[Support] SpaceinvaderOne - Macinabox

[RadRom]

13 hours ago, gareth_iowc said:

Did you run the vm setup script from the user scripts section? If so what was the output 

Hi 🙂

Yes I did and changed VMs name as per SapceInvaderOne's YT instructions.

I ended up re-installing unRAID and did a fresh install of everything with a newer flash drive back-up.  Macinabox seems to be working fine now.  Just ain't installed any macOS yet.

 

Thankyou!!

[plantsandbinary]

Been having loads of problems trying to set up Big Sur.

 

Here's my working, hope it helps someone else.

 

1. Downloaded Macinabox

2. Changed only the size to 50GB and image from raw to qcow2 (to fix another error)

3. Ran Macinabox, all good.

4. Ran script #2, and get the popup it's ready.

5. Ran script #1 and noticed this error:

 

error: Failed to define domain from /mnt/user/appdata/macinabox/autoinstall/Macinabox BigSur.xml

 

6. Opened the script and replaced the name in the XML script to the VM name: "Macinabox BigSur" (without quotes).

7. Ran #1 again, looks good. Script says it's ready to go and there's nothing to do.

8. Ran the VM, all good (no complaint about qcow2 issue because I changed from raw in the Macinabox container settings)

9. VM starts up real quick no problem.

10. Disk utils and erase my 50G drive.

11. Back out and open the installer and select 50G drive.

12. Wait about 8 minutes for install (I have a very fast homelab).

13. Get back to the same screen in the beginning "Macos Base Disk", "Big Sur Installer", Recovery, Script one, Script two etc.

14. Try to run the first Disk option. Boots me into the Recovery program as there's something wrong with the disk.

15. Back out again, select option #2 (Installer)

16. Install bar again, takes another 15 minutes or so.

17. Boots me back to the same screen again.

18. Select install again, takes a bit more (3-4 minutes) time.

19. Boots me back out to the same main screen.

20. Now I see "bigsur" disk (which I named from the Disk Util erase step)

21. Boot into that. Finally it loads!

 

So you can skip step 14.

 

I also had to fix some weird error when starting the VM.

Quote

Cannot get interface MTU on 'br0': No such device

error. Which I did by stopping my array and just going into Settings > Network > changed MTU to 9000 > Started the Array > All good.

Was a bit confusing because I am actually using bond0 not br0.

[plantsandbinary]

Then I updated the VM by adding more CPU cores to make it faster, ran the helper script again and sadly nope...

 

It just sits at the Apple logo forever now and the loading bar never comes up.

 

So I guess I have to start all over again with the CPU cores in the beginning now. I probably should have just left it..

 

 

EDIT: I simply changed back to the first 2 CPU cores like in the beginning and ran the helper script again.

It immediately started working again, no need to reinstall anything. So I'll just stick with those 2.

 

I saw another video that showed I had to copy and paste the original .XML script again and then change the cores but I cbf'ed doing that.

 

I am using a Ryzen CPU btw, so this works fine for AMD. Take that Apple!

Edited May 3 by plantsandbinary

[plantsandbinary]

Yeah so both my Apple accounts have gotten locked just trying to sign into this VM now.

 

Apple definitely can detect these aren't "real" Mac machines. So if you don't need to use AppleID with them or login to Apple, then go ahead. Otherwise STEER CLEAR.

 

If you do need to log in to AppleID you'll get your account flagged, locked and shadowbanned in every way possible.

 

Here's my experience:

 

1. Try login on the device

2. Account immediately locked

3. Start unlock process (give catpcha, phone number, bank card and finally suggest new phone number)

4. "Verification codes can't be sent to this phone number at this time" (even if I try call me)

5. Try another machine (Windows)

6. Same process, exact same problem (because the account is now shadowbanned)

7. Try again with several different numbers, exact same error message

8. Try now on the Mac with another account

9. Other account is immediately locked lmao

10. You must use another Apple device to unlock either device (I don't have one)

11. Try unlocking without another Mac (same phone verification code problem)

12. Try to make a new Apple account on the VM

13. "This Mac has been used to create too many Apple accounts" (lol what?)

