Establishing new login keychain

First, yes, I'm an idiot. Can't remember password for keychain created in 2005, migrated through 3 machines and several OS versions. Keychain is freaking out only over Twitter where it keeps rejecting username/password. Can't fix what might be only a single problem with this site using Keychain First Aid without the password, so here I am. Here are some questions I can't find an answer to.
1. My Keychain is big, much of it out of date and with multiple logins for the same site that are irrelevant now. Can I delete them safely? If so, how?
2. Since I'm starting from scratch, should I use another password manager like 1Password for syncing with iPad, etc.? If Keychain is good enough, is there a best practices way to replace the old keychain efficiently and safely? Can I access the login keychain to copy items from the old to the new? Or should I just bite the bullet and spend Christmas Eve paying for my slipshod computer habits? Thanks in advance.

You can delete old or othewise useless entries. Select them and press the delete key.
If your keychain is unlocking on login, then it is the same as your login password. If that password doesn't work, then the keychain is likely corrupted and probably should replaced.
To move entries from one keychain to another, you have to know the password of the original keychain, and you have authenticate every single one of them, separately. It works just like any other program asking for access to a keychain entry, you must authenticate to allow Keychain Access to get the information out of the item.

Similar Messages

Logging-in doesn't create new login keychain

I'm helping someone with 10.5.1.
We had to reset their account password (they forgot it), but now their "login" keychain password doesn't match, and they don't remember it. They don't mind too much if they must lose their old "login" keychain (there's not much in there).
So I started Keychain Access, selected the login keychain, and chose File:Delete Keychain "login". I deleted "references only", because maybe they'll remember the password later, and there might be things in there they'd like to recover. Now, from reading
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301364
it sounds like if they reboot and login again, it's supposed to make a new, clean "login" keychain, but it doesn't. In fact, it finds the old "login" keychain all over again and it shows up again in Keychain Access.
Is this a bug in 10.5.1? Am I supposed to do File:New Keychain and make my own keychain named "login"? Am I supposed to use Preferences:Reset My Keychain? Is there an Apple article that covers how to recover from a lost "login" keychain password? That article I read appears to be incomplete.

..."it sounds like if they reboot and login again, it's supposed to make a new, clean "login" keychain, but it doesn't."...
The "help" document referred to in the article you linked (which happens to be a 10.4 help document) suggests:
..."If your keychain has become inaccessible for some reason (for example, if you've forgotten the password), you can delete it and manually create a new keychain."...
Note the word "manually", which implies that rebooting and logging in won't automatically result in the creation of a new keychain. The wording of the 10.5 is slightly different, with the absence of the word "manually". However, the wording still suggests that you have to create the keychain yourself:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/9078.html
..."If your keychain has become inaccessible for some reason (for example, if you’ve forgotten the password), you can delete it and create a new keychain."...
I suspect that in 10.5, you do still have to create a new keychain manually ("File" > "New Keychain" and naming it whatever you like), select it in the sidebar list of keychains, then make it the default keychain ("File" > "Make Keychain "xyz" Default").

Creating new login keychain

In deleting and reorganizing files the other day, I somehow deleted my keychain(s). I've attempted to verify and repair things using Keychain First Aid and am told "login keychain not found." Attempts to simply create a new keychain by this name or any other names brings about the message, "An error occurred while creating a new keychain."
I've scoured the topics here but have not been able to find instructions specific to this type of issue.
Any advice on how I can restore the login keychain or create a new one is greatly appreciated!
Many Thanks!

Indeed it can, or you can perform a complete Archive and Install or you can first try the suggestions below:
Login as root and perform repair In some cases, problems with keychains can only be resolved when logged in as the root user.
First, enable a root user account, as detailed in Knowledge Base article #106290 (briefly: open NetInfo Manager, located in Applications/Utilities, click the lock and enter the administrator password, then select "Enable Root User" from the Security menu and follow on-screen instructions).
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.
Please remember to log out as root user once you've finished dealing with Keychain.
Hope one of these helps,

Where has my login keychain gone?

I opened Mail this morning to find that all my accounts were asking for my password. I thought this was a bit strange but I typed them in again anyway and checked the remember in keychain box. It did this with no complaints but when I checked in my keychain later, the passwords were not there. In fact, I couldn't seem to make any changes at all. I checked the padlock at the top of the page and it was closed, but clicking it did nothing and it didn't say about clicking the padlock to unlock.
I decided to restart the computer to see if that fixed it but when I did, my login keychain has totally gone. Trying to create a new keychain called login just fails saying there was an error. How do I get a new login keychain?

I've just found the repair keychain option in preferences and it all seems to be working now. Still wondering why it messed up in the first place though...

Two "Login" keychains . . . (better than one?)

