Level 1

21 points

Wallet & Apple Pay Preference Missing

I just purchased a new 2018 15 inch MacBook Pro and migrated my old info from a Time Machine Backup. All is well except the Wallet & Apple Pay Preference icon is missing in the System Preferences. This icon does show up when I switch users to Guest or create a new User. Guessing my Preferences plist from the TMB that I migrated is causing this Wallet & Apple Pay icon to be missing. I have reached out to Apple for help and they are looking into it. Anyone else have this issue?

Posted on Jul 21, 2018 2:06 PM

Top-ranking reply

JCandle

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Aug 25, 2018 8:52 AM

For ease of reading the problem can be identified by opening the Terminal app and pasting in the following command:

Code:

defaults read .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags

If Terminal responds with:

Code:

rather than the correct value of:

Code:

Then the fault is with this flag value and the following command should be pasted into Terminal:

Code:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags -int 3

You can check this value again by repeating:

Code:

defaults read .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags

The Wallet appeared in the System Preferences pane immediately after this command but it took me a restart to get it to accept a new card (a log out/in may have also worked).

Full credit to Einkoro, mjrit and a few others.

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78 replies

Jul 30, 2018 6:40 AM in response to DAC30

The Wallet & Apple Pay Prefence Pay is in the Preference Pane folder, it just doesn't appear in System Preferences.

If you Right Click the Pane and select Open With System Preferences, you are presented with a Window showing this:

You can’t open the “Wallet & Apple Pay” preferences pane because it is not available to you at this time.

To see this preferences pane, you may need to connect a device to your computer.

AndyG.

Level 1

4 points

Jul 30, 2018 10:24 AM in response to KennyGardner

Exactly, I get the same message when I click on the Wallet.pref file. Its acting as if we don't have the hardware to use Wallet & Applepay. Which is of course not true, given it works under the guest account and new users on the computer. Just not the User moved over from the Time Machine Backup.

This probably means its a software issue, the question is how do we solve this? There has to be a way to do this without starting from scratch and manually moving files over. I don't think that is an acceptable solution.

Jul 30, 2018 10:37 AM in response to AndyG.

AndyG. wrote:

There has to be a way to do this without starting from scratch

I did that thinking it might have been a migration issue. I formatted and reinstalled and there was no change. Preference Pane still missing. I did do the migration the 2nd time, so maybe it is migration related. There's no way I'm going to manually copy everything over and spend days re-configuring everything.

Kenny

mjrit

Level 1

9 points

Aug 1, 2018 7:35 PM in response to mjrit

The errors I mentioned above might be unrelated - resetting the SMC seems to have fixed it, I'd love to know why.

Nothing on this page hints at problems like this:

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201295

Like others, I still don't have wallet preferences in my migrated account but do see them if I create a new account.

Aug 8, 2018 10:42 AM in response to DAC30

I ran into this while migrating from a Mid 2012 MBP 15" to a new MBP as well. I configured Migration Assistant to migrate from the startup disk using targeted disk mode from the old machine. I was going to try my Time Machine backup, but after reading through this thread it appears that the Migration Assistant process is the cause of the issue.

I opened a call with Apple support last night. They weren't able to solve, and the tech support rep escalated to Engineering. After seeing DAC30's response, I'm really not holding out much hope there will be a quick solution (or any solution from engineering), BUT the more calls about the issue, the more pressure will be put on them to resolve.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 12, 2018 6:14 AM in response to AndyG.

I also did a full erase and reinstalled the OS via the Command R route. Followed that with another attempt using TimeMachine backup, this time directly connected to my MacBook Pro via USB instead of WIFI. Everything went fine and I'm back up and running but still no Wallet & ApplePay preference. I have another call in to my Apple support representative and should speak to her on Monday. I plan on trying to upgrade this issue again as this seems unacceptable to let it continue. I will post any communications that I feel appropriate to further our effort.

YatBob

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 9:50 AM in response to DAC30

There is a thread on Mac Rumors about this and everyone that reported their method used Time Machine

My MBPro is scheduled for delivery Wednesday15th , I am going to migrate from CCC and report back the results

Einkoro

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 9:52 PM in response to an0nymouz

You can set it up after migration assistant if you edit the plist mentioned above to correct one the values. I passed on the info to support under my existing case but no idea when/if they’ll do anything to fix it.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 13, 2018 1:25 PM in response to AndyG.

I had contact with my Apple Support rep this afternoon on the phone and they said the engineers were working on a fix and would include it in a future OS update. I then told her about Einkoro's fix and that the communities site had already published a fix that works. She requested that info which I provided like others have done. Hopefully they will fix the issue for those who don't even know they are missing it. It's been a pleasure.......... thanks.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 12, 2018 10:38 PM in response to Einkoro

I'm not seeing the GlobalPreferences.plist in my ~/Library Preferences.

boise89

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2018 5:38 PM in response to DAC30

I did. Talked with apple support. They wanted me to reformat and reinstall my entire system. Real genius right there!

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 25, 2018 1:03 PM in response to headedscorp

My guess is their are many having the same issue but don't use Apple Pay and so haven't even looked for the Preference or notice that it is missing. I would like to know if anyone migrated from a TM backup to a new MacBook Pro and do have the Wallet & Apple Pay Preference icon in their migrated user account Preferences? It sits between the Internet Accounts and the Apps Store icons if you have looked at in a Guest Account.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 28, 2018 2:58 PM in response to gonezo

Yes, I understand that you can create a new user to fix the issue or use Guest and Wallet & Apple Pay preference will show up. However, the migration process from a Time Machine backup is an Apple approved and published procedure. The issue should be taken care of through a software fix from Apple to make it seamless. The process of transferring files and folders is considerably more complicated and not the seamless experience that Apple publishes and wants to promote. I hope they can issue a fix from their end but I may have to do exactly as you propose if they cannot fix it. Thanks.

Jul 30, 2018 9:32 AM in response to DAC30

It can't be empty or you wouldn't have any Preferences.

The Wallet Preference Pane is in:

/Macintosh HD/System/Library/PreferencePanes

Best to stay out of the System folder, however.

The big question for us having this issue is, if the Wallet Preference pane is there, why are we not allowed to access it.

Kenny

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 30, 2018 12:33 PM in response to KennyGardner

OK, thanks. I found the right Preference Pane Folder and do have it there along with all the others like you do. Same info. I will bring this up to my Apple Support person when they call today 4pm CDT at and let you know what they have found or if they are still working the issue.

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Wallet & Apple Pay Preference Missing