Xcode 8 A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found

Question

I know there are other questions asked like this here but I've followed all their solutions yet still end up with this error message.

I have a valid Apple Developer account with program active.
I have tried using managed and unmanaged provisioning with new/fresh bundle ID's (which get recreated provisioning profiles).
I have tried this: A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found for debug mode
I have tried this: XCode :7 App installation failed :A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found
I have deleted any old versions of the app from my phone.
I have confirmed my device ID on the developer portal is the same as in Xcode (was also useful for manual provisioning profile management to confirm)
I even tried another developer ID I have out of sheer desperation and yet the same error appears.
I even get this error when building for release scheme with my valid distribution certificate.

I've spent a ton of time trying to figure this out now I'm hoping someone else has felt my pain and actually solved this.

UPDATE: Adding screenshots for usefulness

UPDATE 2: I gave up trying to solve this problem, I created a new project and copied source files into the new project and I now have it working. Clearly something in the project configuration/settings files got corrupted somehow in the previous project which no obvious fix available. Will leave this question open, perhaps someone has a solution eventually. I have my old 'non-working' project so will continue to try those just for curiousities sake.

Before this error message, Build Succeeded is shown.

Sorry, I know this must be frustrating, but you're not giving much to go on here. You mention what you have tried, but that does help identify the problem. Maybe add some screen shots of the error or the the "general" tab of the target. — picciano, Oct 27 '16 at 16:56
try this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/39652867/code-sign-error-in-macos-sierra-xcode-8-resource-fork-finder-information-or — Guru, Oct 27 '16 at 17:03
Apologies @picciano have added as much detail as I can. As you can see from the screenshots I am using a managed profile, but I have tried doing it manually (you will see the old prov profile in device profiles list). — Donald Jackson, Oct 28 '16 at 09:25
@Guru - I don't have a problem building the binary, it builds fine, just won't install on my device, no matter what I try. — Donald Jackson, Oct 28 '16 at 09:26
I gave up myself but I'm not willing to migrate all my code to a new project. I ended up using my Release IPA and installing it in my device using HockeyApp. This is just for testing some features, mind you, incredible cumbersome and slow. :( Hope a proper solution comes along. — Fernando, Jan 13 '17 at 21:52
Frustrating. Started happening for one of my projects too. Tried everything. Now creating a new project to copy from old one. :P — Ozeetee, May 17 '17 at 20:01
Same error . Created new project and copied code. working fine. :). — Kartiikeya, Jan 09 '18 at 11:27
If you are getting the error message in your logs after a week of having the app working and are using a free developer account [you have to reinstall the app](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44248925/ios-crash-when-testing-on-device-debug-logs) — Ryan Haining, Jan 18 '18 at 05:20

score 66 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 07 '18 at 06:30

66

ATTENTION!

Who should read

If you were developing with a "Personal Team" and is switching to a paid team, then you'll get this error if you have not updated your other targets as well.

The cause

Since I'm using react-native, I happen to have a target for test (i.e. a target called appTests), and switching the team just in one target wasn't sufficient, and leads to this error. This error isn't informative enough to let you know there's an error in one of the targets, therefore leading to a long debugging time for myself.

Solution

1) On Xcode 9, go to every targets and update the team!

2) Unfortunately, the next steps aren't very reliable from my experience, you might have to do your best to clean the caches.

3) Stop every single running scheme/application by using the stop button

4) Go to Product -> Clean and cleans every schemes you use.

5) Quit and Restart Xcode

6) Run again and hopefully it works! If not, it's likely some cache are still present.

answered Feb 07 '18 at 06:30

Leo Lei

1,534
17
14

2

amazing!!!! I lost almost 1 day fighting with such error. Thanks a lot! – brunovianarezende Feb 15 '18 at 11:22
2

On Xcode 9, go to every targets and update the team! +1 – Stanislau Buzunko Feb 27 '18 at 06:13
2

Thanks! The final hint was, that the tests had still the wrong provision profile. – Torben Feb 28 '18 at 11:51
this should be the best answer. – Dody Dec 26 '18 at 17:53
1

after fixing the targets, I just did Product > Clean Build Folder, then it was fixed. – bluegreen Jan 03 '19 at 22:17
You saved my day! It's the only solution worked for me after struggling so much – Pei Apr 01 '20 at 00:24
For a RN project, I deleted the whole test target (rather than specifying teams), did Product > Clean Build Folder as suggested by @Brad (maintain *alt* to see this option), and it worked. Thanks! – Maen Nov 04 '21 at 15:44

score 52 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 28 '16 at 12:38

52

You can't install a build that was signed with the app store distribution provisioning profile and certificate (I'm assuming your release scheme is set to use your app store cert and profile). It will fail to install on the device if you try. You need to use either a development profile, or an enterprise distribution profile to install on test devices. The iOS Distribution certificate can only be used to build an app that will be installed via the App Store.