Yo, all.
The other day I was tinkering with my keychain access and noticed that I have TWO (2) "Login" keychains. They are identical, unlocked . . . I decided to delete one of them and voila, they both disappeared! When I created a new Login keychain two appeared!
Any ideas about this one? Seems weird to me.
Thanks in advance.
Dan

I was just wondering about something. I have a 30gb
black iPod 5g. I also own a podsplus case that I've
had it in since I got it. Could I also wrap it in an
InvisibleShield to keep it from being scratched by
dust that gets into the case? Or would it make it
impossible to get out? Thanks
I have the Invisible Shield and the PDair case, which is exactly the same as the Podsplus, as far as I can tell. It's a snug fit, but they work fine together. I leave my iPod in the case when updating, but take it out it when charging the battery.

Login keychain acting weird!

I just bought at 17" powerbook and I put all of my old keychain passwords from my G3 desktop into my new login keychain. Now, when I try to access the login keychain, nothing comes up. Even the locked/unlocked icon is missing, and I can't access any of my passwords at all. I also cannot delete this keychain or lock/unlock it. It is essentially useless.
I did create another keychain called "login", and it is effectively saving new passwords, but now there are two login keychains and I don't know what to do about the old one.
T

resetting an account password does not change the keychain password. you need to know the old keychain password to open the keychain or change its password. there is NO way around that. if you don't know or can't remember the old keychain password you can't access old keychain entries. you then need to delete the old keychain and make a new empty one with the new user password as the keychain password. to do that delete (or move somewhere) the file home directory/library/keychains/login.keychain and log out/in. a new blank keychain will be generated and you can start saving passwords into it.

Login keychain not storing iChat password since new Logic board

A few weeks ago I had to take my MacBook Pro in for repair (the graphics chip died). At any rate, they fixed the issue by replacing the logic board. Now, however, it seems to have screwed up my login keychain.
Whenever I open iChat now I'm prompted for my AIM password. Even though I ask for it to be stored and remembered by keychain it is not. I have tried repairing the keychain, creating a new one, deleting/re-installing iChat, and even trying a brand new user account all to no avail.
So what gives? Has the new logic board permanently screwed up some settings on my MBP? Is there anything else I can try?
Thanks
Message was edited by: Dryvlyne

Dryvlyne wrote:
I already re-installed iChat by running the Optional Installs.mpkg from the SL disc. Is this why you were suggesting I use Pacifist or can it repair the code signature you speak of?
no. I wasn't sure if optional installs offers ichat as an option. if it does you can use that instead of pacifists. it should work just as well. but make sure you reapply 10.6.2 combo update afterward.
What about me not being able to edit and save changes to my keychain items. Doesn't this imply a problem with Keychain?
do you mean you have problems with other keychain items beside ichat? on all accounts?
BTW, you marked my post solved. you shouldn't do that until and unless your problem is actually resolved. this tells other posters that your issue is fixed and disinvites further responses.
I dunno, the whole situation is strange. I have Google Notifier installed on my MBP and it was able to save its password to Keychain just fine.
Thanks

Keychains, new login has appeared with changed password

Hi, all of a sudden i cannot access my logins in keychains, now in keychains login_renamed_1 has appeared and i can no longer get into my keychains, I can only acces the original login but all the items bar four have been moved into the new login renamed keychain. How can i change the password? I dont have the mac install cd to hand at the moment so is there another way without the cd?

iWantAniPad91,
PostgreSQL is a database. When it is installed, it creates its own user, so that all of its files are owned by the PostgreSQL user. If you haven’t installed PostgreSQL yourself, then one of your apps might have done so for you if that app depends upon PostgreSQL to function.

Tried to reset a login keychain but got the error: Unable to obtain authorization for this operation.

There was a user account established on my computer when I bought it. I later added an admin account. I realized that I did not have the password to the original account. Using the admin account, I changed the password for the user account. I then realized that I now couldn't access the keychain. I followed the instructions to reset a login keychain. Opened Keychain Access, selected Preferences, clicked Reset Login Keychain, typed the new password I'd created for the account but received the following error. Unable to obtain authorization for this operation. I cannot find a user/library/keychain folder so I can't delete the user keychain file. How can I reset the keychain?

A lot longer ago than that. PowerPC apps haven't been supported since Lion, 10.7.x.
You may have just purchased the game, but the developers obviously haven't kept up to date with the requirements for newer versions of the Mac OS.
You have three options, depending on how old your Mac is.
1) If it were ever able to boot directly to Snow Leopard, you could create a separate partition and install SL onto that partition. Make sure to turn on the option during the installation to install Rosetta. That is OS X's PPC emulator.
2) If your Mac is too new to install Snow Leopard, then you can purchase and install Snow Leopard Server within a VM, such as Parallels, VirtualBox, or Vmware.
3) Use a separate older Mac for running outdated software.

