Keychain

Conrad McGarry updated July 16, 2014 at 12:48 PM

Questions Addressed

• What is Keychain? What is Keychain?
• How do I reset my keychain in Mac OS X? How do I reset my keychain in Mac OS X?
• What do I do if Keychain Access asks me for keychain "login" after changing my login password? What do I do if Keychain Access asks me for keychain "login" after changing my login password?

What is Keychain

Keychain is Apple Inc's password management system in Mac OS X. A Keychain can contain various types of data: passwords (websites, FTP servers, SSH accounts, network shares, wireless networks, groupware applications, encrypted disk images), private keys,

certificates, and secure notes. Keychain files store a variety of data fields including a title, URL, notes, password. Only the password is encrypted and it is encrypted with 3DES.

Resetting your Keychain in Mac OS X

If Keychain First Aid finds an issue it cannot repair, or if you do not know your keychain password, you may need to reset it.

To reset your keychain see Apple's knowledge base article here.

What to do if Keychain Access asks you for keychain "login" after changing your login password

If you change your account's password using your Mac OS X Install disc (or if your network-based account password is changed due to a network admin forcing a password change), your default keychain password (which uses the same initial password as your user

account) does not change. Because of this, you will be prompted to enter a keychain password each time an application requires authentication that your keychain would normally provide.

Note: This doesn't happen if you change your account password using Accounts preferences.

To see Apple's knowledge base article with instructions to resolve this issue click here.

How to fix your login Keychain if it keeps saying that your password is incorrect

1. Go to the Utilities folder and open up Keychain Access. The utilities folder is found in the Applications folder, or can be reached by pressing apple+shift+U.
   
   
   
   
2. Open Keychain Access and click on the Show Keychains button in the bottom left corner. It will show the login keychain at the top.
   
   
   
   
3. Highlight the login keychain and click on the edit menu at the top. Select "Delete Keychain 'login'".
   
   
   
   
4. When the following window pops up, click "Delete References and Files".
   
   
   
   
5. Go to the File pulldown menu, and select "New Keychain".
   
   
   
   
6. Save as login.
   
   
   
   
7. Enter your password.
   
   
   
   
8. Bring down the Edit menu and select "Change Settings for Keychain "login."
   
   
   
   
9. f Make sure that all of the boxes are unchecked.
   
   
   
   
10. You are finished.

If you need further assistance, please contact IGPP Net Ops.