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A keychain could not be found to store Safari when starting Safari - hangs Safari for several seconds

Hi,


When Safari is launched, a dialog displays as follows:

A keychain could not be found to store Safari


Safari is unusable for several seconds, closing the dialog box only leads to it reappearing again all the while Safari is still not usable. After about three or four of these cycles, Safari then becomes usable. As long as I keep Safari open, this dialog box stays away and I can use Safari as normal. If I close Safari I need to go back through the cycle again.


There is an option to Reset in this dialog box. I have not done that yet because I don't know what that will do.


What is this keychain and should I reset? Will that resolve? Or will resetting break more stuff?


Thanks.

Posted on Nov 17, 2015 9:39 AM

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Posted on Nov 17, 2015 1:16 PM

If you've just changed your login password in Recovery mode, follow these instructions. Otherwise, see below.

At some point, you may have reset your keychain to default in Keychain Access. That action would have caused your login keychain to be renamed.

Back up all data before proceeding.

In Keychain Access, delete the login keychain from the keychain list. Choose Delete References when prompted, not Delete References & Files.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

~/Library/Keychains

In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V), and press return. A folder will open. Rename the file "login.keychain" in that folder to something like "login-old.keychain". Rename the file "login_renamed_1.keychain" to "login.keychain". You can then close the folder.

Back in Keychain Access, select

File Add Keychain...

from the menu bar. Add back the file now named "login.keychain". If any of your needed keychain items are missing from it, also add back the file you named "login-old.keychain". I suggest you transfer any needed items from that keychain to the login keychain, then delete it. The transfers are made by drag-and-drop in Keychain Access. You'll need to enter your password for each item transferred.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 17, 2015 1:16 PM in response to WinterSkiNow

If you've just changed your login password in Recovery mode, follow these instructions. Otherwise, see below.

At some point, you may have reset your keychain to default in Keychain Access. That action would have caused your login keychain to be renamed.

Back up all data before proceeding.

In Keychain Access, delete the login keychain from the keychain list. Choose Delete References when prompted, not Delete References & Files.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

~/Library/Keychains

In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V), and press return. A folder will open. Rename the file "login.keychain" in that folder to something like "login-old.keychain". Rename the file "login_renamed_1.keychain" to "login.keychain". You can then close the folder.

Back in Keychain Access, select

File Add Keychain...

from the menu bar. Add back the file now named "login.keychain". If any of your needed keychain items are missing from it, also add back the file you named "login-old.keychain". I suggest you transfer any needed items from that keychain to the login keychain, then delete it. The transfers are made by drag-and-drop in Keychain Access. You'll need to enter your password for each item transferred.

Nov 18, 2015 11:57 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you Linc,


As the system is prompting "Keychain not found" ... A keychain cannot be found to store "Safari"..... and offers up the option to Reset To Defaults, what would clicking on the Reset To Defaults button do?


Asking to gain a bit more understanding on the issue but also to avoid the steps referenced if possible.


May be worth noting that it is not a problem to start over from scratch on passwords. I don't need to bring back any saved passwords. Only password I care about is the one that I use to login to the Mac.


Thanks again.

Nov 24, 2015 8:29 AM in response to WinterSkiNow

Thanks again Linc,


Have another oddity along the same lines as this. On a new MBA out of the box, decided to change the original and only admin account password. Did so via System Preferences // U&G. After resetting, I was prompted with a splash screen that said "The system was unable to unlock your login keychain" I was presented with three options..... Continue login, Create New Keychain and Update Keychain Password. I selected that latter.


For the next few days I was able to login and unlock the MBA using the changed credential.


I then got around to updating the new MBA (which came shrink wrapped with Yosemite to my surprise) after restart, I was not able to access the MBA with the changed credential. On a hunch I used the original credential for this admin account and it worked! Once I logged in under that account, the other admin credential worked again.


To confirm this behavior, I updated to 10.10.5 and the exact same thing happened, on reboot I had to use the original credential and once I logged in with that, I was able to use the credential I changed to.


What in the world is Apple doing with this kind of foolishness -- two passwords for one account? If I would not have recorded the original admin account credential I would have been locked out of this box. Is this a keychain thing?


Appreciate you taking your time to help me with these questions.

A keychain could not be found to store Safari when starting Safari - hangs Safari for several seconds

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