Safari wants to use the "login" keychain. -- Why can't Safari remember???

When I launch the Safari application, I get a dialogue box with a message indicating the following:
Safari wants to use the "login" keychain.
Please enter the keychain password.
Password:
Cancel -- OK
When I get this dialogue box, I enter the login keychain password in the Password text box, and I click the OK button. Then, Safari proceeds as normal. This is extremely annoying, because it happens almost every time that I launch Safari.
This only started to happen after I upgraded on Monday to Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5. During the Leopard upgrade, I had problems with the keychain passwords, and so I then upgraded again with the new "Login and Keychain Update 1.0". But, the problems with Safari forgetting the login keychain password continue.
The strange thing is that there is NO option in the dialogue box to indicate that Safari should REMEMBER the password. The option does NOT exist, so I can NOT click the Remember box.
I also went into the Keychain Access utility and double-checked and confirmed that my First Aid preferences were properly CHECKED for "Synchronize login keychain password with account" and also "Keep login keychain unlocked". Both of these preferences options are checked. So, I can't understand why Safari cannot remember the login keychain password?
I have this exact same problem with the Mail application, as well.
And, it looks like many many people are having the same problem -- See the following link to related discussions:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5679135&#5679135
Can anyone please help? -- When is Apple going to release a fix for this problem? -- Has anyone received any kind of acknowledgement from Apple that they are aware of this problem and that they intend to fix it?
Please help !!!

I had the same experience and found a solution.
After the upgrade, I had a login keychain (the default) and my original username keychain. Both are in the chain of keychains, but since it has a choice, Mail keeps asking you to confirm.
I moved all the entries out of username into login, deleted username, and all is well.
Note that Keychain asks for your password on EACH ITEM that it moves, which can be tedious. So I changed the keychain password to a single character, just for the duration, then changed it back to something secure.
If, on the other hand, you don't have two keychains, then I can offer no suggestion.

"Safari wants to use login keychain" how do I stop this message popping up

Hello out there!
Everytime I go to a new web page in Safari I box pops up on the screen with the message " Safari wants to use the login keychain. Please enter the keychain password." I click on the "cancel" button and the message disappears and I can get to the web page ok. It's just that having this message box pop up all the bloody time is driving me crazy. Is there anybody out there who knows how I can get rid of it entirely and restore my sanity please?
I don't want to use passwords or keychains.
Thank you so kindly for reading my posting and thank you in advance for any help.
Best regards Wooziewooster.

Ah yes, you may also (or instead) need to "Open Keychain Access, and choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu, and click the Reset Keychain button. Enter your current login password and you're done." See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8318028&#8318028

Network user, network home folder, and the login keychain

I've got everything set up in WGM. I can log the user onto a workstation, and the home folder maps to the appropriate network location.
What I can't seem to do, is get a login keychain working. The keychain exists, in the proper folder on the network home folder. Keychain Assistant First Aid says everything is hunky dory. The problem is that the login keychain won't show up on the keychain list, nor can I add it. If I delete the file from the networked location and run first aid again, it says the login keychain doesn't exist and proceeds to create it, just like I'd expect. Only problem is, the keychain still doesn't show and I can't use it!
So any time I try to save email passwords, Safari passwords, etc. it errors out. Going through the prompted reset dialogs doesn't seem to do anything. I'm not seeing any console messages pointing to errors, either.
Anybody gon any ideas?

Ok then, I got one for you. Similar sort of thing. Just created a 10.6 server, created all the relevant users within WGM, then imported the home folders from the previous 10.5 server. Ensured all new UIDs matched the UIDs from the 10.5 WGM because it then simplifies permissions - i.e. all the permissions are recognised by the new server automatically for the right users.
Now for one of my users, her login keychain is never open by default. When you start Keychain Access (she's on 10.5.8 btw) you get the System keychain and the System Roots list of certificate authorities, but no login keychain.
Have checked the permissions of her ~/Library/Keychains/ folder and they're correct, as are the permissions for ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.
Double-clicking on the login.keychain file opens it up just fine in Keychain Access, however as soon as you close KA and re-open it, the login keychain's gone again.
I've tried importing a keychain, adding an existing keychain (obviously the login one) and creating a new keychain called login, none of which work - there's no error, it just ignores me.
I'd rather not create a temporary user account, transfer all the docsuments/mail etc, delete the original and recreate a new one using the old name and copy everything back, but unless someone can help me out, that's what I'm going to have to do.
There has to be some guru's out there somewhere that can help???
Thanks in advance,
Matt

I just upgraded to Lion. I was trying to set up the iCloud and it asked for my "login" keychain password. I've never been asked for that before. I've tried every password I can think of and nothing works. Is there a way to reset the keychain password?

