Transferring Local wed passwords in Keychain to a new MacBook pro

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Level 1

8 points

Transferring Local wed passwords in Keychain to a new MacBook pro

I recently upgraded to a new MacBook pro and I used migration assistant to move all of my previous data from my old MacBook Pro to the new machine from a time machine back up. Most of the information transferred but my local items in Keychain for web passwords did not. I have tried to export these items but the system will not let me, I have tried to move the old keychain file and add it to the new computer but it only transfers the logins. I still have access to the old computer and the time machine back up. I want to avoid using icloud Keychain if possible.

How do I transfer all the stored login/passwords from keychain/local that populate Safari to the new computer?

Posted on Jul 16, 2021 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

K Shaffer

Level 8

35,056 points

Jul 16, 2021 12:58 PM in response to Flymaster88

You may consider creating another new keychain.

..As more than one, can 'co-exist' in macOS..

• How to Create a New Keychain on Mac | osxdaily

https://osxdaily.com/2020/07/25/how-to-create-a-new-keychain-on-mac/

• Keychain Assess User Guide (Table of Contents) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/toc

There are several ideas & some plausible answers from a targeted search.

Another consideration with keychain access, if lost or reset PW..

• If you need to update your keychain password on Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/if-you-need-to-update-your-keychain-password-kyca2429/mac

(Resetting the default keychain deletes all the passwords saved in the keychain,

but lets you sync your login password and the password stored in the keychain.)

• How to Reset Keychain on Mac - OS X Daily

https://osxdaily.com/2020/07/29/how-reset-keychain-mac/

"This is because, by default, the Keychain password is the same as your Mac user password.

..Since you've lost or reset the user password, they are no longer in sync, and you'll need to

reset your default Keychain to get them in sync again. ~ However, doing this will remove all

the passwords that are currently stored in Keychain."

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Answer 2

Flymaster88 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 17, 2021 1:50 AM in response to K Shaffer

Thanks for your suggestions but I tried to create a new keychain but it still did not transfer the web passwords. I have also tried to downgrade my new laptop from Big Sur to Catalina and then fully restore from time machine and the new laptop will not let me. Even tried a bootable USB to install Catalina and still will not install. I then tried to recover the Catalina time machine backup of the old MacBook and restore from my NAS in recovery mode but cannot get the new laptop to connect to the NAS. Frustrating

Most all the information is there when I use the migration assistant to move the file to the new system, just not the web passwords from keychain/local. Does safari store the web passwords somewhere that I might be missing? Is there another way to move keychain local items?

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Answer 3

alvin256

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2021 5:19 PM in response to Flymaster88

I found that if you highlight a screen full of passwords in Safari password screen, all of the passwords become un-hidden; so I took a photo of each screen full of passwords with my phone camera and moved them to my new MAC with airdrop. Saves a bit of time and allows me to store them for later.

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Answer 4

Flymaster88 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 17, 2021 4:49 PM in response to Flymaster88

I ended up air dropping the passwords from Safari Preferences to the new mac. Now all the passwords are in my keychain/local folder.

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Transferring Local wed passwords in Keychain to a new MacBook pro

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