answered Oct 28 '16 at 12:38

wottle

13,095
4
27
68

OK, you specifically called out your release scheme. Can you plug in the device and run it with Xcode 8's automatic code signing. You can't do a build with automatic code signing and then load the build onto the device. In order for Xcode to add the device to the provisioning profile, you have to try to build to the device from Xcode. When you do that,Xcode will add the device identifier to the provisioning profile. – wottle Oct 28 '16 at 17:52
Yes, that's how I'm trying, see screenshots :) – Donald Jackson Oct 28 '16 at 22:17
Can you look at your certificate in the Keychain Access app. You should find one under your name. Make sure when you click on it it says it is valid and has a green check mark. Also, make sure you can expand it and see a private key under it. (example: http://stackoverflow.com/a/33651921/3708242) – wottle Oct 29 '16 at 01:25
Also, make sure you have the WWDRCA file in your keychain as found here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/35949577/3708242 – wottle Oct 29 '16 at 01:26
Yep its there and active, non expired, green check mark – Donald Jackson Oct 29 '16 at 11:25
And you can expand it to see the private key used for signing underneath it? – wottle Oct 29 '16 at 17:38
Yup. I think you're confusing the ability to sign binaries with the issue I am having, I can sign the binaries/archives no problem. – Donald Jackson Oct 30 '16 at 10:55
Not really. If you don't have a valid cert for the provisioning profile that you think Xcode should be using, it will give you an error that no provisioning profiles can be found. – wottle Oct 30 '16 at 13:17
in Xcode 9 I used the Project -> General -> Signing -> "Automatically manage signing" checkbox. The only provisioning profile I had once added to the team was exactly what this answer says: app store provisioning profile. Clicking this box prodded XCode to get the stuff it needed and I was able to debug on the device like a charm. – bcr Oct 17 '17 at 21:03
Dude, I love you! I created AD Hoc provision profile and now I can launch my app from Xcode in release mode. Days of painful research is over (for now) – Eugene Snihovsky Apr 19 '18 at 07:05
bro...you savedme...Thank you – Nandini Prashant Barve Jan 28 '21 at 15:30

George Vardikos · Answer 3 · 2017-11-06T11:44:19.437

27

Thats a conflict of Xcode. The way I solved it is by deleting the derived data of Xcode.

Xcode > Preferences > Locations

You will see an arrow right from the path of the DerivedData which will open them in finder. Just erase everything in the folder.

Update: According to Chandler's comment check if there is a need to delete the test target.

edited Nov 06 '17 at 11:44

answered Jun 30 '17 at 10:08

George Vardikos

2,345
1
14
25

1

How do you delete test target? Also, don't you need the test target? it sounds important. Can you recreate it after deleting it? – Dror Bar Jun 23 '19 at 13:30

score 11 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 29 '18 at 10:09

11

I solved it by changing the build system to legacy in Xcode 10

File > Workspace Settings > Set Build system to "Legacy Build System"

answered Nov 29 '18 at 10:09

Vittal Pai

3,317
25
36

Worked for my Cordova project – Sven van de Scheur Nov 30 '18 at 11:27
Can confirm this. Any Idea why this works and the other one won't? – Rolf Beh Dec 13 '18 at 12:18
Worked for my Cordova/Ionic project as well. – Ondra Koupil Dec 13 '18 at 22:59

Feng Liu · Answer 5 · 2018-05-20T16:56:37.237

10

It works when I also add the correct signing for myProjectTests. This was the last thing I did after trying all sort of solutions for 5 hours.

edited May 20 '18 at 16:56

answered Aug 15 '17 at 18:31

Feng Liu

954
13
22

2

This answer is necessary as it is already the top voted answer – Milk Aug 15 '17 at 19:07
1

it saves my day – XuDong Wu Dec 20 '17 at 10:30
1

Thanks, it saves my day – GirginSoft Jun 07 '19 at 17:36
2

Being kind of new to this, I have no idea what "myProjectTests" is or what the "correct" signing would be, or how to add it? – Dronz Feb 14 '20 at 19:16

score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 25 '17 at 18:28

7

I followed many proposals but it didn't work until I unchecked Automatic signing for the TESTS

answered Aug 25 '17 at 18:28

Alexander Vitanov

4,074
2
19
22

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 05 '17 at 22:06

4

Clearing the DEVELOPMENT_TEAM and DevelopmentTeam entries in the xcodeproj/project.pbxproj file worked for me.

answered Jun 05 '17 at 22:06

Lex

41
3

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 31 '17 at 11:00

I'm on 8.2.1 and just had this same error. Deleting the original project folder and recreating it worked seamlessly. I verified that all of the signing and provisioning certificates were exactly the same as the last project. I'm not sure where the issue lies, but I believe your assumption of corrupted files is accurate.

