System keychain items not revealing password

Hello,
I cannot reveal/delete passwords in system keychain anymore. I installed Yosemite and I changed the username&homefolder for my admin account. When I try to access items, ticking on the Show Password box, it remains grayed out for a few seconds, then asking me for my admin username&password, and when I enter it the box is still not checked and it doesn't show anything.
I tried the Keychain First Aid, resetting login keychain, but it doesn't change anything.
I appreciate your help!

Sorry you have not gotten a response for this problem. I found your post when searching for an answer to my problem, which turns out to be (it would appear) the same one you're experiencing.
Password works great for my login, "invalid" for my "system" keychain. I can unlock my "system," but it will not let me use the same password to view the network password that is stored in "system."
Keychain First Aid reports no problems.
I'd love to delete the whole mess- a previous problem has resulted in me having two "system" and two "login" keychains- I spent hours on the phone with AppleCare several years ago trying to clear that up, but I have too many passwords stored in here to delete them all.
I have the same number of items in both "system" keychains, and the same number in both "login" keychains. When I delete an item form one "login," both report having one less item. When I drag an item from another keychain to the "login" at the top of the list, it is the other one that is highlighted and accepts the item, but both then show the increased number of items.
I don't know if this is related to the problem, or if it is just another complication to it, or if it has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Hopefully someone has an answer that will make both Mr Badger and me happy.
Thanks. Joel.
17 Al 1.67 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Hi Shirley, sounds like a deeper problem, we should start ewith this for safety...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
Then See if this helps...
Mac OS X 10.4 Help, I forgot a password in my Keychain
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1960.html
Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X...
If Keychain First Aid finds an issue that it cannot repair, or if you do not know your keychain password, you may need to reset your keychain.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544

Keychain will NOT accept password for email

My wife had a problem w/ her email program, Entourage. After finally getting things squared away, noy she has to enter her password everytime. Keychain won't accept it. I check the box "save password" but it doesn't. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Jack
iMac, OS 10.5.8, etc

Hi Jack,
Open Keychain Access in Utilities, use Keychain First Aid under the Keychain Menu item, then either check the Password under that item, change it, or delete it and start over.
Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X...
If Keychain First Aid finds an issue that it cannot repair, or if you do not know your keychain password, you may need to reset your keychain.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544

System keychain password not recognised

I am trying to view some wireless network passwords via Keychain Access. I can access and view my user Keychain but when trying to view items listed under the System Keychain I am asked for a password, which when entered comes up an invalid. I can lock and unlock the System Keychain, but this password does not work when trying to unlock items within it.
I am the only user on my computer and I have only one password...the one I use for my user account (which has admin status).
I did have a problem a few months ago when I had to recreate my user account. I created another admin level user using a new name and then physically transfered all of the folders from the old user across to the new user. I then changed all of the access priveleges for the stuff I transfered. I can't understand how this could be effecting the current problem because both the old and new user accounts shared the same password.
Having upgraded my computers over the years I have had to migrate a number of times, however, I have always used the same password.
Why should the System Keychain have a different password to the admin level user on a computer with one user?
Any thoughts.
Kind regards

Sorry you have not gotten a response for this problem. I found your post when searching for an answer to my problem, which turns out to be (it would appear) the same one you're experiencing.
Password works great for my login, "invalid" for my "system" keychain. I can unlock my "system," but it will not let me use the same password to view the network password that is stored in "system."
Keychain First Aid reports no problems.
I'd love to delete the whole mess- a previous problem has resulted in me having two "system" and two "login" keychains- I spent hours on the phone with AppleCare several years ago trying to clear that up, but I have too many passwords stored in here to delete them all.
I have the same number of items in both "system" keychains, and the same number in both "login" keychains. When I delete an item form one "login," both report having one less item. When I drag an item from another keychain to the "login" at the top of the list, it is the other one that is highlighted and accepts the item, but both then show the increased number of items.
I don't know if this is related to the problem, or if it is just another complication to it, or if it has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Hopefully someone has an answer that will make both Mr Badger and me happy.
Thanks. Joel.
17 Al 1.67 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

OS X keeps asking for System keychain password in order to do 802.1X authentication

