Creating new login keychain

Question

Level 1

8 points

Creating new login keychain

In deleting and reorganizing files the other day, I somehow deleted my keychain(s). I've attempted to verify and repair things using Keychain First Aid and am told "login keychain not found." Attempts to simply create a new keychain by this name or any other names brings about the message, "An error occurred while creating a new keychain."

I've scoured the topics here but have not been able to find instructions specific to this type of issue.
Any advice on how I can restore the login keychain or create a new one is greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks!

Imac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Apr 23, 2008 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 23, 2008 9:45 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Hi Boomer - I did do what the first topic you noted suggests but the problem persists. The system seems to be looking for this login.keychain file which I can only assume was deleted from either the Library/keychain folder or the ~Users/Library/Keychain folder.

I've tried your suggestion of searching Knowledge Base but can't seem to find anything in there that I haven't already tried.

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Answer 2

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Apr 23, 2008 8:30 AM in response to Glen Maurer

Do you by any chance have a backup?

Try going to Library>Keychains and trash the Keychains folder, then reboot and a new keychain will be created.

Please post back with results,

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Answer 3

Apr 23, 2008 9:25 AM in response to Glen Maurer

2 more suggestions:

Deleting a keychain

Changing your keychain password

There are a few more suggestions over on Knowledge Base for you to try out if MGW's suggestion does not work - http://search.info.apple.com/

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Answer 4

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 23, 2008 9:37 AM in response to MGW

Hi Miriam - no I don't have a backup. I've completed what you suggested. A new keychain has not been created to replace the one that was deleted from Library. Upon restarting, I had to point my wireless connection to the router and asked that the password be stored in my keychain. I then received the message "A keychain can not be found" and was asked to Cancel or Reset to Defaults. I've received that message a lot in working through this issue and once again chose Reset, but to no avail.

I fired up Keychain First Aid and verification has failed with the same error message "login keychain not found" in ~/Library/Keychains (that's my user folder, right?) Can this be restored from the backup CDs that came with the machine?

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Answer 5

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Apr 23, 2008 9:50 AM in response to Glen Maurer

Indeed it can, or you can perform a complete Archive and Install or you can first try the suggestions below:

Login as root and perform repair In some cases, problems with keychains can only be resolved when logged in as the root user.

First, enable a root user account, as detailed in Knowledge Base article #106290 (briefly: open NetInfo Manager, located in Applications/Utilities, click the lock and enter the administrator password, then select "Enable Root User" from the Security menu and follow on-screen instructions).

After enabling the root user, and logging in under this account, again open Keychain Access. First attempt repairs using Keychain First Aid, and failing that, delete then recreate the keychain as described above while logged in as root.
Please remember to log out as root user once you've finished dealing with Keychain.

Hope one of these helps,

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Answer 6

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 23, 2008 10:15 AM in response to MGW

Thanks Miriam for the further advice. Even when logged in as root user, I am still met with the message "An error occurred while creating a new keychain" when I try to create a new keychain. First Aid is still not able to find login.keychain thus it won't verify or repair - is that login.keychain a file that is crucial to the system, yet one we can't actually see or recreate on our own?

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Answer 7

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Apr 23, 2008 11:23 AM in response to Glen Maurer

I think that the best solution for you would be to perform an Archive and Install. You will get a new keychain, and as long as "preserve user preferences and settings" is checked, there should be no problems, other than maybe one or two apps that need re-installing.

Let us know how you make out, the A&I sounds daunting, but I have done it several times, and it's really painless.

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Answer 8

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 24, 2008 8:37 AM in response to MGW

Hi Miriam,

I've completed the A&I, created a new Keychain and made that my default. I am still having the same issues with Mail emembering my passwords (it won't) and Keychain First Aid still tells me it can not verify or repair because it can not find the login keychain. Any more ideas?

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Answer 9

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Apr 24, 2008 8:42 AM in response to Glen Maurer

Try running Preferential Treatment to see if any of your prefs are corrupt, as that's what it sound like to me.

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Answer 10

Apr 24, 2008 8:51 AM in response to Glen Maurer

You can also see if repairing permissions & restarting your computer helps. If not, boot from your Tiger System Install DVD & run the repair disk/permissions options from the Utility Menu.

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Answer 11

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2008 5:54 AM in response to MGW

Hi Miriam - I've run Preferential Treatment and that found all to be as it should.

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Answer 12

Glen Maurer Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2008 5:56 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Thanks for the suggestion. I completed that task and apart from a couple of Itunes permission issues, everything checked out.

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Answer 13

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Apr 25, 2008 6:58 AM in response to Glen Maurer

You are giving me more grey hairs than I should have 🙂

I am rapidly running out of ides,, can you use [Pacifist|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743] and try to extract the Keychain from the install package and reinstall it?