14. Call Apple support because it's now been a waste of a few hours

15. "Yeah we can't help, you need to use a fresh Mac or iphone to either unlock your account or register a new account"

16. Complain that this situation is bullsh*t "Yeah sorry, we can see you're trying to login but we can do nothing, that's just our policy"

17. Try telling them I am just an engineer with a new Mac trying to work "Sorry, your company should have some kind of IT support team that can help you" LMAO

18. Tried a few more times on different network (5G) and I have never used a VPN or anything sketchy just this Macinabox VM.

 

They got me by the balls.

 

Guy said he could see me logging in and it failing, but he didn't say more than this. So they know I am trying to log into a virtualized Mac, they refuse to unlock either account. The guy's got a stonewall pokerface on the phone and he knows I am trying to log in with 2 real accounts on a virtualized Mac and they've banned both of them rightly. So he's not going to budge even if he could do anything.

 

Now I have two effed Apple accounts and he tells me my only hope is to either take my device in to an Apple Care store (lol it's a VM, nice bluff call) or buy an Apple device, which is entirely what I am trying to avoid. I gotta hand it to Apple, they're Grade-A scumbags. If they can't stop people making illegal VMs of their OS, they can definitely ban anyone who tries to log in to one and try to force them to get one of their garbo devices.

 

All I wanted was to use BlueBubbles so I can talk to the stubborn/stupid family members of mine who have an iPhone. Maybe it's time to try the old Hackintosh method.

 

If you've managed to log in to AppleID on this VM I would be shocked. You probably just won some kind of lottery.

Edited May 4 by plantsandbinary

[ghost82]

44 minutes ago, plantsandbinary said:

but he didn't say more than this

First of all, logging into an apple account from a mac os virtual machine is not illegal and is not against apple terms and conditions; what you can't do is virtualizing a mac in a host which is not a mac. Note that qemu is available also for mac os hosts.

I'm using my apple account in a qemu vm (other than my real macbook pro) from more than 6 years now and, apart being banned/flagged at the beginning (which required calling an operator), because basically I didn't know what I were doing, I never had a single issue after that.

If you want to log with an apple account, first you need to setup your hardware such that the en0 is seen as built in, you should use a mac address belonging to apple hardware, choose proper smbios data, serial number. Do not change serial number or other smbios data once you are logged in, because apple will see logins, coming from different devices, and for "security reasons" it will flag your account. If you want to experiment with a mac os vm do it offline, Once you know what you're doing freeze the configuration and go online.

Once you know what you're doing, call apple and give them the code (if you have one) to unlock the account; it could be that the operator has no idea of what you're saying and doesn't even know what is the code you have to unlock the account; if this is the case call again to speak to another operator untill you find one that knows what you're talking about..I had to call 3 times to find a smart operator that unlocked my account in less than 10 seconds..

Do not tell them you are virualizing a mac on a non apple hardware, you can say you are virtualizing it on a mac host, so..??They have to unlock your account.

Edited May 4 by ghost82

[avinyc]

On 5/4/2024 at 3:56 AM, ghost82 said:

First of all, logging into an apple account from a mac os virtual machine is not illegal and is not against apple terms and conditions; what you can't do is virtualizing a mac in a host which is not a mac. Note that qemu is available also for mac os hosts.

I'm using my apple account in a qemu vm (other than my real macbook pro) from more than 6 years now and, apart being banned/flagged at the beginning (which required calling an operator), because basically I didn't know what I were doing, I never had a single issue after that.

If you want to log with an apple account, first you need to setup your hardware such that the en0 is seen as built in, you should use a mac address belonging to apple hardware, choose proper smbios data, serial number. Do not change serial number or other smbios data once you are logged in, because apple will see logins, coming from different devices, and for "security reasons" it will flag your account. If you want to experiment with a mac os vm do it offline, Once you know what you're doing freeze the configuration and go online.

Once you know what you're doing, call apple and give them the code (if you have one) to unlock the account; it could be that the operator has no idea of what you're saying and doesn't even know what is the code you have to unlock the account; if this is the case call again to speak to another operator untill you find one that knows what you're talking about..I had to call 3 times to find a smart operator that unlocked my account in less than 10 seconds..

Do not tell them you are virualizing a mac on a non apple hardware, you can say you are virtualizing it on a mac host, so..??They have to unlock your account.

 

Piggybacking on @ghost82 comments, @plantsandbinary, you can definitely run macOS VM and bluebubbles with a new Apple ID this way.  I set one up last week, a brand new Apple ID account using Gmail (I didn't pick iCloud if you thought that was necessary).  The problem is getting the VM instance to show as a trusted device, which may require some effort if you don't have another Apple device to connect the account to first.  If you have an iPhone, iPad or another Mac computer to log in with, you will be able to get the verification codes working that way.

