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I backed up my MBP with Sierra with Time Machine. I wiped the HD and did a clean install of Mojave.
Wondering if I can go back into the old Sierra Time Machine and import Safari passwords/keychain items?
Is there a way in Migration Assistant just to bring over keychain items? Any other ways?
Safari passwords are stored in Keychain.
If you use Migration Assistant, you’ll get everything. Keychains and all.
If you want just your passwords, haul over your old Keychain file, probably renaming avoid conflicting with your current keychain.
The following is basically what you want to do here, but you’ll be scrounging your old Time Machine backup and not a local disk.
Safari passwords are stored in Keychain.
If you use Migration Assistant, you’ll get everything. Keychains and all.
If you want just your passwords, haul over your old Keychain file, probably renaming avoid conflicting with your current keychain.
The following is basically what you want to do here, but you’ll be scrounging your old Time Machine backup and not a local disk.
Login. Open Keychain Access now—without the file restoration—and select the current Login keychain, and have a look around.
Do restore the old Login keychain file under a different filename, open it using Keychain Access, and have a look around.
I’m not aware of a supported keychain merge operation, though there may be third-party tools that can do that.
You could choose to clobber everything in your new Login keychain, if you wanted. I’d reboot the Mac after replacing the keychain, though. And I’d absolutely keep around a copy of the keychain that was created when you established this new login, on the off chance you need a password or a certificate or setting from that.
If this is a new install, using Migration Assistant makes all this vastly easier.
Thanks again! re: Migration Assistant - I wish there was a way to more accurately know what Migration Assistant is doing. One of the reasons I did a clean install was to start clean. When you import from Migration Assistant - it seems hard to control what comes over. Do you know under what checkbox in Migration Assistant corresponds to keychain?
jmcg3 Said:
”Import Safari Passwords from old Time Machine:[...]Is there a way in Migration Assistant just to bring over keychain items? Any other ways?”
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Did You Create a Time Machine Backup Prior to This?
Restore your Mac to your previous Time Machine backup. Access what pops up in the keychain. Once all is accessed, just re-upgrade the Mac.
Why and When to Create a Time Machine Backup:
This is a pure example of why to create a Time Machine backup just prior to modifying a Mac. Always create one prior to any installation, update, or reinstallation whatsoever. That way, you can recover something from the backup, should anything go wrong like this. Write them down on a sheet of paper, basically making a Hard Copy of them.
jmcg3 wrote:
Do you know under what checkbox in Migration Assistant corresponds to keychain?
There isn't a setting specific to importing just Keychain. I'd suspect it's under Settings, but haven't ever gone looking.
Thanks! Do you know if Safari passwords are stored in the login.keychain or the metadata.keychain? Do I need to add them both?
Import Safari Passwords from old Time Machine
