Automatically Manage Signing results in "Missing Private Key" for free provisioning

New Mac, new project on xcode 9.2, trying to provision an iPad for a simple hello-world app. Why is this so hard???


Using an Apple ID (not a dev account, this is for FREE provisioning)...


  1. xcode/preferences/Account - I sign in successfully.
  2. I click Manage Certificates, and it is blank (nothing yet)
  3. General/Identity - I set the Bundle Identifier to something unique
  4. General/Signing, I set Team to "[Me] (Personal Team)"


What appears to happen is xcode then tries to generate a cert. The Status section then shows "The user name or passphrased you entered is not correct" - which is a lame error messages since credentials has nothing to do with the problem. I then go back to Preferences/Account/Manage Certificates, and I see a cert there that xcode downloaded, and status is "Missing Private Key".


Great. Now what do I do?

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OK, I have RESOLVED this issue, but it's worth noting some important things.


Resolution: RESET the iOS device (content and settings)


Why? Because the device had invalid provisioning from prior use.


  1. The issue had to do with the fact that the device itself (not my Apple account, or Mac, or xcode, or project) was the problem. It had been used by developers prior, and presumably still had invalid provisioning/certs lingering on the device itself and refused to play nice with an all new mac, project, and Apple account. While it has been mentioned that you cannot use a developer account for free provisioning, and you cannot use the same build identifier in your project (that might be associated with a dev account or app store) for your app while free provisioning, NOWHERE on the web does it say what would happen if your DEVICE had been provisioned prior, and then used on a different account. And certainly, the errors that xcode was giving were NO help whatsoever in helping the user understand where the problem was (in fact, worse, it misleads you down the wrong path). Thanks Apple, real smooth.
  2. I was berated for not following the correct steps for free provisioning, when in fact I DID follow exactly the correct steps and still hit this issue - because the issue was not in my inability to follow steps! That thread was deleted from this post by a promiment member of the community (apparently they didn't like the fact that their answer was not helpful)
  3. The title should be changed, since this is less about "Missing Private Key" and more generally about the fact that the Status error was misleading as to what the real issue is. True, there were key problems as mentioned, but the main problem was not knowing what to do when you sign in and see a "Try Again" button with the error "The user name or passphrase you entered is not correct". What does it mean? Well, it probably (apparently) means that your devices existing provisioning is invalid and incompatible with the account you just signed in with, and needs to be wiped. Of course it means that. Why would anyone think otherwise? (sarc)
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