"Mac OSX wants to use the "login" keychain"

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Level 2

248 points

"Mac OSX wants to use the "login" keychain"

Yesterday I changed my over-all keychain password, trying to up my security etc. Now, when I restart I get the message "Mac OSX wants to use the "login" keychain"

Never used to get this message.

So I guess somewhere in Mac OSX it's trying the old password which is no longer valid. When I type in the new password OSX starts fine, but obviously I would rather stop this annoying little pop up happening all the time, where can I tell OSX what the new password is?

Hope that makes sense.

iMac Alu 2.8GHz C2D 4GB SDRAM 1TB HD, Mac OS X (10.5.6), G4 Quicksilver 733 MHz 1.5GB RAM 10.4.11 TiBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) 768

Posted on Mar 5, 2009 3:18 AM

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Answer 1

iBod

Level 7

29,345 points

Mar 5, 2009 3:23 AM in response to Kathykate

Hi,

I must admit I'm not sure about this, but hopefully someone will correct me if I'm off-base. I don't think you can get around it. That's part of the additional security of changing the keychain login password. If you could specify the password to unlock the keychain, where would it be stored that was safe? It can't be in the keychain, as it needs that password to unlock itself after all - a bit of a catch-22 🙂

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Answer 2

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,995 points

Mar 5, 2009 3:52 AM in response to Kathykate

If your keychain password is the same as your login password, then your keychain automatically unlocks when you login. If you change the password to something other than your login password, you will have to type it in. I don't think there's any way to have it remember a different password for unlocking the keychain, since the Mac OS password-remembering mechanism is the keychain, which is still locked, so... you get the idea.

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Answer 3

Kathykate Author

Level 2

248 points

Mar 5, 2009 3:57 AM in response to thomas_r.

OKaaay, so I just need to make my login password in my account the same as my new keychain one?

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Answer 4

Mar 5, 2009 4:12 AM in response to Kathykate

Yes, and changing your login password there (System Prefs/Accounts) usually will give you a message stating that your keychain password will automatically be set to the same password. So that is the better way of changing passwords than via Keychain Access which will leave you with 2 different passwords as you've seen.

Björn

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Answer 5

Kathykate Author

Level 2

248 points

Mar 5, 2009 4:20 AM in response to Björn Herrmann

Yes, did that and it's all fine again now. So, to recap, if anyone else has the same problem and needs a clear answer: go to system prefs, your account, and click password, change your old password to the new password you've set in Keychain and annoying message goes away.

Thanks for helping, once again stunned and amazed and grateful for quick responses and generosity of knowledge and your time.

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Answer 6

iBod

Level 7

29,345 points

Mar 5, 2009 4:21 AM in response to Kathykate

But by doing that, you're back to the original state of affairs without the additional security you were looking for 😉

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Answer 7

Kathykate Author

Level 2

248 points

Mar 5, 2009 4:29 AM in response to iBod

See what you're saying but I'm not the Bank of England LOL! Just glad I've dispensed of annoying pop up window appearing. I must admit I find Keychain a bit of a puzzle anyway... I use it, but don't understand how some things get in there seemingly all of their own accord.

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Answer 8

Mar 5, 2009 4:49 AM in response to Kathykate

To clarify:

You have a login (=user) password. Every user account has a keychain to store all the different passwords needed by applications. This keychain also has a password needed to unlock it. If your login pw and keychain pw are the same, the apps that need a pw from the keychain can access it, because you already unlocked the keychain by logging in with your user account.

If your keychain pw differs from your login pw you will get the authentication dialogue that you're now familiar with.

The keychain gets filled by apps that are set up to save passwords in it. For example, when setting up Apple Mail you can check to "save passwords in the keychain". Other apps or system services can do the same. Another example would be WLAN passwords. If you choose to not save a pw in the keychain, you will be prompted by this app every single time the pw is needed. With Apple Mail this would mean every time you want to receive or send mails.

Hope this clarifies it a little!

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