 

Now, if you are able to get MacOS running and imessage or facetime log you out immediately, you will need to retrieve the customer code and get in touch with a "senior" tech assistant from apple.  Not someone that first answers the phone, they will try to troubleshoot the mac, do screen share and ask you to upgrade which is just a waste of time.  You need them to transfer you to higher tech support to have someone who understands how to wipe the account and add the customer code to your account to get it working for you.  You can get a customer code using the terminal command described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/nj8yeu/imessage_problem_instantly_logged_out/

 

This was also discussed on the bluebubbles post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueBubbles/comments/14yn3ii/imessage_issues_logs_out_immediately_after/

 

I was frustrated trying to figure out why this wasn't working for me, and within a few minutes of getting the senior tech rep to add the customer code to my account, everything was running perfectly.  I hope that helps others, good luck!

 

Edited May 10 by avinyc
fixed hyperlinks

[HomerJ]

Is there a working method to create a Sonoma VM? I have a working Big Sur setup but I haven't been able to run anything newer. 

[avinyc]

5 hours ago, HomerJ said:

Is there a working method to create a Sonoma VM? I have a working Big Sur setup but I haven't been able to run anything newer. 

Take a look through some past posts for newer versions; I tried once to upgrade within my BigSur VM, but it didn't work, so I wouldn't recommend upgrading the OS.  I believe @Pirokiki got theirs working with some edits to the settings and scripts here.

[plantsandbinary]

On 5/10/2024 at 6:15 AM, avinyc said:

Now, if you are able to get MacOS running and imessage or facetime log you out immediately, you will need to retrieve the customer code and get in touch with a "senior" tech assistant from apple.  Not someone that first answers the phone, they will try to troubleshoot the mac, do screen share and ask you to upgrade which is just a waste of time.  You need them to transfer you to higher tech support to have someone who understands how to wipe the account and add the customer code to your account to get it working for you.  You can get a customer code using the terminal command described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/nj8yeu/imessage_problem_instantly_logged_out/

 

This was also discussed on the bluebubbles post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueBubbles/comments/14yn3ii/imessage_issues_logs_out_immediately_after/

 

I was frustrated trying to figure out why this wasn't working for me, and within a few minutes of getting the senior tech rep to add the customer code to my account, everything was running perfectly.  I hope that helps others, good luck!

 

Mate you are an absolute legend. I was sure that it was Nextdns.io blocking something with iMessage/Facetime as I was constantly getting kicked off over and over and over. Yet it seemed I had finally been able to log in after contacting Apple Support and going through a full 9 days worth of waiting to get the SMS code.

 

But yeah that instant kick-out problem was my next issue and I could not find ANY information anywhere about it. SE searches were being totally fruitless and I figured I had some kind of URL that I was blocking in Nextdns or something, despite the fact that it looked like almost everything from Apple was being allowed except some really obvious blocks like metrics.apple and telemetary.apple etc.

 

Looks like it's gonna be a THIRD phone call to support to try and get this final thing fixed and then hopefully after that I can FINALLY use Bluebubbles...

 

 

 

Good luck and a huge thanks again to @avinyc

[ghost82]

Mac address change is not a must, but recommended.

En0 must be built-in.

Your issue was that from the apple side you login multiple times (too many) to your account with different devices. In real, you changed only the configuration of the vm, but each change resulted in a new device seen from the apple side, so they locked the account.

Glad that you solved the issue.

[plantsandbinary]

52 minutes ago, ghost82 said:

Mac address change is not a must, but recommended.

En0 must be built-in.

Your issue was that from the apple side you login multiple times (too many) to your account with different devices. In real, you changed only the configuration of the vm, but each change resulted in a new device seen from the apple side, so they locked the account.

Glad that you solved the issue.

 

Ugh, I spoke too soon. For some reason FindMy isn't working at all and messages aren't being sent via iMessage...

I won't even load the map. It's just totally black. Nothing seems to be being blocked.

 

 

When I open it, it complains that because it cannot connect to WiFi, it can't get my location. I am connected via Ethernet...

I don't have any WiFi networks displayed in the list. But the WiFi icon is constantly refreshing and flashing over and over.

