How do I transfer Keychains from one mac to another mac?

Question

How do I transfer Keychains from one mac to another mac?

I recently got a new imac. I choose during the set-up process for the new imac to pass on pulling "all" the old information from my old G4 mac as there was stuff I just did not want to move and then have to find and delete on the new mac. However I would like to bring over specific items such as keychains.

What is the best method to move my keychains from my old mac to my new one? I have tried several method that did not work.

iMac 3.3 GHz Dual Core 27", Mac OS X (10.6.2), Own an G4 and 2 dual core iMacs

Posted on Nov 22, 2009 7:58 AM

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Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Nov 22, 2009 8:08 AM in response to Richard Nicolini

Use 'Keychain Access (/Applications/Utilities) export...import...use the menus (Export Items) and see the built-in help for details or this same article online:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/9068.html

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Answer 2

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Nov 22, 2009 8:11 AM in response to Richard Nicolini

your keychain is located in /users/username/library/keychains/login.keychain

just copy it over to the corresponding location on the new mac. make sure that the login password is the same on both macs.

see this link for other locations important data is stored
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

one correction to it. in leopard and snow leopard ical data is stored in /users/username/library/calendars.

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2009 11:59 AM in response to Richard Nicolini

KT & V.T good suggestion which I had done previously what I missed was not only making sure the passwords were the same (changed my login password on the new imac). Also I was apparently only doing 1/2 of the process as I would use Keychain to create the new keychains but as soon as I disconnected from the G4 the new login in file went blank.

Here was my complete process.

On my g4 imac the one that had the keychain info for my new imac. I made a duplicate of the file and renamed them so I would know where they came from and they would not conflict with current login file. I then moved them to my public folder users/yourname/library/keychain on the G4.

On my new mac I move those files from the G4 public folder into my new mac users/yourname/library/keychain. Then I opened Keychain access and in the file menu selected Add Keychain navigated to the above volume and selected the old keychain.

Any other process than this left me with empty login folder once I disconnected from my old G4.

Thanks again to KT & V.T who made me read and think a little more about what I needed to do.

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Answer 4

Nov 22, 2009 12:02 PM in response to Richard Nicolini

Oh one additional tid bit, if you forget to change the password once the file in in your new keychain select the item you want to change the password on, then go to edit "change password for" and you can change the password.

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