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HACKINTOSH IMESSAGE + ICLOUD + FACETIME REPAIR GUIDE
Guides # March 24, 2018

iMessage, iCloud and FaceTime are definitely apps that can work on a hackintosh, however when there is
something wrong such as an improper configuration with the EFI or the network setup that can lead to
things like iMessage throwing an error that it can’t sign you in. However sometimes the problem can also
be hardware related in the case of using a AMD/Ryzen system to which I haven’t nor anybody I know of has
gotten these services to work, but if you have an Intel hackintosh here’s the usual suspects that can be
preventing you from fully becoming 100% hackintosh.

Popular Recent Comments

Guide to fresh installing

macOS High Sierra on a
Hackintosh (10.13
Update)
October 5, 2017

Fresh installing macOS

High Sierra on AMD
Ryzen Hackintosh Guide
1. BSD Device Names (10.13)
December 7, 2017
If the BSD Device Names of your Active Services such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi are set incorrectly this is also
something that can prevent iMessage/iCloud/FaceTime from working. Guide to fresh installing
macOS Mojave on a
Set correct BSD name: Hackintosh
July 28, 2018

1. Open Terminal
2. Paste sudo rm -rf
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist into Terminal and enter Mac OS High Sierra

password on prompt Hackintosh Install Clover

Walkthrough
3. Paste sudo rm -rf /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist into
October 5, 2017
Terminal
4. Reboot Hackintosh and check iMessage/iCloud/Facetime

How to make a USB flash

drive installer for macOS
2. Bad System Preferences March 6, 2017

If you have had Mac OS running for awhile then it’s a possibility that from mix matching things trying to get
these services to work that the configuration files that these services use have gotten messed up. So what
we can do is clean up these configuration files, but before you can do this step you will need to make sure
you are signed out of all iCloud related services and restart your machine that way they aren’t running when Next »
we remove the configuration files they rely on.

To delete/reset Preferences:

Make sure you are signed out of all services and restart before beginning these steps.

1. Open Terminal
2. Enter sudo rm into Terminal to trigger password prompt if necessary.
3. Paste all at once into Terminal:

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iCloudHelper* \

&
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Messages* \
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.icloud* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imagent* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imessage* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imservice* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ids.service* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.madrid.plist* \ CATEGORIES
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imessage.bag.plist* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.identityserviced* \ Blog (29)
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ids.service* \
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security* \ Builds (18)
~/Library/Messages Downloads (3)

Guides (54)
4. Reboot Hackintosh and check iMessage/iCloud/Facetime
Sticky (2)

3. Proper SMBIOS Settings for Working Hackintosh iMessage

If iMessage still isn’t working after resetting the network and deleting system preferences than it’s most
likely issue with whatever values are set in the SMBIOS section of your config.plist. Problems with the way
the SMBIOS is set is the #1 reason a lot of people aren’t able to get iMessage or iCloud working.

3.1 Generate an Invalid Serial Number

1. Download Clover Configurator if you don’t already have it

2. Mount EFI partition
3. Navigate to /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/
4. Right-click config.plist and open with Clover Configurator
5. Click SMBIOS on left side
b. Copy the Serial Number
7. Go to checkcoverage.apple.com
c. Paste Serial Number and click Continue
9. If it comes back as valid you will need to generate a new serial number until you get a error or invalid
serial number
10. Go back to Clover Configurator SMBIOS section
11. Repeat Generate New and paste to checkcoverage.apple.com until you get an Invalid Serial Number

3.2 Set Custom Board Serial Number

Now that you have your own invalid serial number you need to replace the Board Serial Number with one
containing your Invalid Serial Number along with 5 random digits. Since they can be any digits I keep the
last five digits of the Board Serial Number and replace the first 12 with the Serial Number

1. Copy Serial Number

2. Replace the first 12 digits of Board Serial Number with the copied Serial Number

3.3 Unique UUID

1. Open Terminal
2. Generate a unique string by entering uuidgen into Terminal
3. Copy & Paste the generated UUID value from Terminal into SmUUID in Clover Configurator -> SMBIOS
4. Save config.plist
5. Restart Hackintosh

Note: If generating your own SMBIOS values doesn’t work out for you then you can try using a valid Serial
Number and verifying with checkcoverage.apple.com to find out if iMessage/iCloud/FaceTime issue is
related to the SMBIOS or not. If iMessage works with a valid Serial Number then you didn’t generate your
own SMBIOS values correctly. When using a Valid Serial Number you leave SmUUID blank. If
iMessage/iCloud/FaceTime still doesn’t work with a valid Serial Number at least you know the issue is
related to something else other than the SMBIOS values. If you can get your own fake Serial Number to
work it’s recommended you not use a valid Serial Number permanently as that of course belongs to
someone else’s Mac.