 

I'm connected via the following in Unraid:

 

 

 

Do you have any idea @ghost82? I've allowed all permissions and done everything I can think.

 

It's not letting me send anything directly via iMessage either. Just getting "Not Delivered" for everything.

 

 

 

[ghost82]

As far as the location map: my though is that the black screen could be because of gpu rendering requirement: are you connecting via vnc?This could explain the black screen.

As far as the not able to get location, I know location can be found only with wifi protocol, not with ethernet. No wifi, no location, and maybe external wifi (a usb wifi dongle for example) wont work at all to get the location because of how it works in mac os in general, but only a proper wifi pcie module passed to the vm from the host.

As far as imessage I have no idea, I don't use it at all, can you check both devices are connected to apple account?To be sure, logout, login again and retest.

And also does your en0 connection is seen as built-in?Check in ioreg explorer or with hackintool

See following image, both en0 and en1 builtin:

 

Edited May 15 by ghost82

[avinyc]

1 hour ago, plantsandbinary said:

 

Ugh, I spoke too soon. For some reason FindMy isn't working at all and messages aren't being sent via iMessage...

I won't even load the map. It's just totally black. Nothing seems to be being blocked.

 

It's not letting me send anything directly via iMessage either. Just getting "Not Delivered" for everything.

 

 

 

I never had FindMy working on the Mac VM; it is also totally black.  I don't think it matters as long as it is possible to log in without issues.

 

For iMessage, I think there are some troubleshooting options that might pinpoint the problem.  If you are logged in and bluebubbles is registering your email, then it could be the test contact so try more than one person to send messages to.  See if you can receive any messages from the other contacts, and signing out and signing back in sometimes is a magical fix (just make sure you are able to receive the verification codes on another device first).  Go to your imessage preferences and in the imessage tab enable messages in icloud should be checked.

 

I suspect this is just a settings issue since you are saying the appleid is logged in correctly now with imessage and facetime.  If none of that helps or it's still not working, let me know.

 

[plantsandbinary]

Thanks for trying to help still.

 

I've tried both with the private API enabled and with it disabled.

I can't send a message to anyone. It just keeps saying "Not delivered" and I'm not getting any error code either to debug. I even tried opening iMessage via the Terminal and it says: "isBlocked: 0", "isApproved: 1" and "isSpam: NO" so I assume my account is fine.

 

The only thing is that my phone number isn't in the place where it says "You can be reached for messages at:" there is just my Apple ID email. I have added my phone number to my account though and I am actually even logged in with my phone number. Though only my email shows up as an option with the "Start new conversations from:".

 

Checking Apple support docs it shows the only way to enable it with my phone number is through the iMessage app on an iPhone...

 

I'm trying to text two different people who I know have iMessage. Both of them tried texting me and I just got a normal SMS. Both said that my bubble is only green, not blue. So I don't have iMessage according to them.

 

I have also ticked that "Enable Messages in iCloud".

Logged out and in a dozen times.

Rebooted the VM.

Done a full log out and in.

 

I don't have any other "trusted device". Just this 'Mac'. It does show 2 previous Windows devices I have logged into to in System Preferences though. Everything is logging me in but I just cannot send anything. BlueBubbles app on my phone says everything is fine, whether I use the PrivateAPI or not. It says it's all connected fine.

 

When I try to send a text via BlueBubbles app it just gives me the popup on Mac "Message not delivered". So it definitely feels like being blocked STILL on Apple's side...

 

-------------------------------------

 

EDIT: Just got off 4th phonecall from Apple's side.

1. They immediately wanted screensharing and I just said sure why not. But then it turns out they couldn't connect to the device to do that for some reason lmao.

2. (It took about 30 mins and putting me on hold) but she confirmed my account had been reported as "Spam" and my iMessages were blocked but she said unblocked it. Though she said that they could only do this once and if its ever reported as spam again, they might never be able to unblock it. This seems kinda crazy...

3. She asked me to log into appleid.apple.com and there I could see everything was verified and trusted etc. However it does say: 

That my phone number is unavailable for iMessage and Facetime...

She tried to blame that on my carrier but I know for a fact people on my carrier have no problem using iMessage. One of my colleagues who was helping me out today has the same carrier and it all works fine from his iPhone. So I told them I am pretty sure it's on their side.

