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In Safari preferences - passwords - only four of my many passwords to websites show. They were all there this morning. Does anyone know how this could have happened and if it's possible to retrieve them?
Thank you.
MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
This is what solved my problem:
OS: MacOS sierra 10.12.6
On my Mac -> system preferences -> internet account -> select iCloud -> selected key chain (key chain was deselected for me)
After this, i went through some confirmation, verification of code sent via txt message.
It synched, restarted safari
Went to safari -> preferences -> passwords
Everything was back to normal !!
Also, i knew my passwords weren't gone because I could still access the passwords on my iPhone via: Settings -> Safari -> Passwords
I saw all my links & passwords still available
Hope this helps someone's problem
Believe me after my experiences of trying to disable/enable iCloud keychain on my devices (MBP, iPad and iPhone 7), I have seen passwords missing in iCloud keychain...It is a serious BUG. And many people who think they would have got their passwords back due to iCloud keychain may not notice there probably were few passwords missing.
That would happen because they would have had many logins stored and if few went missing, they wouldnt realise that till they have to use that website login and password.
Just to understand the functioning of iCloud keychain, I have been playing around enabling and disabling keychain on my Macbook pro, while I did this I have made sure the iCloud keychain on atleast one of my devices was switched on. Inspite of this (keeping iCloud keychain enabled on my device), as soon as I have enabled the iCloud keychain back on my MBP, there were two or three missing passwords and I have immediately checked my iPhone to see if they would be available there at least. They would be missing on my iPhone too. This is really really low standards for iCloud keychain.
Out of my repeated experiments I have realized, though iCloud keychain will keep most of the passwords there is no guarantee at all that all of them would be recovered....I would bet my MBP on that....
From your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Passwords tab.
Make sure: AutoFill user names and passwords is selected.
If that was already selected, make sure your OS X software is up to date.
Click your Apple top left in your screen.
From the drop down menu click About this Mac
Make sure the Overview tab is selected then click Software Update.
Your Mac may restart several times during the update process. That’s ok.
Then see if Safari autofills login data for you.
If there are no updates a available, you may have a Safari extension or third party plug-in installed that's causing a conflict. It's easy to troubleshoot.
From the Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Extensions tab. If there are any extensions installed, uninstall one at a time then quit and relaunch Safari to test.
If it's not an extensions issue, try troubleshooting third party plug-ins.
Back to Safari > Preferences. This time select the Security tab. Deselect: Allow plug-ins. Quit and relaunch Safari to test.
If that made a difference, instructions for troubleshooting plugins here.
messaged edited by: CS
Thanks very much for giving such detailed advice, Carolyn. I'm sorry to say none of it has worked for me. I just wonder how this happened.
Do you use iCloud Keychain?
HI Linc. Yes, I do use iCloud keychain. And my passwords have not disappeared from my other devices - just from my MacBook Air.
I unlocked passwords yesterday to look one up and it was a few hours later I realised they had disappeared for all but 4 sites. Any ideas?
Please take these steps to resynchronize the iCloud keychain. Your keychain on iCloud and your other Apple devices won't be affected. Take Step 2 only if Step 1 doesn't solve the problem.
Step 1
Back up all data.
Open the iCloud pane in System Preferences and uncheck the Keychain box. You'll be prompted to delete the local iCloud keychain. Confirm—the data will remain on the servers. Then re-check the box. Follow one of the procedures described in this support article to set up iCloud Keychain on an additional device. Test.
Step 2
If you still have problems, uncheck the Keychain box again and continue.
Triple-click 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 and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.
A folder named "Keychains" should open. Inside it is a subfolder with a long name similar to (but not the same as) this:
421DE5CA-D745-3AC1-91B0-CE5FC0ABA128
The above is only an example; yours will have a different name of the same general form. Drag the subfolder (not the Keychains folder) to the Trash.
Restart the computer, empty the Trash, and re-enable iCloud Keychain.
Hi again Linc.
I backed up my data then unchecked Keychain in the iCloud pane. I confirmed I wished to delete the local iCloud keychain and entered my Apple ID as requested. Then another pane opened which said :
Turn off iCloud Keychain? Turning off iCloud keychain on this device will also turn off iCloud Keychain on other devices running iOS 8 and OSX Yosemite or earlier.
I clicked on Continue. The check reappeared a couple of seconds later in the Keychain box. This meant I couldn't go on to the setting up iCloud Keychain step described in the support article to which you provided a link.
I repeated the whole process four times and each time the Keychain box re-checked itself after I keyed in my Apple ID. Most frustrating.
Would you advise me to go onto your Step 2 or is there another problem here?
Thanks so much for your time.
Please back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iCloudHelper
Right-click or control-click the line and select
Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. Test.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.
Hi again, Linc. I followed your instructions but had exactly the same problem. Moved iCloudHelper to Trash but when I tried to deactivate Keychain, I had the same problem as earlier - the box re-checked itself after I keyed in my Apple ID. So I still can't set up iCloud Keychain again. I'm sorry I'm taking up a lot of your time but should I put iCloudHelper back in the Caches? Will I have other problems without it? This is all most confusing.
should I put iCloudHelper back in the Caches?
No, there's no need. Is iCloud Keychain enabled on your other devices? What versions of iOS or OS X are they running?
Yes, it is.
iPhone 4S : iOS 9.3.1
iMac : El Capitan 10.11.4
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest by signing in to iCloud and activating iCloud Keychain. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem.
Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.
OK Linc. I'll try this tomorrow and let you know what happens. Time for me to turn in now (it's midnight here). Thanks again for your help.
Hi Linc,
"Test while logged in as Guest by signing in to iCloud and activating iCloud Keychain." The problem here is that when I'm logged in as "Guest" and go into iCloud, the user name "Guest" is already filled in (and cannot be changed) so my Apple ID isn't accepted making it impossible to sign in.
Not being experienced enough, I really daren't try your Step 2 which is way too technical for me.
Fortunately I can access my Safari passwords from my other devices so will just add them to my keychain list manually on my MacBook Air.
Thank you for your efforts. I appreciate all the time you must have spent trying to find a solution. I'm just not confident enough to go any further with these tests.
My Safari passwords have disappeared. Is it possible to retrieve them?
