Purpose of Keychain?

What is the purpose of Keychain in Tiger? Is this intended to be a program to securely store passwords? If so, is it just for passwords that programs in mac os need, or can other passwords such as, credit card #'s and phone numbers be entered in it?

Hi Mark P1
Apple's About Keychains says:
You can use a keychain to keep track of passwords for applications, servers, and websites; cryptographic keys and X509 certificates; or even sensitive information unrelated to your computer, such as credit card numbers or personal identification numbers (PINs) for bank accounts.
You can read more about using keychains in Finder > help > keychains.
regards roam

Similar Messages

Keychain is killing me!

I had an increasingly recurring request from keychain to type in a password every time I opened safari. I found keychain via spotlight and deleted the keychain that seemed to be causing the problem. I got frustrated and didn't really know what I was doing, I was just hoping that password prompt would go away. No I cannot access my mobileme via iPhoto (to upload photos onto mobile me). To be honest, I'm not real clear on the purpose of keychain anyway and I'm not really concerned with security breaches, at least for now. I just want to be able to work with mobile me and iPhoto and not have issues with keychain. Any ideas?

Tanja Turtsanyi wrote:
I have a new Macbook Pro with Yosemite.
Apple>About This Mac>More Info>Service
Please read the warranty paperwork that came w/your computer.
You have 14 days to return the computer w/no questions asked.
You have 90 days of FREE phone tech support on top of your standard 1 year warranty unless you also purchased AppleCare which gives you an additional 2 years of coverage plus FREE phone support.
Strongly suggest that you take FULL advantage of the above before it runs out. Let Apple deal w/the problems.
Mac OS X (10.4)
Conflicting info: Please update/correct your profile so that you can receive the correct troubleshooting suggestions. This will assist the users in trying to help you. Thank you.

Keychain and web site passwords

Can someone explain how to use Keychain to store web site passwords? I've searched on the forums, read the help, and asked at the Apple Store. Or am I mistaken as to the purpose of Keychain? Is it only to store email access passwords? The Apple Store employee told me that when I login to a site and Safari asks me if I want it to save the password info, I just need to answer yes. But it seems to me that anyone can access the Safari passwords. Or am I confused? Do the Safari passwords automatically get encrypted into Keychain?
When using Windows I use Roboform to securely store passwords. When I choose a login account, Roboform automatically navigates to the site and enters my password information. I would like the same ease of use on my Mac. I thought Keychain might be the way to do it.
Can someone clarify things for me? Or perhaps suggest a Roboform equivalent? Thank you.

Personally, I just have one keychain. Its contents are stored here:
"/Users/francine/Library/Keychains/login.keychain"
When I go to a web site that requires me to create an account, with a login and a password, I do so. When I log in Safari asks if I want to allow it remember the password. I say Yes. From then on when I go to the log in page of that web site Safari automatically fills in the log in information, so I just have to click the button to log in. Some sites have an option you can check that makes it completely automatic--you go there and you are logged. In Safari's Preferences you have to go the AutoFill section and check the box to have it autofill "User names and passwords" for it to fill the forms in, and for the fully automatic you have to have "Accept cookes" enabled in Security.
If I open my login.keychain I can see all the items it is storing--there are a couple of dozen, including some ftp passwords, Airpost passwords, application passwords, iTunes, and the 20+ web site passwords.
Even if you leave yourself logged in to your account no one can read your passwords--unless they know your admin password. They could, of course, go to your password protected sites and automatically login. But they wouldn't learn your passwords.
Once in a blue moon Safari or the keychain has a memory failure and I'll be asked if the application can have access to the keychain. I click the button for "Always Allow" and I'm back in business.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Sync ~/Library through the cloud?

