User is receiving Mac Keychain Errors

Owned by Doug Heady (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 12, 2016

Keychain Errors on Mac

Objective

User has recently changed their local login password and now Keychain errors are popping up every time they try to do something, especially in Safari.

Procedure

Log in as the USER who is experiencing the keychain problem and open Keychain Access via one of the below methods:

  • Open the Applications folder via Finder (Go menu > Applications) or by clicking on the Macintosh HD then Applications folder
  • Open Utilities folder
  • Double-click Keychain Access

OR

  • Under Go menu in the Finder
  • Select Go to Folder...
  • Type ~/Library/Keychains/
  • Click Go
  • Double-click on the login.keychain file 

This will open the Keychain Access application. 

In Keychain Access...

  • If the user remembers their old Keychain password:
    • Highlight login on the top left in the window that appears (listed under Keychains)
    • Select "Change Password for Keychain "login"" from the Edit menu
    • The user will be prompted to enter the old Keychain password before being able to reset the password
  • If the user does not remember their old Keychain password:
    • Select "Delete Keychain "login"" from the File menu (Note: It MUST say "login". If it does not, quit Keychain Access and relaunch it.  Sometimes more than once.)
    • Click on Delete References & Files
    • Quit Keychain Access
       
  • Immediately log out, then have the user log back into their computer
     

Additional Notes

Alternatively, once in the  ~/Library/Keychains/ folder, move the long alpha-numeric keychain file to the Desktop and restart the machine.  This will create a new Keychain file once logged back in. All saved passwords will be lost using this method, but this will resolve the Keychain issue in extreme cases.