Leave a Reply

17 Comments on "Hackintosh iMessage + iCloud + FaceTime Repair Guide"

Join the discussion

 Sort by: newest|oldest

siroanko
We should NOT use a “Valid” serial number because the number is actually used by an existing
mac user. We should not disturb legitimate users, otherwise Apple may re-consider their tolerance
for hackintoshing. Invalid serial numbers that Clover Configurator generates are quite enough to
access FaceTime/iMessage/iCloud services.

' REPLY # 10 months 1 day ago (

Hackintosher
Thanks, I updated the guide to reflect that!

' REPLY # 10 months 1 day ago (

jesusma
Hi, impossible, I got invalid serial, paste smuuid from uuidgen, restart, also delete
caches, preferences, but always says : Error during activation try later.

' REPLY # 9 months 30 days ago (

Hackintosher
Can you provide a screenshot of your SMBIOS setting in Clover Configurator so
I can tell you what the problem is?

' REPLY # 9 months 27 days ago

patricia2626
can we guide for the new update we get how do install them as i see iTunes 12.7.3 macos high
sierra 10.13.3 update combo

' REPLY # 9 months 30 days ago

Danny
Hey, just a quick unrelated note that a lot of the hyperlinks in your older guides seem to be broken
(unclickable). For example, in: https://hackintosher.com/guides/high-sierra-install-full-guide/

' REPLY # 9 months 28 days ago (

Hackintosher
I checked that and there was only one broken link are you able to tell me any others?
Thanks!

' REPLY # 9 months 28 days ago

Samxyzabc
Hello,
I have difficulty to get imessage work on my hackintosh. Can you take a look at my EFI and tell
what the problem is? I have a Gigabyte Z97X-GAMING 3 motherboard and an Intel Core i3 4170
CPU. I followed https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/, but a
popup appears telling me call Apple support with a customer code.

Here is my EFI folder https://mega.nz/#!MA8UzY6A!5XdjLNmfdIe9_OaDGLvZ-

tBE7F6J819Pjm1XBdjRlrg

Thank you very much.

' REPLY # 9 months 12 days ago

Ashay
This is the error I’m getting when I try to do it:

You cannot sign in to iMessage on this Mac at this time.

To use iMessage with this Mac, contact Apple Support and provide the code below.

Customer Code: 3170-9028-6119

Apple ID: [email protected]

I have tried to call them but they just asked me to update my software. I’m not sure what more to
do. Any help would be very appreciated

' REPLY # 7 months 6 days ago (

Gary
I has same problem. but using an earlier registered apple id can login imessage.
Have you solved it?

' REPLY # 6 months 19 days ago

Man Of Mstry
The same error with me, strangely when I use real mac with my account, it can run well
without errors. But when I use hackintosh, there is an error message.

' REPLY # 5 months 14 days ago

Gary
Hi,
I met a problem,
using an earlier registered apple id can login imessage,
but use new registered apple id login display “you cannot sign into iMessage on this mac at this
time” and i get customer code and message to call to apple.

Can someone help?

thx

' REPLY # 6 months 19 days ago (

Alain
I’m stuck in the same boat, not sure what I’m doing wrong… I guess maybe it blocked from
the apple side? But strange it works on iphone

' REPLY # 6 months 19 days ago (

 Gary
I think so, my new registered works on iphone,but can’t login Hackintosh imessage.
Sometimes the login is successful, but it expires after about 5 seconds.

' REPLY # 6 months 19 days ago

livinin82
Every time I save the new settings to config.plist, I get just the apple logo at boot (no loading bar)
and it just hangs there. What could I be doing wrong?

' REPLY # 5 months 17 days ago

dennis
Is it necessary to login into icloud first?

When I run imessage debug, I dont have a valid rom showing. Just FFFFFFFF

' REPLY # 2 months 11 days ago

Tim
Thanks, great guide! Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work for me… in particular I can’t get my USB
Wifi to look as Built in (which is apparently crucial) and my integrated is not supported.
It worked smoothly for over a year but now I changed CPU, had to update the BIOS to make it
recognize and got stuck.
My configuration: GA Z170N-WIFI BIOS F22f
Intel i5-7500 3.4 GHz
16 GB RAM 2x Crucial Ballistic Sport LT DDR4-2400
HD Seagate ST1000DM010
SSD Samsung EU 860 EVO 500GB
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC nVidia 4GB
PSU Corsair VS550
MacOS 10.12.6
I don’t care much about iMessage but keeping Calendar and contacts synced on ICloud is quite
crucial…
Thanks for your time!

' REPLY # 1 month 23 days ago

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