As I was reinstalling my MacBook Air from scratch (too many migration assisted installs left me finding software still running that i thought i had removed 5 years ago!), I realised I was downloading almost everything from 'the cloud' and wondered how close we had gotten to being able to have 2 machines that are completely in sync.
I currently carry a MacBook Air to and from the office every day. Not complaining about the weight, but not needing to bring it means I can ditch my bag altogether and achieve the long-desired bag-less commute! For me to not need to bring the computer to and from work every day, I'd need to have the same installs on both machines, and I'd want them to be as similar to each other as possible.
That's why.
So ... thinking that through, a lot of data syncs through their existing servers such as iCloud, email, Evernote, etc. and me already syncing most of my home directory through the cloud, I figured all there was left would be a review of the ~/Library folder to see what would require syncing to get two very similar if not exact machines on both ends.
Accounts --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
Address Book Plug-Ins --- sync: plugins, update frequency seems low
Application Scripts --- sync: update frequency expected to be low
Application Support --- sync: may be some files with very frequent updates though, should check
Assistants --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Audio --- sync: unknown purpose
Autosave Information --- sync: purpose seems obvious, not sure what the update frequency is like as it's empty right now
Caches --- no sync: would probably not want to sync this
Calendars --- no sync: should be done through iCloud
ColorPickers --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Colors --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Compositions --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Containers --- no sync: not sure how this works, would probably not want to sync this
Cookies --- sync: would probably want to sync this
Dictionaries --- sync: would probably want to sync this
Facebook --- no sync: should be done through Facebook
Favorites --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
FontCollections --- sync: would probably want to sync this
Fonts --- sync: would probably want to sync this, although empty right now
Fonts Disabled --- sync: would probably want to sync this, although empty right now
Group Containers --- no sync: not sure how this works, would probably not want to sync this
IdentityServices --- no sync: security concerns and unknown purpose
Input Methods --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Internet Plug-Ins --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Keyboard Layouts --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Keychains --- no sync: expect iCloud will be doing this
Logs --- no sync: no need to have this synced
Mail --- no sync: should be done through mail servers
Messages --- no sync: should be done through iCloud servers
Mobile Documents --- no sync: should already be done through iCloud servers
PreferencePanes --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Preferences --- sync: sync: may be some files with very frequent updates though, should check
Printers --- no sync: no need to have this synced
PubSub --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
Receipts --- no sync: no need to have this synced
Safari --- no sync: no need to have this synced
Saved Application State --- no idea about this one, probably sees high update frequency but cross device state resume would be awesome!
Saved Searches --- sync: update frequency seems low
Screen Savers --- sync: update frequency seems low
Scripts --- no sync: folder seems depricated in more recent versions, ./Application Scripts is used instead
Services --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Sounds --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
Spelling --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
Sync Services --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
SyncedPreferences --- no sync: should already be done through iCloud servers
Twitter --- no sync: should already be done through Twitter servers
Voices --- sync: unknown purpose, empty
WebKit --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
iMovie --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
iTunes --- sync: unknown purpose, update frequency seems low
Would be curious about any thoughts any of the more nerdier among you would have on the above!

Sugarsync – Sync Folders Between Computers

My girlfriends ex left this Mac computer behind on PURPOSE! Can her ex still operate this computer? I don't know the default keychain password or how to find it

Ok...so I am REALLY new to this whole Mac thing and my girlfriend knows less than I do about computers and phones, etc. but I have been using her Mac computer and thought how cool it was until I synced my iphone to it and all of her ex's apps went on my phone so then I tried to find out how to get her ex's name and info off the computer and realized that just because the log in name is my girlfriends name...the computers name and all HIDDEN passwords and HIDDEN dates of when things have been changed.
Can this person have access to anything I have done on that computer?
How do I find the default keychain login?
How can I assure she cannot get any files or ANYTHING off this computer?
My girlfriend doesn't really want to lose her files like photos and iTunes but I am assuming since my girlfriend wasn't really ever the one "truly" logging in....
I don't know.
Need help for dummies here!

They were together living in this house for 7 years. My girlfriend purchases the Mac. Her girlfriend sets up the Mac. They mutually break up and her girlfriend says "I put the computer in YOUR name" so don't worry... Go ahead and use it. When I say she left it behind on purpose what I mean is the computer is in the ex's name bc she PUT it in her name ...like all the cloud stuff. And sub accounts are in my gf's name...like ....user login. But my gfs not really the administrator of this computer and her ex has 3 macs of her own that I (THINK) are attached to this "system".
I am SO new at this that I JUST created an account on this website to try to get help. I own a business and have been using this computer not knowing that my girlfriend isn't the one who set her own computer up. I know nothing about a Mac. I don't know if someone who has another Mac on the system can transfer files? I have been logging onto the computer under my gf's user name and password just to access what in my mind is known as the regular Internet. My gmail...my business email login...passwords...bank account, ect.
I just want to ensure she can't access MY stuff. I don't care about HER stuff!
I'm not a hacker! ****....I didn't even know how to open up a new tab on the freaking thing until just a few months ago! Lol

Can keychain be used as a general purpose password vault?

Can non-website password and credentials be added to Keychain? I currently use Keeper and am increasingly dissatisfied with it. I can't find a simple UI for Keychain that would allow adding passwords to the database. Is there one?

Hello ambios,
Indeed, items can be added manually to your keychain via the Keychain Access Utility. The help page linked below details how to do so.
Keychain Access Help - Add a password to a keychain
https://help.apple.com/keychainaccess/mac/10.10/index.html?localePath=en.lproj#/ kyca1120
Cheers,
Allen

Time Machine, Time Capsule, Keychain! I am totally lost!

