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An iDiot's Guide To iMessage

@P1LGRIM , Just wanted to drop a line and say many many thanks for taking the time to write this guide. I was able to get everything working on a fresh Sierra load 10.12.6 by following your directions, and it really made it easy for a nooby like me.

Thaigyver
 
Tried dozens of times by strictly following this guide...

Clearly you did not.

The Guide said:
This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.
 
Hey,

I recently used this guide as a great tool for changing my SMBIOS on a cloned machine. Basically, I built an identical machine (All the same components) by cloning the drives but needed the serials, board-ID etc to be different. Everything works great except one thing- Remote login.

When trying to use software like anydesk or splashtop it won't let me add both computers. If I add one the other gets kicked out or the remote login code is the same. Everything is different in the SMBIOS except the 'Board Serial Number'. I wondering if this is what could be causing the issues in thinking that 2 x HACKS are the same.

My question is - Do you think the 'Board Serial Number" could be causing the problem? and can I change the board serial of one of the machines or does this have to be specific? I don't want to change this number if its not the problem.

Thanks.

The Guide said:
This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.
 
Hi to everyone, a simple (and stupid) question: if I haven't got an ethernet or a working wifi card on my laptop (it has CNVi wifi card, so I can't replace it), I can't make this services work, right? there is no way to have a wifi stick recognized as built-in wifi...it is all right?
Thanks

This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread
 
I followed you guide and iMessage works, I'm getting the same iMessageDebut output between 2 reboot, but for sure I don't have the nvram as I loose the value set between reboots... so I should be happy if mssage works, right... still I'm curious, is nvram mandatory for the system to be fully functional knowing message/facetime work (I followed your guide not because of message but because somehow even if message works, airdrop, airplay... I can't make handoff/continuity work!, wonder if it's because of nvram)

This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.
 
I'd followed this guide back on January after building my system. Three days ago, FaceTime and Messages suddenly stopped working! I tried everything to make them work again but without success! I'm about to delete the existing IDs and numbers and apply new ones. Is there anything else I can do instead of giving my system a new identity?

The Guide said:
This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.
 

Actually this is less of a guide and more of an explanation of the procedures that I use in my own builds in order to enable access to the App Store, iMessage and FaceTime. Do not be offended by the term 'iDiot', it is not intended as an insult but more my attempt at a humorous play on words in the vein of AppleSpeak (iPod, iMac, iPhone etc).

It is acknowledged that it will not work in all cases but should hopefully assist many people if only by giving an understanding of the processes involved to enable iMessage.

This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.

Links to all of the referenced files are at the end of this first post.
Despite them being at the end of the instructions, now is a good time to download them.

If you have tried and failed previously then there are some steps to take before you start again.

Open Safari and log in to iCloud.com
Click on Find iPhone
Click the down arrow next to All Devices
If there are spurious devices in the list from previous failed attempts click each one and Remove from Account.
You should also remove any unwanted devices from your Apple ID through the link on the iCloud page,
or by directly logging in to your Apple ID page.

Sign Out of iCloud.com

Close Safari

Open System Preferences - iCloud : Click Sign Out

Disconnect from the network then Restart


Open a Finder window and click on your User Name then in a blank area right click and select
Show View Options and from the resulting window select Show Library Folder.

Open the newly revealed Library folder and select Caches
From the Caches folder delete all files and folders beginning with :

  • com.apple.iCloudHelper
  • com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent
  • com.apple.Message
In Finder navigate to Username/Library/Preferences and delete all files and folders beginning with
  • com.apple.iChat.
  • com.apple.icloud.
  • com.apple.ids.service
  • com.apple.imagent.
  • com.apple.imessage.
  • com.apple.imservice.
Empty the Trash and Restart.

**************************************************************************
Start here
It has been said that you must have a credit card registered with your AppleID in order to use iMessage,
I can neither confirm or deny this as I have never tried it without.
Edit : Replies to this guide have confirmed that a registered credit card is not required.


You must have a working Ethernet connection which is defined as BuiltIn and en0.
An easy way to determine this is with the DPCIManager app.
Note: Since publication some users have reported that DPCIManager is detected as Malware because of the way that it probes your system in order to determine your hardware configuration. The warning is a false positive and may be ignored.

It is possible to connect with a Wireless adaptor but you must have working Ethernet which is BuiltIn and en0 too.
This is the most basic fundamental and the one that is overlooked most by laptop users although it is equally valid for desktop users too. The exception to this is when you have a machine that does not have Ethernet, in this case it is acceptable (with the appropriate SMBIOS) to have the Wireless adaptor as en0 but it must be identified as BuiltIn too.

If your Ethernet interface is identified as anything other than en0 you may need to reset your network configuration files.
Open Finder and browse to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ then delete these two files :


  • NetworkInterfaces.plist
  • preferences.plist
Empty the Trash and then Restart.
You may then have to add your Ethernet connection in System Preferences -> Network.

The next requirement is a correctly configured SMBIOS.

