Mysterious keychain item behavior

My keychain seems to be working great. Keychain First Aid verifies. All my apps work perfectly with the keychains but...
I setup a Skype account years ago and have been using Skype on and off for a long time. When I launch the Skype application, it pulls the password from the keychain as it should, but when I go to the keychain to look up the password, I'm unable to see it. I can see what looks like the keychain item. It's an application password with the name 'skype' and the account name is '.token.0' which is strange but what's really strange is that when I click 'Show password', the checkbox refuses to stay checked, I'm never prompted for my admin account password and the value of the password is never shown in the password field.
Any idea what's going on here?
I've got 1,484 items in my keychain so I'm not going to start from scratch.
I'm going to be forced to abandon the Skype account I've been using for the last 5 years. Without the password, I can't add an email to the account and I can't reset the password. I'm stuck. This Skype account was created before they required emails.

Very sketchy details. Keychain Access in /Applications/Utilities/, select the login.keychain, Keychain Access->Keychain First Aid and repair the keychain.

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Keychain items mysteriously disappeared

After returning from a trip overseas, I came home to a computer with about half of the original keychain items saved. Initially I thought that my browser (Omniweb 5.5) was not accessing those items, but after opening up KC I was surprised to find about only 100 of the original 250 items there.
Any ideas? Can't recall if this happened before or after applying the latest security update.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the feedback.
Reset Safari, IIRC, also deletes your com.apple.Safari.plist, bookmarks, history, cookies, and any passwords to sites you've already visited that require them. As a precaution, whenever I plan on resetting Safari, I always make copies of these folders in ~/Library: /Cookies, /Keychains, and /Safari and the /Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist and after resetting it, reinstall them if they were deleted or replaced
I think you definitely hit on what caused the problem. Good luck.

Is there a way to set which keychain item is used by default for a site/application?

This question applies primarily to the keychain in Mavericks, but also the iCloud keychain and its use in iOS.
There are several sites and services for which I have multiple logins that serve different purposes. Whether it's because they are business/personal accounts, or accounts that pertain to different functions, I have multiple logins for many sites/services I use daily, however, there is usually one primary account for each that I use for most purposes.
What I would like to be able to do is set which of these logins appears by default. An example scenario might be if I have an "admin" account on a site, and a "dev" account that is used for testing purposes to Q/A the site from the perspective of a user who doesn't have administrative access. Most of my work happens under "admin" but whenever I go to the login page, the "dev" account prepopulates in the login form and I have to start typing admin and select that. It also does this on my iPhone, which is where this issue becomes very cumbersome, because there is no dropdown for me to select which credentials to use to autofill from. It appears to only allow autofill from whatever it sees as the first account to come up, and I can't seem to change that without deleting all the other keychain items that come up ahead of the one that I want. This kind of thing also poses a significant risk of accidents if, say, I have multiple payment methods saved and the one that comes up by default isn't my personal payment method, but a business account that's only meant to be used for business purchases. If that comes up first, if I don't replace it with my personal details, I might accidentally place a personal charge on a business account.
So I really have 2 questions:
1) Is there a way to set the priority order of which account populates a form by default from the keychain?
2) When filling out credentials on iOS, an "autofill" button appears at the top of my keyboard, and I can begin typing in a field and it will show the autocomplete of the username that I am typing, but if I click autofill, it replaces it with the original credentials and not those of whatever I began typing in. If I click on the username it's autocompleting, it just clears the autocomplete. Is there some way to choose which username I'm autocompleting a form with?
Thanks to anyone who has any ideas about a solution to this, and if there isn't, and if anyone at Apple is listening, in an ideal world, it would be like setting the priority order of known wifi networks, where you can drag your first choice to the top of the list.