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered May 02 '17 at 16:15

3

In my case it was a conflict with the development team.

I've solved by opening my xcodeproj/project.pbxproj and emptying the following variables:

DevelopmentTeam
DEVELOPMENT_TEAM

answered May 02 '17 at 16:15

Andrea Sessa

838
8
16

score 3 · Answer 10 · answered May 04 '17 at 18:13

3

We had a similar issue: we deleted the Unit Tests and it worked.

answered May 04 '17 at 18:13

Frederic Adda

5,905
4
56
71

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 30 '18 at 05:46

3

In my case, it was the problem when I setup my time manually two month earlier on my iPhone. But when I changed to set time automatically, it worked fine.

Setting -> General -> Date & Time -> set time automatically

answered Aug 30 '18 at 05:46

Xcodian Solangi

2,342
5
24
52

score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 08 '18 at 05:50

2

GOTO: Targets->yourProjectNameTest and verify that team is the same as on yourProjectName

answered Jul 08 '18 at 05:50

Yevhen Kotliar

121
1
5

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 05 '19 at 23:16

2

I had this problem too, and for me the solution was to sign in to https://developer.apple.com. There was a red bar, going like "our TOS have changed, you have to accept them again", I did, and then my provisioning profiles worked again immediately.

answered Feb 05 '19 at 23:16

Cee McSharpface

8,493
3
36
77

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Aug 02 '18 at 14:52

1

An easier fix is to uncheck the test target as part of the Analyze & Run steps in Edit Scheme > Build -> Build.

This is very specific to React Native projects, since this is how the projects are configured by default.

answered Aug 02 '18 at 14:52

Lode Vanhove

91
3

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 20 '18 at 04:38

In my case it worked for me to follow the instructions in this article. Then disable Automatically manage signing inside xcode in the general tab.

Automatically manage signing disabled

And finally provide manually Provisioning Profile for Signing (Debug) and Signing (Release)

Note: The Provisioning Profile you must generate it from Apple Developer Program website, in the section Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles -> Provisioning Profiles

I hope you find it useful. regards

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Feb 06 '19 at 05:14

Step to be followed
must have a developer account - https://developer.apple.com
create a certificate for development
Add devices with UDID
add provisioning profile in development
sign in Xcode with your account
clean build
Build with any destination choose device I have done for iphone 6
the archive will be disabled first, the archive will be active by choosing generic ios device from the right corner of Xcode for example -> yourAppName>generic ios device
once archive is done build for development not ADHOC
done

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered May 15 '19 at 13:43

I fixed it by setting in main Target / Build Settings / Section Signing

Code signing Identity: Debug and Release set to IOS Developer

Code Signing Style: Automatic

Provision Profile: all automatic.

I set this exactly same for Test Target.

Then i was able to run release version on my phone. Btw i dont know what is the difference between IOS Developer and iOS Distriobution though.

CyberMew · Answer 18 · 2019-05-30T06:30:43.973

I had edited my app scheme Build Configuration from Debug to Release, and unchecked the Debug Executable.

I am not sure why, but if it makes a difference my signing details for Debug and Release were different. So after I reset those back to Debug and checked back the Debug Executable box, and all was fine again.

Edit: found out it was because I was trying to run release mode on my phone via App Store provisioning profile and App Store profile doesn't allow this. I switched to Ad Hoc and there is no more issues.

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Jan 11 '17 at 14:00

0

I guess you already tried this, but I just got the same error, and a quick restart of Xcode worked for me.

answered Jan 11 '17 at 14:00

andbjer

554
2
9

score -2 · Answer 20 · edited Oct 29 '16 at 03:59

-2

Just upgrade to Xcode 8.1. It solves the problem.

edited Oct 29 '16 at 03:59

Pang

9,564
146
81
122

answered Oct 28 '16 at 10:50

Lionel Synertic

9
1

2

I tried this, I'm on XCode 8.1 now and still getting the same problem. Ready to give up ;( – Donald Jackson Oct 28 '16 at 13:33

Xcode 8 A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found

20 Answers20

Who should read

The cause

Solution

Linked