4. She told me nothing else they could really do except say to wait 24 hours (or she jokingly told me buying an iPhone would solve my problem immediately).

5. The phone call took about 41 minutes (I am glad my work is paying for the call).

 

All in all this has taken 4 calls, 2 weeks of waiting due to previous SMS issues and I don't seem to be any closer to this working... Might try a different VM or Mac version or something but likely I am gonna get my account just marked as spam again. I am starting to really lose interest in this whole thing. I only wanted this cr*p because a few of my extremely stubborn Apple-loving family members are too lazy to even download Whatsapp or something else...

 

Everything from getting this Mac VM even running to trying to get this one thing set up is just nuts... Gotta hand it to Apple. They don't make it easy at all.

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary

[avinyc]

19 minutes ago, plantsandbinary said:

The only thing is that my phone number isn't in the place where it says "You can be reached for messages at:" there is just my Apple ID email. I have added my phone number to my account though and I am actually even logged in with my phone number. Though only my email shows up as an option with the "Start new conversations from:".

 

Checking Apple support docs it shows the only way to enable it with my phone number is through the iMessage app on an iPhone...

 

I'm trying to text two different people who I know have iMessage. Both of them tried texting me and I just got a normal SMS. Both said that my bubble is only green, not blue. So I don't have iMessage according to them.

 

You can only use your appleid email to communicate with imessage or bluebubbles with other imessage accounts.  You cannot use your phone number unless it is registered with an iPhone, and there are some workarounds that will let you stay on a non-apple phone to keep it registered, but that's not what we are doing here.

 

So yes, the only way to reach you in imessage is the email address showing in the preferences, they cannot message you through your number, it will just show up as a regular text to you.  They need to send an imessage to your email account for it to work.  And when it is sent from you, it's coming from your email and not your phone number.  I hope that is clear in case there was any confusion why your contacts were sending it to your phone number instead.

 

Your phone number associated with your account will only be for verification codes and does not connect to imessage on the VM.  I think this is difficult because you don't have a second device to test this with, but it sounds like the imessage is working for you.

 

See if you can send a test message to yourself at your applid email from the imessage account.  If you do not see any delivery errors, then I am sure the imessage is working properly.

[plantsandbinary]

Quote

So yes, the only way to reach you in imessage is the email address showing in the preferences, they cannot message you through your number, it will just show up as a regular text to you.  They need to send an imessage to your email account for it to work.  

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH well there you go

 

Funny, because as you were writing that. I tried just messaging myself LOL at my own email and it worked. I sent a "test" and got a "test" back immediately.

 

BUT.

 

Does this mean I can't message eg. my sister at her phone number that she has registered with iMessage? If that's the case, I just wasted 2 weeks of my life trying to set this up LMAO. I need to be able to actually message people at their phone number (even if they have to message me at my email)... If I can only do that to their email addresses then this isn't much of a solution at all. It requires me I guess asking every one of my family members their email or something?

 

When I search for my family members who I know have iMessage or even my work colleagues. Their names are always red in iMessage on the mac and I can't actually even press enter to send them anything.

 

When I try messaging their phone number from BlueBubbles app I get "Error (22): The recipient isn't registered with iMessage" but they absolutely are with that number.

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary

[ghost82]

As far as findmy and the black screen I'm quite sure it depends on gpu rendering.

On my vm everything is fine (I'm on Monterey and cannot upgrade because of my cpus), I'm passing through a 6900xt gpu and enabled unfairgva in opencore because also TV app showed a black screen. Now everything is fine.

 

[avinyc]

1 minute ago, plantsandbinary said:

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH well there you go

 

Funny, because as you were writing that. I tried just messaging myself LOL at my own email and it worked. I sent a "test" and got a "test" back immediately.

 

BUT.

 

Does this mean I can't message eg. my sister at her phone number that she has registered with iMessage? If that's the case, I just wasted 2 weeks of my life trying to set this up LMAO. I need to be able to actually message people at their phone number (even if they have to message me at my email)... If I can only do that to their email addresses then this isn't much of a solution at all. It requires me I guess asking every one of my family members their email or something?

 

When I search for my family members who I know have iMessage or even my work colleagues. Their names are always red in iMessage on the mac and I can't actually even press enter to send them anything.

I use bluebubbles with family and friends and nobody has any issue having conversations with me using my appleID instead of my phone number.  Once you have a starter conversation, they just need to message back and forth with you in that message instead of your phone number.  It will work for group messages too, as long as everyone is imessage/iphone user.