This sounds like the age old problem with keychain & Safari. I don't know of a way to solve it without using something like 1Password.
The iOS app has it's own built in browser, so it has more control over what gets autofilled. Safari on OS X has an 1Password extension that handles account selection & autofill etc.
Keychain is great in principle, but it quickly falls down when you need tight integration with many ID's & different use cases (work, home etc).
I'd suggest you submit feedback to Apple about your thoughts. I did so years ago about this issue & this is how far we have come (back to the point where me.com synced passwords) :^)
http://apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Other tools like lastpass or keypassx may also help if you want to truly segregate password storage, but that doesn't fix autofill, the way around that issue is to dedicate one browser for work.

Changing multiple keychain items to the same password

I work in a corporate environment that uses a Windows server with Active Directory to manage the company network. Macs are integrated to the network, but Open Directory is not being used.
The login for the Macs is the same as the network name and password. Whenever your password is changed on the network, you must update your login keychain to use that password too. The problem comes with other applications, such as Entourage, that use the same network password but store it in a separate keychain item. When the login keychain is updated to the new network password, the keychains for these applications are not and must be manually changed.
Is there any way to synchronize login passwords to keychain items? Is there a script capable of changing multiple keychains to the same password automatically? Is there third party software that is able to accomplish either task? A solution not mentioned?
Our company is currently using Snow Leopard but plans to migrate to Lion soon, so solutions for any platform are welcome.
Thanks to anyone that is able to provide information.
Regards,
JL

Hi Nishanth,
1) how to pass value one by one
in select options..we will be filtering the values in some table..example if s_ebeln is our select-options...then we will be doing a select..like...............
select fields from vbak into int_vbak where ebeln in s_ebeln
so if in the table int_vbak if field ebeln is there ..we will know which all ebeln is there..............
i.e,if range is 1 to 100 for s_ebeln and 1,2,99 are the only 3 ebeln present in table vbak as of now ...................
then in select query , we fetch ebeln into int_vbak as an additional field( if it is not a "select *") we will get all the 3 ebeln 1,2,99 into int_vbak.....so we can pass these fields one by one by looping at int_vbak and appending it to fresh internal table..........
declare an internal table with ebeln as the field..loop and do the append
*****putting values of ebeln into a new internal table
loop at int_vbak.
wa_ebeln = int_vbak-ebeln.
append wa_ebeln to int_ebeln.
endloop.
*******delete duplicate entries
sort int_ebeln.
delete adjacent duplicates from int_ebeln.
2) how to append and join the data in the v_postab
First..... declare another table same as v_postab say,v_postabfinal as example...........
after each "call function"...in the loop ...do the following...
loop ....
refresh v_postab[]. "clear before each fxn call
call function XXXX.
if v_postab[] is not initial.
append lines of v_postab to int_postabfinal.
endif.
endloop........
what this append statement does is that every time the internal table has some values..it adds these lines to v_postabfinal without deleting the old entries...so you will have all the values with respect to each value of select-options passed..
Hope i have made the idea clear with these examples
Pls check and revert
Regards
Byju

Keychain Items Deleted with Rest

I have created a keychain (separate from login keychain) and took the time to meticulously store all my internet & webform usernames and passwords. Several days later while browsing online, I did a "Reset Safari" and found that all those usernames and passwords in the keychain I created have vanished!
Anyone...
- Why did this happen?
- How I can retrieve my crital usernames and passwords?
- How I can avoid this happening again?
Thx/Peter
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thank you for your responses. I guess it is my mistaken assumption, based on reading keychain help files, that the keychain is a safe repository for vital information such as usernames and passwords. I can't find any info in keychain, Safari and/or Mac help files that say that keychain items are subject to erasing without warning.
To me, a very novice user, that is quite misleading and, now, very frustrating since I had only kept my multiple usernames and passwords in the keychain.
Peter
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

How to copy Configurator keychain items to user accounts

I'm managing a lab of iPads in an education environment. And have set up a "base" image for the iPads under an administrative account with Configurator. The Macbook is bound to the domain and I can authenticate with a number of users no problem, but if I go to try and manage the iPads, i get a "private/public key" error.
I've determined that the issue is with the Key items found under the keychain. If I copy the administrative keychain to the users profile and log in (forcing the login keychain update) it will work fine under the users account. but this is not something I want to do as it requires me to give out an administrative password. And if I delete the login keychain from the user template, the user generates new keys causing the error above.
So... does any one have any ideas how to copy keychain items from one user to the template user?