In order to join a corporate WLAN that uses WPA2 with 802.1X / EAP-TLS, I added the company's root certificate to the System keychain and set the trust level to always trust this certificate. I then added the client certificate that was issued for my computer. I set the trust level to always trust this certificate as well. Finally, I added the WLAN network, choosing Security: WPA2 Enterprise, Mode: EAP-TLS, Identity: the newly added client certificate, and username: the domain name of my computer. This setup works - I can connect to the WLAN network.
My problem is that the system always asks me for the System keychain password before the WLAN connection can be established. This seems to be during the 802.1X authentication phase. What do I need to change so that this is not required? Or how can I at least find out which System keychain item it is that cannot be accessed without the password?
Im using a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.10.1, but I also had the problem back on 10.9.
If I remember correctly it started whenI received a new client certificate in the summer. But I am not able to say what I might have done differently with the old certificate so that the password was not required back then.

i'm having the same problem at home. i had problems with my keychain before, because i deleted the system keychain. i recently learned how to replace it, which worked. however, my computer is not remembering the password to my home wireless connection. even when i put the computer to sleep and wake it, it becomes disconnected and never automatically re-connects. i have to again select my network and then re-enter the password, every time. how do i fix this ?
+

System.keychain rejects password

Status:
....system.keychain (in Library/keychains).
....user.keychain (in user/Library/keychains).
....a previous.keychain (my default, in user/Library/keychains).
....login.keychain (in user/Library/keychains, but not in Keychain Access list).
Problem:
Recently, the system.keychain stopped recognizing my password. I can unlock it from within Keychain Access, delete a network password item, but can't show password. Keychain first aid doesn't see or repair the problem. Neither does repair permissions in Disk Utility. The system.keychain contains almost nothing, so I don't need to retrieve passwords, etc. User keychains work fine and have all my valued content.
How can I reset, replace, repair the system.keychain while leaving user keychains intact? Could this be done by logging in as root user? What is the relationship between system and root with respect to keychain? Netinfo Manager? Thanks, -Henrik

Okay baltwo:
I had an empty 5GB partition set aside. I installed Tiger 10.4 , setting up the same user and password as that which was problematic, updated to OS 10.4.10, replaced the system.keychain with the new one....the problem persists. (I'm leaving out the re-boots, Keychain First Aid, permissions repair...) Then, I even tried other suggestions that I found on the net, like deleting the system keychain folder. No go.
So, I did a clean erase and install again on this 5GB partition and skipped the network setup (joining my network using my WEP key was about the only thing I did with this new, clean system). This is crazy, but this virgin OS 10.4, out of the box DVD, no updates, on its own partition has the same problem! When system.keychain requires my password, it is rejected. When authentication is requested by other processes user.keychain, login.keychain, system.keychain.access, system.keychain.modify, system.preferences, etc. there is no problem: the password is accepted. How can this be??
Henrik
FYI: In May when my 20GB factory HD died (also an Hitachi TravelStar), I installed a new 60GB Hitachi TravelStar 5K120, 5400 rpm HD. I didn't think it was relevant to mention. I have had no hardware or software problems, other than this thread, and I've done regular maintenance and optimization with TechTool Pro 4.5.

Don't understand why Keychain does not accept my password?

If I launch Keychain and then double click on an item in the Login Keychain I then get a new window where I can select 'Show Password'. This will cause a another window to open asking me for my Password. So I enter my normal Login password and the password for that item is shown. Which is as I expect.
If I now select the System Keychain and select an item and choose 'Show Password' and enter my Login password as before it is not accepted?
I can unlock the System keychain with my Login password but I can't gain access to the two items in my system keychain using my Login password?
What am I doing wrong or is it expecting another password which I know nothing of?
How can I reset this such it accepts my Login password, I presume it will mean I lose those two items in my system keychain and will have to start again.
Phil
15 PB 1.25G 1.5Gb / iMac Rev B Mac OS X (10.4.1) 60 Gig iPod 4G, Lacie d2 250Gb, Lacie DL DVD.

See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=258444

System keychain problem (2 system keychains)

This issue is not new but I have seen no resolution.
I have a wifi with a password. I can use the wifi but can't remember the security password that I created for it. I went to Keychain Access to see it, and found the wifi listed in the "System" keychain. There are two "System" keychains, with identical contents, which seems odd. When I open the wifi item in the "System" keychain and click on "show password" it asks me for the "keychain password" which it then does not accept. The "keychain password" (or what I set up as the "keychain password") works on the "login" keychain and also an auxiliary keychain I created to store other passwords--there is no problem in revealing the information for these logins/passwords, using my usual passwords--the only problem is on the "System" keychain. My login password for my account is different from my keychain password, but this has not previously caused a problem. How can I get to this wifi password? What is going on with the System keychain, which seems to have created for itself a new, unknown password? Thanks.