In the interests of simplicity the examples shown will use the Clover Configurator app but it should be noted that this is not the only (or best) way to achieve the required result.
What is certain is that if you are not familiar with the construction of xml files you should never edit your config.plist file with a text editor as this can corrupt the formatting. A corrupt config.plist is the same as having no config.plist at all.

You should already have determined the optimum System Definition for your hardware.
If you subsequently change your System Definition you must run through the procedure detailed in this guide again.

Before starting to configure for iMessage you should ensure that your config.plist is otherwise correctly set up for your specific hardware.
The following examples refer only to changes required to your existing config.plist.
It is not suggested that anything not shown in the examples should be removed from your own config.plist unless specifically mentioned.

If you haven't already done so, install Clover Configurator to your /Applications folder.




From the /Applications folder run Clover Configurator
Mount the EFI partition
Then File - Open - /EFI/CLOVER/config.plist




In the left pane select Rt Variables
From the ROM dropdown list select UseMacAddr0
Make sure that the MLB box is empty
Set BooterConfig to 0x28
Set CsrActiveConfig to 0x67




In the left pane select SMBIOS
Click the Up/Down selector.



Choose your intended System Definition from the list.




Click the Generate New button several times to generate a Serial Number and Board Serial Number.



At this point I recommend that you select Trust.
Mobile appears to be selected by default and you should deselect it if you do not have a Laptop.


Note : If you have the SMBIOS of an iMacPro1,1 it is not currently possible to verify on everymac.com.
Verify on appleserialnumberinfo.com instead.


Copy the Serial Number and check it on http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
Paste the Serial Number into the box and click Lookup
Prove that you are not a robot




If you see this response your serial number is invalid - Go back to Clover Configurator and generate another one.



If you see a response similar to this it means that you have generated a serial number in a recognisable format and it is ok to proceed to the next stage.



Open the https://checkcoverage.apple.com site and paste your Serial Number into the box
Enter the required code and click Continue




This is the part of the process which confuses people the most so pay particular attention :

If you see the message "Your Service and Support Coverage" and a picture of a computer
then you have generated the Serial Number of a computer that is already recorded in Apple's database.

Do not use this Serial Number - Go back to Clover Configurator and generate a new one.




If you see the message "We're sorry, but this serial number is not valid. Please check your information and try again" and the Serial Number has passed verification at everymac.com then it is OK to use this Serial Number for your config.plist.

This is so important that it is worth repeating :
You need a Serial Number that everymac.com confirms is in the correct format and that Apple says is not valid.
It does not mean that it is not a valid Serial Number - It means that it is not already registered.

Quit Safari




Open a Terminal window and type uuidgen (and press Return) several times to generate some random UUIDs.



Copy one of your random UUID numbers from the Terminal window and paste it into the SmUUID box in Clover Configurator.

Clover Configurator is now able to generate SmUUID numbers for you :

full


Click the Generate New button as many times as you like until you have an SmUUID number that meets with your approval.

In Clover Configurator select File - Save
Quit Clover Configurator.

Restart


Open a Finder window, browse to the location where you downloaded iMessageDebug and run it.
Press y and Return to save a copy called iMessageDebug.txt.

Restart

Open a Finder window and browse to the location where you downloaded iMessageDebug and run it.

Compare the output with the saved copy.
If the two copies are the same you may reconnect to the network and proceed to set up iMessage.
The last line in the output of iMessageDebug is subject to change but does not appear to be a cause for concern.

It is important that your system should have support for NVRAM. If your system does not have native support for NVRAM then you should emulate it by the installation of EmuVariableUefi-64 and RC Scripts with the Clover installer. This seems to particularly apply to those with Gigabyte 100/200/300 series motherboards but others are similarly afflicted. Instructions for testing NVRAM are
here.




Alternatively you may use AptioMemoryFix-64.efi.
Make sure that you remove any OsxAptioFixDrv, OsxAptioFix2Drv, OsxAptioFix3Drv or OsxAptioFix2Drv-free2000.
In this case EmuVariableUefi-64 is not required and should be omitted although it can be advantageous to install the RC Scripts.

Most people only need :
ApfsDriverLoader-64.efi (or apfs.efi)
AptioMemoryFix-64.efi
FSInject-64.efi
HFSPlus.efi (or vboxhfs-64-efi)

so make sure that you have these four at least.


**************************************************************************
The examples shown are for the Clover boot loader that has been installed in UEFI mode.
If you have installed Clover in Legacy mode then the procedure is the same except that your config.plist
is located in the /EFI/CLOVER folder on your System disk.

This is not intended as a help thread, requests for help will be deemed off-topic and removed.
For help with iMessage refer to the comprehensive How to Fix iMessage Guide thread.


**************************************************************************




Clover Configurator - iMessageDebugv2 - DPCIManager
I tried this, followed the directions to the letter and now I have working iMessage on my Hackintosh :D
tyvm for posting this informative guide or walkthrough or w/e
 
So sad though I follow the guide, but can't get iMessage to work.:banghead:
 
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