Move your itunes to library to a centralized folder. For instance directly on your hard drive. Then set your itunes library to that folder where all itunes media is kept, or only the items you wish to "share" between user accounts.

Automatically adjust the transfer of keychains item in Login - Local objects

Hello I need to automatically adjust the transfer of keychains item in Login <-> Local objects but as a Local object using a different structure (sqlite encoded) command security does not work.

Hi Steve
Many thanks for that. Could I ask that
this kind of thing goes in the release
readme also.
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Keychain items not syncing

I recently had to do a complete erase of my MacMini and start over (not from backup). Long story...
Anyway, since I've gotten back up, iCloud has not synced my Keychain items like Safari passwords, keyboard shortcuts and my credit cards.
Any suggestions?

Yeah - I did a lot of research on this - quite a few have the same problem, probably more don't realise they have the problem. Wish Apple would pay more attention sometimes and give direct answers here. Been using Apple all my working life (which is a very long time now!) and I know how to sort most things, fiddling with settings and so on. Can't find figure this one out. Must be a BUG. Used to Apple related stuff just working I suppose. Let's hope they're LISTENING!

Distribute keychain items?

as strange as the title to this post might seem, here's the problem and the intended approach;
we have an ftp server with several dozen users - all clients to our company.
each client only has access to their own ftp account and files.
within our company we need to have access to all files from all users.
instead of giving root access to all of our employees, we're trying to juggle several dozen logins and passwords ...
for ftp access we use cyberduck, which is great and fairly easy to distribute the bookmarks list (as it is only 1 xml file).
but cyberduck relies on keychain for password handling....
so i can distribute the bookmarks, but not the passwords associated with them.
is there a way to export and then re-import keychain items similarly to addressbook items ?
or should i be looking at a completely different solution?
if so, what?
thanks

thanks michael
so what i've done now is to move all the ftp related keys to a new keychain called "ftp passwords" and it does, as you said, create a new file by that name.
after moving all of the keys to this chain, i removed the keychain from my keychain access and tried importing them.
using file menu -> import keychain, it doesn't recognize the file and therefor is unwilling to import the keychain.
i can add it to the keychain list - which seems to be same as double clicking the file.
however, after that, the application - cyberduck in this case - refuses to use the keychain and tells me "no login credentials could be found in the keychain" ...
now i have two option;
1. make the ftp passwords my default keychain
2. copy manually every ftp password to the other keychain
in both cases, i'm better off handing the cyberduck bookmarks file to the users with a text file from which to - manually - copy-paste the passwords without having to mess around in keychain access ...

There are several login keychain items I'd like to get rid of. I've deleted them but they come back after several hours. How can I get rid of them for good

There are several login keychain items I'd like to get rid of. I've deleted them but they come back after several hours. How can I get rid of them for good.

Back up all data before proceeding.
Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the icon grid.
Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.
If the lock icon in the top left corner of the window shows that the keychain is locked, click to unlock it. You'll be prompted for the keychain password, which is the same as your login password, unless you've changed it.
Right-click or control-click the login entry in the list. From the menu that pops up, select
          Change Settings for Keychain "login"
In the sheet that opens, uncheck both boxes, if not already unchecked.
From the menu bar, select
          Keychain Access ▹ Preferences ▹ First Aid
If the box marked
          Keep login keychain unlocked
is not checked, check it.
Select
          Keychain Access ▹ Keychain First Aid
from the menu bar and repair the keychain. Quit Keychain Access.

Keychain Items Disappeared!?

I think this is the right place to post this, but if it isn't, please let me know.
About half of the items I had in my Keychain have disappeared, they were there a few days ago, and today they're gone - has anyone else had this problem?
Yesterday I cleaned out Safari cache and deleted cookies - it's the only thing different I can think of that I did - but doing this shouldn't affect Keychain, right?
I'm at a loss and hope someone has some insight.
Thanks.

