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Q: Every time I log on my mac asks me messages agent wants to use my keychain, How can I get rid of it?

Screen Shot 2013-10-10 at 9.45.34 PM.png

I always get this annoying message. So if anyone knows how to fix this please tell me, thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Oct 10, 2013 6:52 PM

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Q: Every time I log on my mac asks me messages agent wants to use my keychain, How can I get rid of it?

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  • by Tlix,

    Tlix Tlix Oct 10, 2013 7:28 PM in response to mrfistpump
    Level 4 (1,420 points)
    Oct 10, 2013 7:28 PM in response to mrfistpump

    You may need to open up Keychain Access from the Utilities folder and reset the default login keychain. Be aware this may mean you need to re-enter all your passwords at least once so they are remembered. It will be under Keychain Access -> Preferences -> Reset my default keychain.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 10, 2013 7:53 PM in response to Tlix
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 10, 2013 7:53 PM in response to Tlix

    I don't think you want to RESET your keychain (which will probably dump all your passwords). I think you want to grant access for that Application to be able to access your keychain automatically. The procedure is a little complicated:

     

    OS X Lion: Allow applications to access your keychain

  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Oct 10, 2013 7:57 PM in response to mrfistpump
    Level 8 (49,226 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 10, 2013 7:57 PM in response to mrfistpump

    In addition to the other's suggestions, review the following to determine if it is applicable: Mac OS X: Keychain Access asks for keychain "login" after changing login password.

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 10, 2013 9:00 PM in response to mrfistpump
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Oct 10, 2013 9:00 PM in response to mrfistpump

    Back up all data.

     

    Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:

     

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

     

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

     

    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the icon grid.

     

    Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.

     

    If the lock icon in the top left corner of the window shows that the keychain is locked, click to unlock it. You'll be prompted for the keychain password, which is the same as your login password, unless you've changed it.

     

    Right-click or control-click the login entry in the list. From the menu that pops up, select Change Settings for Keychain "login". In the sheet that opens, uncheck both boxes, if not already unchecked.

     

    From the menu bar, select

       

    Keychain Access Preferences First Aid

      

    If the box marked Keep login keychain unlocked is not checked, check it.

     

    Select

      

    Keychain Access Keychain First Aid

       

    from the menu bar and repair the keychain. Quit Keychain Access.

  • by Cannotfindanavailableusername,

    Cannotfindanavailableusername Cannotfindanavailableusername Dec 19, 2013 12:29 PM in response to mrfistpump
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 19, 2013 12:29 PM in response to mrfistpump

    same problem.. seems that Link Davis way solve the issue.. thank You, crossing fingers..

  • by clarebear,

    clarebear clarebear Dec 20, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Cannotfindanavailableusername
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Cannotfindanavailableusername

    So I just started experiencing this last night.

    I've opened up Keychain Access and selected the option - Change Settings for Keychain "login", but it just freezes :(

    Tried rebooting again but just the same.

    Why hasn't Apple released a bug fix for this??!

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 20, 2013 5:16 PM in response to clarebear
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 20, 2013 5:16 PM in response to clarebear

    Why hasn't Apple released a bug fix for this??!

    Probably because you are the only person experiencing this problem.

  • by clarebear,

    clarebear clarebear Dec 20, 2013 9:54 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2013 9:54 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Oh really Grant, seems that over 300 people have complained about keychains recently on the Apple forums alone, already.

    Anyway, I was able to fix it by following what Steve said here:

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23768561#23768561

     

    P.S. This is for the "local items" login promt, not the "login" keychain promt (which would be the fix above).

     

    (I've edited the orginal to this)

    1. Go to Finder

    2. Look for the hidden folder Library, ie: /Users/clarebear/Library/Keychains.

    3. Inside the Keychains folder is a single folder with random numbers and letters, ie: ACE4BDA3-B48C-5F97-AEB0-3836B9E48457

    4. Drag this folder onto your desktop.

    5. Re-boot and you should be good to go.

    6. If Ok drag the folder off your desktop into the trash!!

     

    Only thing that popped up when rebooting was icloud asked for my password, so I entered it and it went away.

    Problem solved.

  • by Supa_Fr35h,

    Supa_Fr35h Supa_Fr35h Dec 22, 2013 3:54 PM in response to clarebear
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 3:54 PM in response to clarebear

    Deleting the hidden folder a la clarebear's suggestion above did the trick for my "local items" problem.

  • by michaelpstokes,

    michaelpstokes michaelpstokes Jan 1, 2014 10:38 AM in response to Supa_Fr35h
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2014 10:38 AM in response to Supa_Fr35h

    clarebear's suggestion worked for me for a few hours and then the messages about keychain started again.  I am using retina MacBook Pro.

  • by Király,

    Király Király May 25, 2014 2:26 PM in response to michaelpstokes
    Level 6 (9,824 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 25, 2014 2:26 PM in response to michaelpstokes

    I had this problem too. Keychain first aid didn't fix it for me. I found this to be very annoying because I don't and never have used the Messages app, so I don't know why it would be asking in the first place for my keychain password.

     

    But I was able to fix it by making the passwords for the keychain and my user account login the same. That prevented the Messages app from asking for it at login.

  • by dan wool,

    dan wool dan wool Nov 2, 2014 10:52 AM in response to mrfistpump
    Level 2 (300 points)
    Nov 2, 2014 10:52 AM in response to mrfistpump

    I tried everything suggested here and many other things to fix this same issue, that started when I migrated to a new Mac. Nothing worked. Then I remembered that I used a different the account login password when I set up the new Mac. Once I changed the new Mac's login password to match the old one, the messages stopped. I'd still like to have the ability to change my login password, but this stops the madness for now.

  • by RJV Bertin,

    RJV Bertin RJV Bertin Feb 11, 2015 6:26 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 3 (950 points)
    Feb 11, 2015 6:26 AM in response to Linc Davis

    That's a nice solution if you don't care about leaving your default keychain open, providing full access to its contents.

     

    I prefer to use a dedicated "open" keychain for that, one that only gets locked when you suspend the system but otherwise remains open and only contains less-sensitive passwords. But for that to work you need to know which entries an application needs to have access to, in order to transfer them from the default keychain to the open keychain.

     

    So, specifically, what is or are the keychain entries that the Messages Agent needs to access to?

  • by clandau,

    clandau clandau Mar 10, 2015 8:40 AM in response to RJV Bertin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2015 8:40 AM in response to RJV Bertin

    I raised this issue in another thread (what is the "messages agent" i am asked to sign into every time i turn on my Mac?) and got no response there.

     

    Maybe the answer for those of us concerned about leaving a keychain unlocked all the time, is to make "login" the open keychain, and put our sensitive information in another keychain that does not stay unlocked. I don't know what the Messages Agent is, but I don't think I've given it any sensitive passwords. I'm going to try this.

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