Erroll
Level 1 (29 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Safari not suggesting password

I have Keychain enabled in iCloud preferences. I'm trying to change my Facebook password but when I tab from the 'Current' to the 'New' field, Safari doesn't suggest a password. What am I missing?

 

Thanks in advance,

Steve  = : ^ )

OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), Windows XP in Parallels 10

Posted on Sep 2, 2014 8:39 PM

by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer
Linc Davis Linc Davis
Level 10 (208,037 points)
Applications
A:

There's no natural way of doing that, but it's not necessary. You can easily generate a much stronger password than the ones suggested by iCloud Keychain. The password will be stored in the keychain just as an auto-generated one would be, the first time you use it.

One way to generate a secure password is the following. Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

openssl rand -base64 10 | cut -c-14 | pbcopy

Copy the selected line to the clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Launch the built-in Terminal application and paste into the window that opens (command-V). A string of 14 random characters will be copied to the Clipboard. Use that string, or a substring, as the password. To generate another random string, press the up-arrow key and then the return key with the Terminal window active. You can then quit Terminal.

Posted on Sep 2, 2014 10:06 PM

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Erroll

Q: Safari not suggesting password

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Sep 2, 2014 8:48 PM in response to Erroll
    Level 10 (124,577 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 2, 2014 8:48 PM in response to Erroll

    From your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Passwords tab.

     

    Make sure:  Autofill user names and passwords is selected.

     

    Then navigate to your Facebook page and try changing the password.


    iCloud: Frequently asked questions about iCloud Keychain

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 2, 2014 8:58 PM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 2, 2014 8:58 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned that Autofill user names and passwords is selected. It doesn't work. I was wondering if it's to do with the fact that, in Facebook, the field doesn't have the word "password" attached to it. The fields are in a pane called "Password", but the fields themselves are called just "Current" and "New".

     

    Can somebody else who uses iCloud keychain verify that Safari suggests a password when attempting to replace a current password with a new one in Facebook?

     

    Thanks in advance,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 2, 2014 9:50 PM in response to Erroll
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Sep 2, 2014 9:50 PM in response to Erroll

    That's not a login page and Autofill won't work with it.

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 2, 2014 9:56 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 2, 2014 9:56 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks. Can you think of a way to change an existing Facebook password to one generated by Safari?

     

    Thanks again,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 2, 2014 10:06 PM in response to Erroll
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Sep 2, 2014 10:06 PM in response to Erroll

    There's no natural way of doing that, but it's not necessary. You can easily generate a much stronger password than the ones suggested by iCloud Keychain. The password will be stored in the keychain just as an auto-generated one would be, the first time you use it.

    One way to generate a secure password is the following. Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    openssl rand -base64 10 | cut -c-14 | pbcopy

    Copy the selected line to the clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Launch the built-in Terminal application and paste into the window that opens (command-V). A string of 14 random characters will be copied to the Clipboard. Use that string, or a substring, as the password. To generate another random string, press the up-arrow key and then the return key with the Terminal window active. You can then quit Terminal.

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 2, 2014 10:07 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 2, 2014 10:07 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 2, 2014 10:30 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 2, 2014 10:30 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Hmmm. I have a new problem. I generated a 14-character string and used it as my new password in Facebook. Confident that it would be saved in my keychain and, via iCloud, synced to my iOS devices, I didn't record it.

     

    Facebook on my Mac does, indeed, log in as advertised but I don't see the new password in Preferences>Passwords when I check 'Show passwords for selected websites', and neither do I see it in Keychain Access, where the latest entry for Facebook is in May. Where is it being stored?

     

    When I attempt to open Facebook on my iPhone, I'm asked to enter my password which I don't know, and didn't think I had to. I understood that it would be synced from the Mac. I'm obviously missing something.

     

    Yes, I have 'keychain' enabled in iCloud on both devices.

     

    Thanks in advance,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 3, 2014 8:36 AM in response to Erroll
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Sep 3, 2014 8:36 AM in response to Erroll

    Confident that it would be saved in my keychain

    No, as I wrote earlier, the password is saved when you use it to log in, not when you change it. If you haven't copied anything else to Clipboard, it should still be there. Otherwise you'll have to go through the Facebook procedure for a lost password. I don't know what that is as I don't use Facebook. They may be able to email it to you. In that case, change it again.

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 3, 2014 5:49 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2014 5:49 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks again. Yes, I've reset my Facebook password, and now see that I need to change my password, log out and then log back in with the new password at which point I'll have the option to save it.

     

    However, I'm confused about one thing: yesterday, after changing my Facebook password on the Mac, I was able to quit Safari ( and even restart the computer) and then open Facebook in Safari and it logged in. Where was the password stored?

     

    While we're on the subject, does the list of stored passwords in Safari preferences access the System keychain, i.e. the same file that can be viewed and edited in Keychain access?

     

    Thanks again,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 3, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Erroll
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Sep 3, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Erroll

    When you log in to a website, it sets a cookie. Until that cookie expires or is deleted, you're still logged in. Web passwords are stored in the default keychain in your home folder, not in the System keychain. They are accessible in Keychain Access. Good luck.

  • by Erroll,

    Erroll Erroll Sep 3, 2014 6:22 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2014 6:22 PM in response to Linc Davis

    All understood.

     

    Thanks again,

    Steve  = : ^ )

  • by JubzLedesma,

    JubzLedesma JubzLedesma Jul 28, 2015 9:20 AM in response to Erroll
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2015 9:20 AM in response to Erroll

    Happened to me. If you had answered not for this site when asked to remember password in safari.

    Solution:

    1) Go to preferences > passwords

    2) search for facebook

    3) delete that line

    4) login to facebook.. if asked if you want to remember password click not for now

    5) go to settings then change password.. it would try to provide a auto generated password when you are on the password box