 

To be clear, you can message anyone at their imessage phone number or appleID, you cannot message non-apple phone numbers from your appleID imessage account.  This is strictly to communicate with apple people in their walled garden of imessage.  It should work for you with that understanding, so if it is still an issue and you are getting red delivery errors, then I may have exceeded my abilities to help you:)

 

[plantsandbinary]

Ok so you're saying that it's definitely possible for me to message a friend who has iMessage on their iPhone via their phone number?

 

So I should be able to message their phone number and it should just work? Because that's what I've tried doing all along and their name is generally red. I've even tried sending everything via the Private API which in some cases is meant to work better but I still get the same problem.

 

Messaging myself at my own email works fine now. Funny how I tried that just as you suggested it. Not sure if it worked before because I never checked that until I got off the phone with support.

 

If I use BlueBubbles app and put in the phone number of someone I know has iMessage. It changes immediately to SMS Forwarding so it seems something still doesn't work. The iMessage tab on the app (next to SMS Forwarding) doesn't show anyone with iMessage.

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary

[avinyc]

2 minutes ago, plantsandbinary said:

Ok so you're saying that it's definitely possible for me to message a friend who has iMessage on their iPhone via their phone number?

 

So I should be able to message their phone number and it should just work? Because that's what I've tried doing all along and their name is generally red. I've even tried sending everything via the Private API which in some cases is meant to work better but I still get the same problem.

 

Messaging myself at my own email works fine now. Funny how I tried that just as you suggested it.

 

If I use BlueBubbles app and put in the phone number if someone I know has iMessage. It changes immediately to SMS Forwarding so it seems something still doesn't work. The iMessage tab on the app (next to SMS Forwarding) doesn't show anyone with iMessage.

 

Yes, I am saying you can absolutely message your friends on imessage with this set up, phone number and all.  The private API is not necessary for it to work, it just adds additional fun features likes reactions, typing indicators, etc.  But it should work on the macVM without additional steps.

 

If the contact you are entering is switching from imessage to SMS forwarding, then it might be a contact detail issue.  I don't sync my phone contacts with bluebubbles or imessage as I want to keep the contact list segregated from non-apple users.  Try typing in their phone number instead of just clicking on their contact name, or remove all contacts on the macVM and try adding one person at a time to message and see if it works that way.

 

It's not hard to get this all working properly once you figure out a system that works for you.  I hope that helps and good luck!

[plantsandbinary]

Yeah doesn't seem to work for me at all.

 

Messaging any number which I know has iMessage: Doesn't work

Someone messaging my AppleID email: Doesn't work

Me messaging myself at my AppleID email: Only thing that works

 

I think this is beyond me...

 

I also just deauthorized contact sharing everywhere I could. Deleted synced contacts and just tried via number. As soon as I finish putting the number in Apple does it's little circle loading thing and the number becomes red. Haven't been able to try anyone else's email because I don't know anyone's that has iMessage. Pretty sure it wouldn't work either. No idea why. Probably still banned on Apple's servers somehow.

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary

[avinyc]

26 minutes ago, plantsandbinary said:

Yeah doesn't seem to work for me at all.

 

Messaging any number which I know has iMessage: Doesn't work

Someone messaging my AppleID email: Doesn't work

Me messaging myself at my AppleID email: Only thing that works

 

I think this is beyond me...

 

I also just deauthorized contact sharing everywhere I could. Deleted synced contacts and just tried via number. As soon as I finish putting the number in Apple does it's little circle loading thing and the number becomes red. Haven't been able to try anyone else's email because I don't know anyone's that has iMessage. Pretty sure it wouldn't work either. No idea why. Probably still banned on Apple's servers somehow.

I can assure you there is no ban on Apple servers if you can sign into your account.  Try going to https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage and see if everything looks good in the settings and the sign in and security section. 

 

You can try signing out of your appleID and also sign out within imessage and then try logging in to each separately to see if it's a login error possibly (just guessing now).  If messaging yourself is working, then it might just be as simple as restarting the system.

 

I am sorry I don't know of other ways to fix this for you.  The old "turning it off and on again" option is all I have left to offer...

 

  

Edited May 15 by avinyc

[plantsandbinary]

So after restarting the VM and relogging again a few hours later. A few things changed again...

