Hi, my girlfriend locked her login keychain without providing a password (actually, MacOS X locked it when she saved a password in safar) Now she is unable to use either mail or safari since they try to access the login.keychain but she has no password to access it. Is there a way to unlock without a password or does that mean that I'll have to reinstall the damn system?
login.keychain locked but without password
- Thread starter tschew
- Start date
Here's the fix for anyone having similar problems:
I used the keychain manager to delete the keychain, then created a new Login keychain (or Anmeldung in German, so check the name before you do it) and set a password for that. Now, if by mistake the keychain is locked it will still be possible to unlock it using the set password. This should be default behaviour (setting a password) and it is a sign that Apple should care a bit less about interface issues (even though I don't especially agree with their interface choices) and care a bit more about things such as this one.
I used the keychain manager to delete the keychain, then created a new Login keychain (or Anmeldung in German, so check the name before you do it) and set a password for that. Now, if by mistake the keychain is locked it will still be possible to unlock it using the set password. This should be default behaviour (setting a password) and it is a sign that Apple should care a bit less about interface issues (even though I don't especially agree with their interface choices) and care a bit more about things such as this one.
Let me clarify the issue as I've made some mistakes.
To recreate the keychain, just call it "login" as Macosx automatically localizes the displayed name. (hence you do not need to know what it's called in your language).
I think I also found the cause of the error. My girlfriend has a five letter password for her account but the keychain requires a minimum of 6 characters. I suppose that (since the account password is usually automatically set for the keychain) upon its first creation the 5 character password was refused and thus the keychain created without a password, which is where the problem originated.
I created a new login.keychain and now everything works as it should. Hope this helps.
To recreate the keychain, just call it "login" as Macosx automatically localizes the displayed name. (hence you do not need to know what it's called in your language).
I think I also found the cause of the error. My girlfriend has a five letter password for her account but the keychain requires a minimum of 6 characters. I suppose that (since the account password is usually automatically set for the keychain) upon its first creation the 5 character password was refused and thus the keychain created without a password, which is where the problem originated.
I created a new login.keychain and now everything works as it should. Hope this helps.