Well - after several attempts (Backup has it's problems), I was able to restore my keychain items.
According to a tech guy at my local Apple store, keychain items that are associated with AutoFill may be the only ones affected when I do my Safari housecleaning, not so much the cookies but emptying the cache and resetting Safari.
Because not all the keychain items disappeared, I may do a controlled experiment (now that I know I can restore from Backup), just to see which ones where affected.

Is it safe to rename keychain items?

I am trying to review my keychain items and delete incorrect or obsolete items. I have over 20 that have the same name but different details. Of that 20, only 5 are correct and current. I'd like to rename them so they reflect the email account rather than the server name. Is that safe?

Yes, you can name them whatever you want.

System Preferences/iCloud vaporized my Keychain items

I use a 2012 Mac Pro now running Mavericks. I had about 50 password items in my Keychain.
Recently, the Internet Accounts pane of System Preferences presented me with a dialog box that put me into a Catch-22 dilemma. It said I can either keep my Keychain items on iCloud (I don't remember putting them there in the first place) or lose them all if I choose to keep them on only my local desktop computer.
Now all my Keychain password items are gone.
Why on earth would choosing to remove one's private data from iCloud come with the penalty of having them erased from one's local desktop computer?
Why is Apple so pushy (dictatorial?) about storing things on iCloud? I don't want my private data stored remotely. Why has it become so difficult to keep private data sequestered (comparatively) safely away on one's own desktop computer?
Please advise.

Wow, it was right in front of my nose. That was the easiest!
thanks

Safari keychain items

I updated to Safari 4.1.1 a couple of weeks ago. When I open Safari a pop-up appears with the following:
Confirm Application Change
Safari has been updated. Do you want to allow the new version to access the same keychain items (such as passwords) as the previous version? This change is permanent and affects all keychain items used by Safari.
I click 'Change All,' and then I can't use Safari for a couple of minutes, and all the other applications open at the time become really slow. The pop-up box appears every time I open Safari, even if I've already opened it earlier in the day and clicked 'Change All.' The pop-up box also appears when I visit a website, such as gmail, where I have information saved. So although I have already clicked 'Change All' I have to click it again and wait another couple of minutes before I can continue using Safari. It's really frustrating. Does anyone know what I can do?

HI and welcome to Apple Discussions...
Quit Safari if it's open.
Open Keychain Access (Applications/Utilities). From the Keychain Access menu bar click: Keychain Access/Keychain FirstAid. You may be prompted for your admin password. Select the Verify button and click Start. If there are any problems, Keychain Access will report them.
If Keychain Access reports, "no problems found" ... select Passwords under Category on the left then delete the "Safari Forms Autofill" keychain.
Relaunch Safari. Next time it asks for authorization, click "Always Allow".
Note. You may also need to delete the Google/Gmail keychain also.
If you still have problems, open a Finder window. Select your Home Folder in the Sidebar on the left. Then open the Library folder then the Preferences folder.
Move the com.apple.keychainaccess.plist file to the Trash.
Relaunch Safari.
Carolyn

Keychain Items Missing for Mail Accounts

Mac Mail keeps randomly prompting me for passwords for certain mail accounts. I keep hitting "OK" (without changing the pre-populated password) and eventually the account comes online.
I have noticed the the problem accounts do not have any corresponding keychain item for them. I have tried deleting accounts and then setting them back up, but no new Keychain item is created (older accounts have corresponding keychain items). The problem accounts are all POP accounts.
I have tried Keychain First Aid numerous times. No problems are identified.

Well what can tell you about Mail and Entourage,... Mail seems to be better integrated with OS X, and other Mac programs and since it is included with OS X - It Is Free!
To me Entourage has more the feel of MS Outlook so if you were a Win.. user you would most likely prefer it more. Entourage does have some sync services, ie: contact, iCal events, and notes with .mac, so I guess .me would also work, I don't use .mac/.me so someone else would have to fill you in there... this is my .02 worth.

Mysterious keychain item behavior

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