OK, figured it out. My wife and I have had the same passwords since we turned on the computer, BUT, I had originally been the admin. A while back, for security, we decided to create a separate account for the admin, (with a new password, obviously), and remove admin privileges for my account.
So, just now, I logged into the admin account and opened keychain access, and there was the wifi device right on the top of the list, no "system" keychain present. I clicked on the "show password" box on the wifi item and the password was revealed. No "keychain password" or any other password requested. Very odd, and still no idea why the "system" keychain is so crazy or why there are two of them, but I'll take it. Thanks for your responses and ideas.

'system' keychain (repost)

I had posted this some months back without resolution -- it's so old, it won't let me bump it.
Anyway, here is the original post:
Airport passwords for protected wifi networks are kept in the "system" keychain. If I click on that keychain, then click the lock, it asks for my password. I enter it and it unlocks the keychain. If I then click the airport I can't remember the password for, click the "show password" checkbox, it wants a password again. However, my system password is reporting back "not correct".
Also, I have run the keychain repair utility. It reported that there are no problems with the keychain.
I've played around with the unix passwd command without the ability to change the 'system' user's password (something actually reported that this user does not exist).
Now, I have numerous wifi networks I can't log into until I contact the system admin and re-acquire the password. What to do?

Not my work at all but:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3574375&#3574375
The quote is from Guylaine D'Amours himself quoting JR whose origonal I can't now find.
"Here is the answer Jim R gave:
Nobody owns the system keychain really, not even root. The System keychain is a shared keychain the system uses the store items available for all user accounts on the computer. If it were owned by root and had the root password, then other accounts would need the root password in order to use it. The fact that it doesn't allow you to view stored passwords is a security measure. This way, users can use system-wide resources that have been set up without actually knowing the passwords, not even other admins.
For instance, you have a user account and are able to use certain resources with THAT computer, but you wouldn't be able to give a friend the passwords for those same resources.
If there is a bug, it would be that Keychain Access actually allows one to try to enter a password for the System keychain when there isn't one.

System Keychain Vulnerability

I have my login keychain secured by a separate password. However, the System Keychain contains the password to my network and time capsule and is not secured by a separate password. I only need to open Keychain Access, unlock the System Keychain, and enter my login password and I have access to the items.
I thought the idea behind the System Keychain was to store passwords needed for the system independent of the user and that these passwords would be secured by a system password known only to the OS. The fact that I can use my login password to access these keychain items makes the second password for my login keychain irrelevant for my network and time capsule.
Am I missing something..?

Someone takes my Mac and is able to guess or otherwise break my login password. I am still protected for my login keychain by a second, stronger password.
As I said before, even if your login keychain uses exactly the same password as your login password, resetting the login password will not help an attacker break into that keychain. The attacker would have to guess your login password to get access to that keychain. Of course, if you've chosen such a poor password that someone could guess it, you can hardly call that a system vulnerability!
however, being mac-savvy, the thief opens keychain access and selects my *System* keychain and unlocks it. It asks for a password and the thief enters my login password.
Again, this relies on the thief knowing your login password. However, I'm not sure what the effects of resetting the login password would be on the System keychain. I would think that the same thing would apply and you'd lose access to those passwords. But since this keychain has a different purpose than the others, maybe not. The only way to know for sure would be to test it.
the System Keychain only contains passwords which are needed across all users, but these include the network and time capsule passwords which are pretty critical...
That's assuming that resetting the password gives access, which may not be the case. Even if that is the case, those passwords are not really critical... choose a unique password for these things that you don't use for anything else. Your scenario of having someone steal your laptop yet stay on-site and mess with your Time Capsule is a bit silly. The thief already has your machine, so there's nothing on the Time Capsule that they won't already have.

System Keychain Access

There's an item in the System keychain that I'd like to get in and examine / change -- its an item relating to wireless access to my corporate network. Unfortunately, none of the passwords I enter seem to be able to unlock the keychain (my own account which is an admin account, root itself). How do I get into System so I can maintain it?

Thanks for the link -- the thread was most helpful. Since this all came about as a result of changing my Active Directory password on the corporate network, the info in that thread tends to confirm my suspicion that the system entry is overriding the entry that I changed.
I'm not sure that I agree with Jim R.'s commentary, though:
Nobody owns the system keychain really, not even root. The System keychain is a shared keychain the system uses the store items available for all user accounts on the computer. If it were owned by root and had the root password, then other accounts would need the root password in order to use it. The fact that it doesn't allow you to view stored passwords is a security measure. This way, users can use system-wide resources that have been set up without actually knowing the passwords, not even other admins.
The reason for having root is to be able to alter system resources that others can access. There are many other resources in the system that can be accessed by everyone but altered only by root. Now we can argue about whether others in the System Admin group can modify a resource, but root should definitely be able to access and alter every resource on the system; every other O/S I've used has at least one such account. Without it, you give up the ability to control your own system.
Thanks,
--Gregory

The System.keychain Conundrum: THE REAL SOLUTION.

