Keychain Access Won't Launch - Solution

Question

Level 1

0 points

Keychain Access Won't Launch - Solution

Here's how I fixed it with the help of older posts on this DB.

1. Rename the XXXX.keychain files located in library/keychain/ directory. For example, rename login.keychain to loginS.keychain. SOME SIMPLE CHANGE SO YOU WILL REMEMBER THE ORIGINAL FILE NAME. Just add one letter or something.

2. Launch the Keychain app. If it launches, you won't see any passwords. That's ok.

3. Quit Keychain - beyond pressing the red X you have to "Quit" keychain on the menu.

4. Rename the XXXX.keychain files back to their original filename.

5. Relaunch the Keychain app. Hopefully it works and you have access. It worked for me :-)

Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 14, 2014 12:10 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Kenster88 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 19, 2014 11:24 AM in response to Kenster88

It worked for a week, and then Keychain Access started freezing again.

Further testing shows that it has something to do with my "login.keychain" file. If I rename that file, Keychain Access will start right up, with my other Keychains intact.

Then, I tried shutting down Keychain Access, restoring the login.keychain filename to original, and Keychain Access started up, no problem... YET.

Then, within Keychain Access, I selected the "login" keychain, and the program froze. There is also a growing group of files in my /Library/Keychain/ folder named "login.890dsfs990" and whatnot.

Seems to be something wrong with that keychain. Thank goodness it's just the login keychain.

Is that the keychain that my web browsers use?

Hope this info contributes to a solution.

Good luck,

Ken

Reply

Answer 2

May 19, 2014 6:15 PM in response to Kenster88

Go to your User's Library folder. It's hidden in Lion. Under Go in the Menu bar hold down the option key and you'll see the Library folder.

Go to Preferences folder.

Delete this file.

com.apple.keychainaccess.plist

Log out under the Apple in the Menu bar

Log in and a new .plist file will be created.

See if this solves your issues.

If not, try resetting your keychain using the steps here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544

Reply