I just upgraded to Lion. I was trying to set up iCloud and it asked for my "login" keychain password. I've never been asked for the keychain password before. I've tried every password I can think of and nothing works. I'm normally asked for the password to my machine when upgrading software, signing on, etc. but this is different apparently. I tried the same password and it didn't work either. I read a couple of posts and they all want to take me through Applications/Utilities but that requires knowing your password in order to change it. I don't know it. Don't remember ever setting up a keychain password. Does anyone know how to change the keychain password if you don't know the keychain password???

Most of the time your Keychain password is the same as your login password. If you configured your computer to log you in automatically, you may not have used your login password in so long you forgot it.
There is no way to retrieve the "login" Keychain password, but you can reset the Keychain from the Preferences menu: select it in the Keychain Access menu and select "Reset My Default Keychain". This will create a new, empty Keychain but the old one will be saved should you ever remember its password.
The result of this is that you will have to supply passwords for everything that requires it, since without your Keychain they will no longer automatically fill themselves. However, once you supply them and store them in your new Keychain, they will be remembered.

Macbook pro mid 2012 backing up from disk ulitiy asking for "login" keychain?

I bought a "WD My passport For Mac 1TB" portable external hard drive since I can't get into my macbook pro mid 2012 10.9 because when I turn it on its just grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel. I went to future shop to the geek squad and they did diagnose of it that is wasn't the hard drive but the operating system with problem. Which makes sense since I did the apple hardware test, disk repair/verfy, permissions repair/verify and they all came back with saying my volume is ok etc.
SO my question is to back up my files etc. I do the command + r and go to disk ulitiy and click on "Macintosh HD" and then click "New Image" and then select "My Passport for Mac" to save on there. What I want to know should I put "compressed", "read/write", "read only" or "DVD/CD master" for Image Format? AND For encrytion, do i pick "128-bit AES encryption (recommended)" or "256-bit AES encryption (more secure, but slower)"?
Also I have one more option before I go to my genius appointment on saturday is to do the "erase and reinstall" option. Of course I need to back up my files to do that which is why I am asking the questions above. Can any one link me to the "erase and reinstall" option OR tell me your experience on how to do it OR how to do in overall? Also, is it an effective method? I already have the important files on my google drive, have my microsoft disk stuff on my USB, the only app I kind of don't want to lose is my "Notes" app. Also for the apps I downloaded in Apple store they should be still there even if I erase my hard drive?
So I did the command + r and go to disk ulitiy and click on "Macintosh HD" and then click "New Image" and then select "My Passport for Mac" to save on there. I put "read/write" for Image Format AND For encrytion, i pick "128-bit AES encryption (recommended)"
I put in a password when prompted but after that it says "Disk Ultitiy wants to use the "login" keychain." I put in my ususally login password that I use to get on to my desktop but that doesn't work. I have the option to press ok or cancel. Can I just press cancel and will it contiune on backing my files to my external hard drive?
I pressed cancel and the progress bar to saving my macintosh HD to MY external hard drive portable isn't shown any blue bar progress for 9 mins now...
do u know what to do?

If you like you can also restore, via Disk Utility, the DMG onto another disk, but you will be able to read the contents, simply mounting the volume inside any version of OS X.
^ What do you mean by this?
Also, It says on here:Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6: How to back up and restore your files - Apple Support
When the imaging process is complete, select the newly created disk image in the device pane. Then, choose Images > Scan Image for Restore... from the menu bar, and let the scan complete.
Quit Disk Utility (press Command-Q). Then press Command-Q to quit the Mac OS X installer; you will be prompted to restart.
Restoring the backup disk image's contents to your internal Mac OS X disk
What does Images > Scan Image for Restore mean?
Also If I erase hard drive and then reinstall mavericks OS X from "command + r mode" and after that hopefully I can get back in would I hook my external hard drive and then open the copy of the "macintosh".dmg and drag everything back on? or...?

System unable to unlock login keychain

I had a very unfortunate problem with adware this morning and used Adwaremedic to remove it. The program prompted me to restart after removing the adware. Now when I log in to my account I have two windows -- one tells me the system was unable to unlock my login keychain and gives me three options: continue login, create new keychain, and update keychain password. The other window says 'calendaragent wants to use the login keychain'. If I hit cancel, then it pops up again with different programs that want my login keychain such as addressbooksourcesync or com.apple.icloudhelper.xpc. I'm not sure whether or not I should trust this and put in my password.
Anyone here had a similar experience?

Try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear and again when you log in. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don’t do them all at once.
Safe Mode - About
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Establishing new login keychain

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