This device cannot be transferred

[deutscs]

Hello. I have recently upgraded my Hackintosh and broadly everything is functional apart from App Store and iTunes which in iTunes case comes up with below error if I try to download music from Apple Music (streaming is fine).

AppStore behaves in a similar manner, but i get no error, it just refuses to update any apps or download new ones.

The implication is that the serial number already has an Apple ID associated to it. I have just created another random one using GenSMBIOS.command, and get exactly the same problem.

Apple ID on System Preference reports no problems, and is happily connected to "This iMac Pro"

Any ideas?

S

 

[Edhawk]

You may need to look in your iCloud settings to see if you have a number of duplicate systems registered under your account. As Apple will log each new Serial number as a new system. You may have exceeded the number of systems that can be linked to an Apple ID. It might be telling you that you need to wait 90 days before you can tansfer one of the slots to the new system.

I recall a number of people having similar issues a few years ago, before the iMessages guide was released.

You may need to delete all of the 'non-existent' systems from your iCloud account. I have added a screenshot showing the location of the systems associated with an iCould account below.



A list of devices is shown below your name, iCloud account email address and account icon. Selecting one of the devices will bring up details on the system. Systems other than the one you are using can be removed.

You may end up calling Apple Support to get your account reset, i.e. all devices unregistered from your Apple ID, to solve this issue. Just tell them you can't use your iPhone or iPad to connect and they should be happy to reset the account.

This is supposing you can't do this in Apple Music on your current system, on an iPad, iPhone or on an older system that is running iTunes. The 'Deauthorise All' button is usually available on the Account Information page and it can be used once a year (I think) to remove all computers from accessing the account. There is a similar Manage Devices Option, which again can be used to remove individual devices from the account. Using this feature only removes the authorisation, it doesn't remove any files or data. So on a system you want to access the account all you need to do is provide your Apple ID and password when you try to use it.

This is the view on my Manage Devices page:



As you can see this is where the 90 days message originates.

 

[trs96]

This guide is required reading in these situations.

[GUIDE] Clear multiple configuration identities in MacOS

Background Information MacOS generates a configuration 'key' based on the current SMBIOS identity ID's such as SM type, S/N, MLB, ROM .. etc. This 'key' is used as a 'pointer' to the current configuration that MacOS will use in the file(s) located in :- /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[deutscs]

Thank-you both for your replies. I ended up have a conversation with Apple Support who kindly fixed the problem for me. So all good now. Was dreading that they were going to ask me for a Serial - but they never did!

Hopefully this will be useful for someone else who has same problem.

Thanks again.