Symptom: After applying an update or some kind of instance where a shutdown occurred, upon rebooting, Mac OS X will demand a password for System.keychain. No password will ever work, not even root.
I had this happen to me and no one anywhere seemed to know how to fix it except for temporary workarounds that really didn't work.
First off, let me tell you what WON'T work as a solution:
1. Deleting offending AirPort network passwords in System.keychain - All you're doing is making OS X forget the passwords of those base stations in your Preferred Networks list (Network Preferences). If you attempt to put the passwords back and apply the changes, OS X will again demand the password for System.keychain.
2. Keychain First Aid - It will think that nothing is wrong with System.keychain, so as long as it is there.
3. Repair Permissions - Everyone believes that repairing permissions is the cure-all method for any problem with Mac OS X. It won't work because it already has the correct permissions (root:admin 755).
4. Deleting System.keychain itself - You won't ever get it back, and any base station added to your list of trusted networks will not have its password saved. Sure, it may save for YOUR login.keychain, but what if you have multiple users?
5. Replacing System.keychain with another from a known good system - This doesn't work either, and I'll explain why a little later.
6. Deleting /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist - That has nothing to do with the problem.
7. Duplicating your login.keychain and renaming it as System.keychain - Sure, you'll be able to unlock it with your admin password, but that doesn't solve the problem.
No one - not even from Apple themselves (phone reps and store Genius
Bars) - knew how to fix this issue. Google or search the discussion boards all you want; you'll be wasting your time as no one really seems to know what the problem is and have employed one of those seven methods.
NOW FOR THE SOLUTION...
WARNING: This assumes that you are competent with the command line AND you have a working copy of OS X somewhere else nearby, preferably on an external disk partition. I'm not going to explain the basics of using the Terminal or how to access both of your systems at the same time. If you are afraid of screwing up, simply reinstall Mac OS X and say a few prayers that it will fix itself (assuming that another Software Update won't mess it up again).
The problem lies with a file deep in the bowels of OS X. It's /var/db/SystemKey. What it does is that it tells Mac OS X how to unlock the system keychain. It only knows the System.keychain specific to the computer, so if you import another System.keychain as a replacement, SystemKey won't know how to unlock it and you'll keep getting the annoying dialogs prompting for System.keychain's password.
So without further ado, this is how to stop the annoying dialogs once and for all:
1. AS THE ROOT USER, you will need to copy over /var/db/SystemKey from a known good system to your problematic system. Make sure that you preserve the permissions (0400). It is advisable that you are NOT booted from your problematic system.
2. If you have a good System.keychain, copy that over to /Library/Keychains on the problem system. If you accidentally deleted System.keychain, you can execute the following (again AS ROOT):
/usr/sbin/systemkeychain -C -f
This creates a new, working, empty System.keychain and effectively overwrites the old keychain.
3. Reboot to your system. You will be presented with different, more familiar (Change, Change All) dialogs. If you had any passwords saved in your list of preferred networks, just put them back in.
Best of luck.

A method that worked for me (and many others):
Delete the wireless router entry from the System keychain (do not just delete the password). The entry will automatically get re-created from the similar entry in the login (user) keychain. This solution was posted here within a few days of the release of 10.4.3.
bd

System Keychain Cleaner??

I received the following pop-up on my Macbook Pro running OSX Mt Lion (10.8.2):
"systemkeychaincleaner is trying to modify the system keychain. Type your password to allow this."
Can anyone tell me if it is safe? Is this a legitimate unction of Monutain Lion, or is it a third party program that somehow got installed on my machine?
Thank you

I got the same window when installing the Wyse Pocketcloud Companion on my Mac, so that I could connect to my Mac from my Android phone. (I had previously installed the Android client on my Android phone, and then it instructed me to install the Wyse Pocketcloud Companion on my desktop computer).
Honestly, it's probably legit, seeing as how Wyse Pocketcloud has like 25,000 4.5-star ratings in the Google Play Store (that's their silly name for app store).
Nonetheless, I balked halfway through the installation of the Wyse Pocketcloud Companion for Mac software, because it wanted me to open a port on my router. I simply don't do this anymore, and have to live with the inconvenience of not being able remotely to log on to my machines, because I had some unwelcomed activity a long time ago from some random IP from Asia and it kind of freaked me out. Gotta lot of sensitive information on my machine!

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

System keychain items not revealing password

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