Apple TV Airplay Now Asking for Passcode

I came upon CamTang's exact issue a few hours ago. After searching this forum, I found a thread that found a fix by deleting the "Keychains" folder in the Library folder and re-starting:

1) The fix I found:

Open the "Library" folder in Finder:

Finder/Go/ALT (hold down while clicking Go)/Home/Library

Move the "Keychains" folder to the desktop for safekeeping. This is a "move", not a "copy".

Re-boot and the "Keychains" folder will be re-created. The passcode prompt on Airplay should work now.

If you do it this way, you will need to re-enter all your other passwords that were stored in your old Keychain, but Airplay has been re-set and Apple TV will connect to your Macbook Pro. FYI, I am running EL Capitan 10.11.6 so it appears to be a key corruption issue unrelated to OS. This solution worked for me but I loathed having to re-enter all my old passwords.

2) I developed a better solution (for me) which kept the passwords intact but I had working backup of the "Keychains" folder :

I had a Time Machine back-up of the last time Apple TV mirroring worked which was 1 day before the problem arose.

I moved the newly recreated "Keychains" folder first as the backup would not restore otherwise. I restored the last working "Keychains" folder back to its original location in the Library Folder. I restarted.

Everything now works including AirPlay and all passwords are intact.

Problem fixed for me!

Note: If you don't have a working back-up of the "Keychains" folder, when the "Keychains" folder was re-created (after performing fix 1 above), there were two entries under "Keychains" (the upper left pane) - "Local" in Keychain Access: "AirPlay Pairing Identity..." and "Paired AirPlay Accessary...". I closed "Keychain Access" then copied the old "Keychains" folder from the Desktop to back to the Library folder. I opened Keychain Access but I could not find a "Local" keychain so I did a search for "AirPlay", found the two entries and deleted them, noting that it took two tries before I was allowed to delete the entries. I restarted and after entering the passcode, AirPlay was working again and all my password entries were there although I was now getting password prompts in Safari. I'm not sure why the passwords wouldn't keep but I tried the Time Machine restore next so I didn't troubleshoot that one. If I had to try again, I would restart after copying the old "Keychains" folder back to Library. I would make sure the passwords were still intact and working, then do the "AirPlay" search and delete the 2 entries above. I would then close "KeyChain Access" and restart.

Good Luck!!!

I cannot immediately help you, but another user posted the same issue earlier this year. You might find the thread if you search this forum. It was an identical problem, where the Mac requires a passocde, and rejects any provided value.

Here Re: How do I get Airplay to work from Safari on Mac to Apple TV? and Re: enter passcode on screen comes up wrong are a couple of previous threads. I'd forgotten there was more that one. For one of the users, only one user account was affected. Strange.

I assume you're rebooted both ATV and computer.

This behavior is as if the two devices have different interpretations of the protocol. The computer thinks it needs a passcode, ** t doesn't transmit it correctly to ATV, even when a passcode actually exists, as you described. Also, the initial event is strange, since it would be normal if device verification were enabled. ATV displayed a code, even though verification was not enabled. Since your phone works normally, I think there's some foul-up in the computer implementation.

Just asking, have you experimented with any apps for screen casting, capturing, sharing, etc.? Those have been reported to cause trouble for AirPlay.

Think I figured out he answer.

The passcode displayed on the Apple TV is for the remote app on your iPhone. ... once you log in that way. The airplay works for other apps on the iPhone.