Hi,
I desperately need some help here! I had my Time Machine setup correctly for a while and have been doing manual backups to Time Capsule without any issues until recently, my backup failed!
The first error I get from Time Machine is:
===
Time Machine Error
The network backup volume could not be mounted because there was a problem with the network username or password.
Open system preferences and choose time machine then re-select the Time Machine backup destination to enter the correct username and password.
===
I went to the preferences and selected change disk and re-selected my TC. I was prompted for a password and I entered the correct one. Now I get another error:
===
Keychain error -25299 occurred while created a system keycahin entry for the username "*" and URL "afp://**@***.local/**"
You can try using the keychain Access Utility to edit or repair your system keychain.
===
After searching the forums, here is what I did so far without any different outcome:
1- Did keychain first aid scan and repair (tested - same errors)
2- double checked all password files related to TC in system and login (tested - same errors)
3- Deleted all password entries related to TC & Network drive from Key Chain to recreate them automatically again (tested - same errors)
4- Reconfigured Airport and TC and changed device pass to disk pass (tested - same errors)
I should also mention that the TC mounts as a disk through the finder without any problems. Only when it is mounted in the finder TM is able to pick it up and display the blue disk icon, but still same errors and backup fails.
What do I do now?
Will I loose all my previous TM data?
Can I get TM to work again and continue where the last TM backup left off? Or do I need to backup my machine completely again?
It doesn't make any sense that an error like this could happen so easily! It kills the purpose of TM!
Any help would be appreciated ...

Thanks Bob & tomvs for your quick replies. I tried both solutions but no change. I also tried changing the TC name so new password items will be created in the keychain, no change.
If I dont get any new suggestions or solutions, I might as well try resetting my keychain! but I dont know if I will lose my passwords and security notes if I do! But I think it leaves a copy of it somewhere, right?
by the way, after I changed the TC name, all password entries were successfully created in KC, or thats at least what it seams to me.
any ideas?

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.

Keychain Backup Cannot Be Restored

Hi all,
I've been using my MacBook Pro 15" since purchasing it in November, and of the various cool software features of OS X that compelled me to switch, one of them - Keychain - has certainly been a point of frustration.
I have yet to successfully restore a keychain backup to a useable state. I've followed Apple's instructions for backing up important files to the letter - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301239 - and yet my Keychain backups fail to work; though the entries show up in Keychain Access, my user name and password is never entered, though this information exists in - and therefore should be provided by my Keychain.
I've tried backing up and restoring without a reinstall of OS X, and I've tried backing up my Keychain, reinstalling OS X and then restoring my Keychain files (as per Apple's instructions), and I never seem to have any luck. Yes - the information is still there, and I'm able to use Keychain Access to look up the information and re-save it back to my Keychain (after which the newly saved Keychain items work!), but this seems to defeat half the purpose of backing up.
I could almost just save all of my login names and passwords in a Word or Excel file and store it in an encrypted disc image. Sure - it wouldn't be nearly as efficient, but if I have to manually recreate all of my Keychain items whenever I have to restore a backup, what's the point of Keychain?
Also odd is that I can save several website user names and passwords to my Keychain, and they'll work fine, listed as "Internet password"s in Keychain access. If I back up my Keychain, reinstall (clean - format and isntall) OS X and restore my backed up Keychain, in addition to my login and passwords no longer working in either Safari or Camino, all entries that used to be "Internet password"s in Keychain Access are now listed as "Web form..." something or other (though all other information seems to be the same (user and pass and URL info saved correctly).
Has anyone had this problem with Keychain? I've read an awful lot of negative stuff regarding the Keychain feature of OS X since I made the switch and startd having my own problems with it. Just wondering if anyone else out there shares in my specific frutstration.
I would love to just be able to back up my Keychain when I have to and know that if I ever need to restore it - with or without having performed a clean OS X reinstallation - that I can do so and that the back up will just pick up where I left off and that they'll just continue to work, transparently, without any tedious manual user intervention.
PS - I've tried using Keychain First Aid, I've tried deleting my keychain preferences file, I've tried reparing permissions, and on, and on, and on....none of these things seem to correct the problem.
It should also be known that I've tried backing up and restoring with multiple versions of 10.4.x - always within the same version - never across versions. Doesn't seem to make a difference.
15" MacBook Pro, 1GB, 120GB, ATI X1600 128MB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi,
log shipping from SQL server 2005 to 2008 is not straight forward, you can not keep secondary database in standby mode alternative approach would be to have secondary database in norecovery mode.
But this is one way logship, If you need to fail over to the standby server, you now have to swap the log shipping roles, but you can't then log ship back from the 2008 server to the 2005 server.
refer below link for steps, in RESTORE TRANSACTION LOG TAB you need to select
NO RECOVERY MODE.
Step By Step SQL Server Log Shipping
Please mark solved if I've answered your question, vote for it as helpful to help other users find a solution quicker
Praveen Dsa | MCITP - Database Administrator 2008 |
My Blog | My Page

