glennhaste

Q: How do I deal with Keychain?

I find that more and more I'm being asked for permission to use my keychain.  Since I'm in ignorance of keychain I usually just click on continue.  But, sometimes the request is persistent, and I'm lost.  Is there somewhere I can signup for keychain?  If I did signup sometime in the past, is there any hope of recovering or changing my password?   Any suggestions as to how to proceed?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Early '06, Also use OS 10.5 & 10.7

Posted on Mar 16, 2015 1:26 PM

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Q: How do I deal with Keychain?

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Mar 16, 2015 1:30 PM in response to glennhaste
    Level 10 (270,032 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 16, 2015 1:30 PM in response to glennhaste

    OS X Yosemite- keychain

    OS X Yosemite- About your keychain password


    Tutorial: Resolving Keychain Issues

     

    If you can't access your keychain, or forget your password If you can't get into your keychain file because you've forgotten your password or the keychain file appears to be corrupt, there are a couple of options.

     

    First, if you've forgotten your password, you can use the "Keychain First Aid" utility to make the keychain password the same as the login password. This can be accomplished via the following process:

     

      1. Open Keychain Access (located in Applications/Utilities)

      2. Go to the "Keychain Access" menu and select "Preferences"

      3. Click the "First Aid" tab

      4. Make sure the "Synchronize login keychain password" box is checked

      5. Close the Preferences window

      6. Go to the "Keychain Access" menu and select "Keychain First Aid"

      7. Enter your username and password

      8. Click the "Repair" button

     

    The second option is to completely delete your keychain then recreate it. This routine is useful if your keychain appears to be corrupt or otherwise inaccessible. This can be accomplished as follows:

     

      1. Launch Keychain Access (located in Applications/Utilities)

      2. Click "Show Keychains" in the lower-left corner of the window.

      3. Select the problematic keychain from the left-hand pane.

      4. Navigate to the "File" menu and select "Delete Keychain '(name of keychain)'"

      5. Check all options for deletion and press "OK"

      6. Create a new keychain by going to the "File" menu, then "New" and selecting

          "New Keychain"

      7. You can now make this keychain your default if you desire by selecting it, then

          going to the "File" menu and selecting "Make '(name of keychain)' Default"

     

    Login as root and perform repair In some cases, problems with keychains can only be resolved when logged in as the root user.

     

    First, you want to enable the root user:

     

      1. OS X Mountain Lion: Enable and disable the root user

      2. OS X Lion: Enable and disable the root user

      3. Mac OS X 10.6: Enabling the root user

      4. Enabling and using the "root" user in Mac OS X

     

    After enabling the root user, and logging in under this account, again open Keychain Access. First attempt repairs using Keychain First Aid, and failing that, delete then recreate the keychain as described above while logged in as root.

     

    Persistently asked for stored passwords If you are persistently asked for passwords in various applications that you have specified should be remembered in a keychain, your "login" keychain may not be active for one reason or another.

     

    Navigate to ~/Library/Keychains/ (this is the Library folder inside your user's home folder). Find the file named "login.keychain" and double-click it.

     

    Failing that, select the "login" keychain within the Keychain Access application and make sure it is the default keychain by going to the "File" menu and selecting "Make 'Login' Default"

     

    Turn off Keychain synchronization in applications having problems If specific applications are experiencing issues when accessing password-protected material, the Keychain may be to blame.

     

    The above comes from an article published on MacFixit.com.

  • by glennhaste,

    glennhaste glennhaste Mar 16, 2015 6:38 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Accessibility
    Mar 16, 2015 6:38 PM in response to Kappy

    Thanks! It sounds like you know what you're doing,  Clearly, I don't.

    I am using Lion.  When I go Utilities > Keychain Access i get a window that, on the left side, shows Keychains (login, System, System Roots) and Category (All items, Passwords, Secure Notes, Keys, Certificates)  I see 12 names, with Application Password, Public key, Certificate , & Private Key.  But under Keychain all 12 names show login.  So, maybe, If I consistently reply with my Lion OS password, to the request I see, then maybe that will  satisfy the requestor?

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Mar 16, 2015 7:27 PM in response to glennhaste
    Level 10 (270,032 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 16, 2015 7:27 PM in response to glennhaste

    Did you try the first series of steps from above:

     

      1. Open Keychain Access (located in Applications/Utilities)

      2. Go to the "Keychain Access" menu and select "Preferences"

      3. Click the "First Aid" tab

      4. Make sure the "Synchronize login keychain password" box is checked

      5. Close the Preferences window

      6. Go to the "Keychain Access" menu and select "Keychain First Aid"

      7. Enter your username and password

      8. Click the "Repair" button

  • by glennhaste,

    glennhaste glennhaste Mar 18, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Accessibility
    Mar 18, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Kappy

    I fear that I didn't make myself clear in my earlier reply.  When I open "keychain access", I see what I described above - no preferences, first aid, or synchronize options, no matter how I select the items on the left.  I seem to be doing OK, but I thought that I might be permitting or forbidding things that could cause me trouble.