 

This time when I search for any number it is now no longer red, but blue, until I send a message after which it goes black. Even for contacts that I know don't have iMessage (it shows blue)... Talk about inconsistent.

 

Obviously the message sending still fails.

 

 

Furthermore, I have green across the board for everything on the BlueBubbles app. It correctly detects my iMessage account too and the Private API and everything else.

 

 

 

As mentioned, I can't start a chat with my phone number because I've never had an iPhone to activate iMessage on.

 

The lady from Apple support asked me if I had "activated" iMessage but I have no idea what she means and then she just changed the subject. I can also see the map (just not in FindMy). It works fine in the maps app, and when I try to log in on my Windows device, my Mac pops up with a map showing the location a login is coming from.

 

My Mac is verified on appleid.apple.com

 

Find My Mac doesn't work because I don't have a Wifi network on the VM. I am using virtual ethernet.

 

Country and Region is correct. Name, Date of Birth, Email, Phone Number on my account are all correct.

Password was very recently reset.

 

I am only blocking TWO Apple domains using Nextdns.io

 

I even whitelisted this domain because I wasn't sure if it was necessary because it's an SDK domain that was caught in one blocklist:

 

Every single other domain is unblocked.

 

Networking is set up via basic DHCP which should be no problem:

 

Hackintool shows my en0 device to be built-in also:

 

VM shows my phone number is verified:

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary

[avinyc]

15 minutes ago, plantsandbinary said:

So after restarting the VM and relogging again a few hours later. A few things changed again...

 

This time when I search for any number it is now no longer red, but blue, until I send a message after which it goes black. Even for contacts that I know don't have iMessage (it shows blue)... Talk about inconsistent.

 

Obviously the message sending still fails.

 

 

Furthermore, I have green across the board for everything on the BlueBubbles app. It correctly detects my iMessage account too and the Private API and everything else.

If the bluebubbles is showing imessage connected and all the services are green, it sounds like you are setup on apple's and bluebubble's side for this to work.  It seems like something is wrong in the VM configuration or something else causing the messages not to work.  I don't think it's a DNS issue because the test message wouldn't work.

 

How about a password reset to see if that does anything?  Another possibility is just disabling apple contacts and try messaging someone without selecting them.  It's frustrating because it sounds like you have it working, but it just won't work...

[plantsandbinary]

So I signed out of everything again. Including disassociating my Mac and signing out of AppleID.

 

Rebooted the Mac. Went to sign in to Apple ID again.

 

aaaand they locked my account...

 

 

Even worse, because of the GPU rendering issue or whatever. I can't even see what it wants me to do to unlock it.

 

 

I don't even have a way to quit the process.

 

I've been an IT engineer for more than 15 years and I've never fought like this with anything LOL.

 

Managed to reset my password using Safari without having to face the previous dreaded "We can't send an SMS to this number at this time" issue I had for the last 2 weeks:

 

 

Managed to login again.

 

This time it synced some ancient notes from iCloud. Interesting. It didn't do that before.

 

No dice. So I took a deep breath and went into BlueBubbles server and reset the entire thing.

Seeing as I set it up before ever logging in to AppleID 2 weeks ago.

 

No dice after the reset. Exact same problem.

 

I wonder, do I need to do some kind of port forwarding for the VM through my Asus AX88U router?

Even though everything in both the Bluebubbles app and server are green? I'm getting a bunch of DNS requests from Apple when I sync messages via iCloud and when I try and send something. Including one hit to Google Cloud (for the firebase api). But I haven't done any port forwarding. Just assume because it's green it all works.

 

I also noticed that iMessages doesn't appear in System Preferences > Apple ID, as an app using iCloud: 

 

@avinyc and @ghost82 sorry to ping, but did either of you use Macinabox to generate the Mac VM you're using? Are either of you even using a VM or are you using a real Mac device to run the server? I am starting to think maybe it's something to do with my Serial Number after talking on Discord with the code owner.

 

Though when I looked up the serial number it says that it is legit. Though my VM specs don't match it "perfectly". If you are using a VM did you set it up some other way? I am just wondering if I missed a step. The code owner was pretty adamant that this is Apple's fault on their side and said that it's an issue with iMessage not working. Not an issue with Bluebubbles as we can confirm that it works fine by messaging myself, just not others.

Edited May 15 by plantsandbinary