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Trying to sign into iCloud on my Macbook and I get this error message. I've also had some trouble signing into the same account with iCloud on iPad and iPhone, but the messages there are even more vague.

My Apple ID is a gmail address - not anything from iTools/Mobile Me and existed as an Apple ID before iCloud was released.

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You have Lion 10.7.2 installed and you did register your iCloud account in Preferences? – patrix♦ Oct 13 '11 at 9:06
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My iPhone4 works on iCloud just fine. My web access to iCloud.com works just fine. My MacBook Pro, however, gives me this same error message and is dead in the water as far as iCloud is concerned. I am running 10.7.2 but cannot register my iCloud account in preferences due to the aforementioned error message: "This Apple ID is valid, but it is not an iCloud account." That's funny, it works fine on my iPhone and the web, so it MUST be an iCloud account. 2 days and counting, no solution from Apple. – user12047 Oct 14 '11 at 20:49
same problem!!!! – Marci-man Oct 17 '11 at 16:27
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Does your Apple ID end in mac.com or me.com? It's entirely possible someone else has your string reserved if you are coming from another domain or your Apple ID doesn't have @Y.Z – bmike♦ Oct 18 '11 at 0:58
What @bmike said - if you are using an old Apple ID that is not formatted like an email address, you may need to update it at appleid.apple.com – NReilingh Oct 18 '11 at 1:04
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

Go into System Preferences » Users and Groups » and then under your name on your login it says Apple ID. Put your details in there and that should sort out your problem. Well, at least it did for me.

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I have also had success going to appleid.apple.com and changing something like a telephone or shipping address to "bump" the old Apple ID in the system - then adding it under Mail, Contacts, Calendars on an iOS 5 device. From there, FaceTime or full iCloud works once you turn on Mail for that apple ID. This of course works only for accounts \@me.com or \@mac.com (or names that are free in the system and not already assigned) – bmike♦ Oct 18 '11 at 0:59
Good idea, but this didn't solve it for me. – Peter Burns Oct 20 '11 at 7:22
up vote 1 down vote

Open iCloud preferences, check box for "Mail" and register new ID which must ends with @me.com. your iCloud id must be different than your @gmail.com Apple ID. I have same settings and everything works well.

Official FAQ about Apple ID and iCloud ID: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4895

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up vote 0 down vote

Oddly enough, putting in the Apple ID under System Preferences, Users and Groups did the job for me as well. I did receive an incomplete operation error the first time I tried (you'll see a yellow cautionary triangle if you have the same problem). I simply had to enter it again. Once the ID and Password was accepted I went to iCloud and was able to proceed. Now I have to upgrade iPhoto... one problem at a time ;).

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