iCloud Password Recovery Ideas for my Dad

[j44ke]

I, like many of you, have a dad. My dad, like many of your dads, has a computer. Periodically he bolloxes things, and then I help him fix it.

Today he called me because he keeps getting messages on his iMac that says "iCloud cannot connect, please open Preferences and log in to your iCloud account". Or some such. Not a virus or a trojan or a rogue website or whatever. Definitely an Apple OS system message.

He says he has never used iCloud and never set up an account, however his computer has an iCloud account set up on it. Checking through the associated apps, he has zero info in them. So he's obviously never used it. I suspect the guy (former grad student from way back) who helps him set up computers etc. used iCloud to migrate contacts from his old PC to his iMac 3 years ago when he made the switch. After the transfer of contacts, they were imported into Thunderbird, bookmarks went into Firefox, and then the iCloud data was deleted. Who knows though - my dad could have set this all up and doesn't remember doing it.

I tried getting him to go to the password recovery site for iCloud, but he couldn't answer any of the security questions. And when he chose "reset password by email" or whatever it says, Apple sent the recovery message to his iCloud account because evidently that was what was entered for the recovery email address.

And since Apple has gone to a more secure iCloud password system, there is no actual password in Keychain, so we couldn't snag it there. We tried deleting his account entirely (there is nothing in there and he uses a different email for iTunes etc.) but that process gets jammed when it asks him to turn of Find My Mac by entering his iCloud password. I don't want him to open Mail and look for an email, because 1.) it probably won't work if the iCloud log in is already jammed and 2.) it will probably spend a lot of time reorganizing his email accounts that are not associated with iCloud since they are listed in System Preferences as well & he has never opened Mail as far as he or I know.

So now he keeps getting those stupid messages every 45 minutes to go log in to his iCloud account in Preferences.

Suggestions?

[rwsaunders]

Jorn...does your Dad live near an Apple Store with a Genius Bar?

[j44ke]

Yeah. I am sending him to them I think. He is sort of locked in an infinite loop, and it is making my head hurt.

[Too Tall]

Jorn, you know you can see passwords in keychain right? If you don't have physical access or ability to remote best to send him packing to the Genius bar.

[j44ke]

Jorn, you know you can see passwords in keychain right? If you don't have physical access or ability to remote best to send him packing to the Genius bar.

Used to be able to do that. But now iCloud passwords are (what is it called) token based? So when you look in the password entry in Keychain, there is just a string of characters. That's not the password but part of the authentication process of the password.

At least that's how I understand it.

I don't think he has two-factor set up, but it could be. Regardless, the only thing he knows is the email address, and he can't get into the email without the password, and the email reset sends the email reset message to his iCloud address, which he can't get to etc. etc. etc.

Genius bar!!!

[Peter Polack]

Can you just delete the iCloud application?

[j44ke]

Can you just delete the iCloud application?

iCloud is part of the OS, not an application now. I could delete the iCloud account, but part of the iCloud account is Find My Mac, and that must be turned off before the account can be deleted. In order to turn it off, I need the password. So I can't turn off Find My Mac so I can delete the iCloud account. So...

[NYCfixie]

Yeah. I am sending him to them I think. He is sort of locked in an infinite loop, and it is making my head hurt.

How has nobody picked up on this very subtle pun?

Besides the computing reference, Apple's address is 1 Infinite Loop.

[j44ke]

Or as we used to say "Cupertino Time" (can't touch this.)

[xjoex]

If you didn't get this fixed, you can disable iCloud and all it's various features under system Preferences. It is insidious though...

-Joe

[j44ke]

If you didn't get this fixed, you can disable iCloud and all it's various features under system Preferences. It is insidious though...

-Joe

So far, we haven't been able to do even that, because System Preferences is insisting that disable iCloud he needs to disable Find-My-Mac, which requires the missing/forgotten password.

[giordana93]

went through this on my dad's ipad and ended up needing the genius bar tools. short of a system restore-reinstall, think the apple pros are the way to go. is it possible to trash a preferences file with the relevant info in it?

[j44ke]

I've been bouncing this around some tech guys, and yeah, I think this needs the Genius Bar. If the Geniuses can't fix the account with their magic tools, the case gets elevated to someone with the power to reset the account entirely after the Genius Bar has confirmed my dad's identity and ownership of the computer. Then after a 24-48 hour delay, an email (hopefully not to the iCloud account!) arrives with the key to unlock the account and reset the password.

I'm going to visit my dad in a couple months, and I figure he won't have taken care of this by then, so we'll have a father-son bonding moment at the Genius Bar and get it fixed together then.

Modern living!