How do I find out my keychain password? Need more info fast about this

My computer started to get really slow, so I looked what I could do to make it faster again. After searching I found that the safari content was high and that I should delete it to make it less laggy and slow. Long story short I ended up deleting my saved passwords on safari...Looking into more info, I found out that I needed to get to Keychain Access. I got to Keychain access, found all the passwords.
My question..
•How do I get them out of Keychain?
•If I end up needing my password for Keychain, how do I find that out? I have the like start up CD, but I dont remember ever making a password.
•And if I do retreive my Keychain Password some how, will that delete everything stored in Keychain? I would have just tried it, but its a lot of passwords I CAN NOT lose...
Please help :/
Thanks!

Never mind the screenshot.
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads 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.
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. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you boot, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot 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 boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login 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, reboot as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Keychain directory disappears

I've recently begun to have keychain issues. When I open Keychain Access, the only items in the keychain list are System and System Roots. When I do verification in Keychain First Aid, I get the following message:
Verification started
Checking keychain configuration for mylogin (user ID=501)
Home directory is /Users/mylogin
Checked login keychain
Error: login keychain not found
Unable to get info for ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain, reason: The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory
Checked default keychain
Problems were found; you should choose the Repair option to fix them
Verification failed
Then when I do repair, I get this:
Repair started
Checking keychain configuration for mylogin (user ID=501)
Home directory is /Users/mylogin
Checked login keychain
Error: login keychain not found
Created a new empty “login” keychain.
Checked default keychain
Checked contents of ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain
Problems successfully repaired
Repair completed
I'm then able to add a password to my keychain, but within a few minutes, my entire ~/Library/Keychains/ directory disappears. I'm at a complete loss as to how to fix this, and extensive Google searching has yielded no similar cases. Any suggestions?

Hi,
I've been experiencing exactly the same problem for almost 2 months now. Have you figured how to solve it yet? It's really hassle to keep on entering your password everytime. Basically defeats the purpose of having a keychain.
Thanks in advance

Keychain passwords not recognised

Hi,
We have over a hundred 10.5 clients bound to open directory and active directory, OD for MCX management, AD for authentication.
When using various apps, particularly safari, a dialogue pops up asking for the keychain password, which would normally be the user's password unless manually changed?
However this does not work, so does anyone know if there is an issue using active directory passwords with the keychain?
It makes autofill etc unusable and confusing when users wonder why their passwords have not saved...
Thanks in advance, Thomas.

tw002 wrote:
I believe the login keychain is created when a new user account is created, not from a template, using the password chosen for the account. This is the case when creating a normal local account, but we are in a windows based environment, and before the inclusion of macs on the network, users already had network home folders. When the user first logged into a mac (which are using network home folders) os x created the 'system' folders in the home directory (documents, library, music etc). This is the point where a keychain is created, but I am unsure with what password.
Yes, it is not normally part of the template. But if it's there, it will be used.
I could reset the keychain by setting a login script to delete it, but when a user changes the AD password these changes are not mirrored to the login keychain. So the script would be required to be used whenever the password changes, the keychain must be reset, causing data to be lost.
No need to delete the keychain for a password change, just change the password for the login keychain. As long as they know their old password, this should work. You could also look into deploying "Keychain Minder" from afp548.com which is specifically for this purpose. It runs as a login item and will notify the user if the account password and keychain password don't match.

