end albeit only for a limited amount of time) nothing has changed in the system, I have done no other tweaks or anything else at all in the meantime…

Just in case, please see below the EtreCheck report which was generated today only a few minutes after iCloud asked me for my Apple ID upon start-up yet again.

It might well be only my imagination and „after this, is not necessarily because of this“ but I’ll mention it anyway…

The machine on which the a. m. problem will not go away is a Mid 2011 iMac. A bit over a year ago we also started using a Late 2013 iMac at our place which until then lived unpacked in its box. This younger iMac uses the same router and the same iCloud ID as the Mid 2011 iMac.

And I think, I only THINK so, that the problem of iCloud asking for Apple ID on the OLDER machine started after we started using the newer iMac. Again, it must not necessarily be „post hoc ergo propter hoc“, but I somehow have this nasty suspicion at the back of my head.

What could speak against this suspicion of mine though is this: iCloud on the OLDER machine can ask (or not) for my Apple ID INDEPENDENT of the younger iMac running or NOT running in the adjacent room.

Hmmmm… What do we do now?

Sincerely grateful in advance for all and any help!

------------------------------------------------------------

EtreCheck version: 3.4.4 (448)
Report generated 2017-09-10 11:12:30
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 2:23
Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Other problem
Description:
iCloud keeps asking for Apple ID

Hardware Information: ⓘ
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac12,1
1 2,5 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2400S) CPU: 4-core
12 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 0/DIMM1
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM1
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ⓘ
AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB
iMac 1920 x 1080

Disk Information: ⓘ
WDC WD5000AAKS-402AA0 disk0: (500,11 GB) (Rotational)
[Show SMART report]
(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (50.46 GB free)
(disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N ()

USB Information: ⓘ
USB20Bus 2 TB
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
hub_device 2 TB
Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard
Western Digital My Book 1130 2 TB
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB20Bus
hub_device
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Card Reader

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ
TM Backups (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/TM Backups : 1.50 TB (13.23 GB free)
Physical disk: My Book 1130 1.50 TB (13.23 GB free)
Stuff (disk1s3 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Stuff : 501.00 GB (42.32 GB free)
Physical disk: My Book 1130 501.00 GB (42.32 GB free)

System Software: ⓘ
OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G1611) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Configuration files: ⓘ
/etc/sysctl.conf - File exists but not expected

Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Applications/Toast 15 Titanium/Toast Audio Assistant.app
[not loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.6.7 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]

/Library/Extensions
[loaded] at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch (4.0.2 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

~/Library/Services/ToastIt.service/Contents/MacOS
[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[loaded] 158 Apple tasks
[running] 73 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 47 Apple tasks
[loaded] 156 Apple tasks
[running] 87 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ
[running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchHelper.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2017-08-22) [Lookup]
[running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2017-08-22) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[running] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2017-08-22) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 85012398 - installed 2017-07-25) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.bresink.system.privilegedhelper-tts.plist (Marcel Bresink - installed 2017-01-20) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.bresink.system.securityagent3.plist (Marcel Bresink - installed 2013-07-04) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.bresink.system.securityagent3a.plist (Marcel Bresink - installed 2013-11-10) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-09-03) [Lookup]
[running] com.objective-see.ransomwhere.plist (Objective-See, LLC - installed 2017-04-20) [Lookup]
[running] com.tclementdev.timemachineeditor.scheduler.plist (Thomas CLEMENT - installed 2017-08-30) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.zqueue.servetome-server.plist (Matthew Gallagher - installed 2017-09-03) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-09-09) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ
ClipMenu Programm
(/Applications/ClipMenu.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
FlashPlayer-10.6: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-08) [Lookup]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-08-07)
Flash Player: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-08) [Lookup]
Default Browser: 601 (installed 2016-07-09)
Google Earth Web Plug-in: 7.1 (installed 2016-05-06) [Lookup]
GarminGpsControl: 4.2.0.0 (installed 2014-04-01) [Lookup]
nplastpass: 2.5.5 (installed 2014-03-16) [Lookup]
PDF Browser Plugin: 2.4.4 (installed 2015-05-26) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ
[not loaded] ClickToPlugin - Marc Hoyois - http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/ (installed 2015-12-24)
[enabled] Save to Pocket - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (installed 2017-09-05)
[not loaded] StartPage HTTPS - Surfboard B.V. - https://startpage.com (installed 2016-07-01)
[enabled] uBlock Origin - Chris Aljoudi/Raymond Hill - https://www.github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari (installed 2017-08-22)
[enabled] LastPass - LastPass - https://lastpass.com/ (installed 2017-09-05)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (installed 2017-07-25) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 448.79 GB
Destinations:
TM Backups [Local]
Total size: 1.50 TB
Total number of backups: 178
Oldest backup: 12.04.13, 09:48
Last backup: 09.09.17, 21:09
Size of backup disk: Excellent
Backup size 1.50 TB > (Disk size 499.25 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
2% WindowServer
2% launchd
2% kernel_task
1% backupd
1% mds

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
924 MB kernel_task
221 MB mds_stores
86 MB Little Snitch Network Monitor
64 MB softwareupdated
59 MB WindowServer

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ
6.48 WindowServer
1.12 backupd
0.76 mds
0.36 fseventsd

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
9.45 GB Available RAM
7.13 GB Free RAM
2.55 GB Used RAM
2.32 GB Cached files
0 B Swap Used

Software installs: ⓘ
TimeMachineEditor: (installed 2017-08-20)
TimeMachineEditor: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 License: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-09-03)
Kindle: 1.20.3 (installed 2017-09-06)
OneDrive: 17.3.6967 (installed 2017-09-08)

Install information may not be complete.

Thank you for your reply, Eric!

I have, as far as I can see it in „About this Mac“, the latest version of Mac OS and I HAVE installed this Combo Update back in July.

Also, clicking on „Updates“ in App Store does not show that it is available for me. Unless, of course, you mean that I can and/should do it manually nonetheless from the link you have provided.

I doubt though it would help… I had this problem with iCloud before and after this Combo Update in July - no difference at all.

That said, do you mean I should sort of „overwrite“ my system with this Combo Update all the same?

Thank you so very much, Eric!

This solved my problem!!!

Loads of thanks again!

Thank you very much, Tesserax, for your advice - I really appreciate it!

I will certainly make use of it (clean install of OS) when I next upgrade to Sierra (or High Sierra).

Many thanks again!