Keychain synch problem after upgrade to Leopard

I have two Mac, an iMac and a MacBook. I use the synch through .Mac and my main keychain is on the iMac which has the most extensive password lists. The MacBook has never synched through .Mac and has a shorter, less valuable keychain. I just upgraded both to Leopard and when I synched the smaller, less extensive keychain was put on my iMac and I lost almost all my most important items. Is there a way to get my "old keychain" back onto both, or at least my iMac?
Thanks,
Steve Ratcliffe

{quote}
I store pictures referenced to their original location, and not in the Ap library itself.
{quote}
To me it sounds like your pictures are on the same drive than the Aperture library, that's the "why?" in my remark.
{quote}
I switched off Time Machine (which I don't need anyway) and this helped.
{quote}
Interesting.
Sounds like you stumbled into the Time Machine/Aperture issue.
{quote}
I did a clean OS X install prior to the problem (Leopard with new system folder, "archive & install").
{quote}
An "archive & install" is just that and not a clean install.
Clean install means erasing/reformatting the startup drive from the install DVD and re-install everything from scratch (although Migration Assistant could help with accounts and such).
{quote}
I would love to avoid to delete and reinstall Aperture as I have hundreds of projects and folders in there. Or is there a way to conserve that when reinstalling?
{quote}
Well, of course, that's the whole purpose of a backup
chris

KeyChain and Password Security

Could someone please explain to me the answer to this conundrum? If I secure a file with a password, I am asked whether I want to add it to my KeyChain. If I do so, the file can be opened in the ordinary way by double-clicking on it. So what is the point of the password?
A related question is that I am also asked (and even recommended) to provide a password hint. What is the purpose of that?
Thank you, Mac experts, in anticipation of an elucidation of these mysteries.

You are right. I should be the only who has access to the passwords. But I am not. I am the only person in my house who uses my computer, so I do not log out when I shut it down. The consequence is that if a burglar were to break in, or a dinner-guest were to bring along a friend with criminal tendencies, that person would only have to start my computer up and s/he would have access to my keychain.
Even if I were always to log out when shutting down, logging back in only requires a single password, which may or may not be easily guessed.
It is quite clear that, as dwbrecovery said earlier in this string, I should not add the passwords of password-protected confidential documents to my keychain, and I have removed the one for the document I was concerned about from my keychain.

Safari keeps asking for Keychain Access

Everytime I use Safari after some time it asks for Keychain access. I disabled the autofill forms feature already, but it does not stop asking. Does anybody know how to keep Safari from doing this without disabling the password protection of my keychain?
Honestly said, this erraneous behaviour keeps me from using Safari as Firefox does not make such strange attempts to use Keychain.

I didn't think before reading this discussion to be related, but now I tend to believe it may be. I've recently started using Papers.app and to get access to some publications under institutional subscription I have to configure both Papers.app and Safari to be authenticated connecting to Internet through my institution's proxy. The problem is that now the keychain access manager keeps asking authorization every now and then what really has become a heavy nuisance, not only occurring while a keep Safari open, but also while using any other application which try to connect to the Internet such as iTunes or Fission.app. Before I started using Papers.app I had devoted one browser to download articles nder subscription in order to limit such nuisance to the time I was browsing them. However, using Papers.app I've been forced to configure Safari to that purposes, reproducing the annoying effects every time I open any application which are connecting to the Internet. I posted a message in the Papers.app but nobody has replied so far. I thought of changing the browser used by Papers.app would help, unfortunately, I couldn't find any way to get so. Now that it seems there is a way to prevent the system from asking for keychain access, it may fix the problem. This is the message I posted in Papers' Support Forum. I'd really appreciate any help or suggestion:
Can Papers.app use a different browser other than Safari to get authentication from my institution's proxy?
I am at the University of Barcelona (UB), Spain, we also have an automatic proxy-cache configuration URL (like johnraekwon at the U of Manchester)
http://www.bib.ub.edu/pac/proxy.pac
Every time I open the browser I've configured to connect through your University proxy, I get a drop down menu to authenticate with and then I proceed to the URL I head to, only now with UB credentials. More or less like johnraekwon has to do.
Unfortunately this aunthentication doesn't last for long, you are often requested to authenticate again and again. This nuisance made me decide to devote a browser different from the default browser to download articles, and it's being working rather satifactorily while I only used that browser to download papers from the Internet.
Now that I tried configuring Papers.app to download those articles which requiring subscription I've found that it only works as long as Safari is configured in the same way, that is, it has to authenticated by the proxy to get access to the Internet. I wouldn't mind using Safari exclusively to browse papers. The problem is that most other applications are also using Safari as default browser and it doesn't seem it can be changed, among them iTunes, which I usually open to download podcasts. Since I've configured Safari to get access through my institution's proxy, it keeps asking me to authenticate, and halting every task in process by doing so.
For most purposes I don't need to get authorized access, so I wish my default browser not being configured in such a painful manner.
I'd like to know whether I can change some of Papers.app options to replace Safari as default browser by, I say, Firefox, therefore limiting those repetitive authentications to just the time I'm browsing papers. It let Safari idle to be configured as a default browser to smoothly work for other purposes such as iTunes.
Thanks for the interest. Any idea will be welcomed.

Purpose of Keychain?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for