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Prompt for Keychain Password Won't Go Away

Prompt for Keychain Password Won't Go Away

Nov 03, 2017

Issue

When you change your MyID password and log into your mac with the new password, you will receive a prompt asking you update your login keychain or create a new keychain. What this prompt is really asking you to do is type your previous password so that it can update the login keychain to match your new password.

If you enter your password incorrectly or skip this step, you continue to receive prompts asking for you to type in your login keychain password.

Use the following methods to reset or update your login keychain to resolve this situation.

Environment

Mac OS X, macOS


Resolution

Solution 1: Create New Login Keychain (fastest solution)

When you see the warning shown in figure 1, the fastest solution is to create a new Login keychain. To do this, click the "Create New Keychain" button. Your account password and login keychain password now match again and the prompt will disappear.

Your login keychain can contain saved credentials for web sites, Wi-Fi networks, and various programs. Reseting the keychain will cause these programs to prompt you for a name and password the next time you use them as if it is the first time you've used these services.

Solution 2: Update the Login Keychain Password (best solution)

The password your computer wants is most likely your previous MyID password. Click on the "Update Keychain Password" button and enter your previous MyID password to continue. You only need to do this one time. Subsequent logins will accept your new/current MyID password and you will not see the prompt shown in figure 1.


Alternate solution: Reset the Login Keychain with Keychain Access

If the solutions above did not work for some reason, please use the solution presented below.

  1. Open Keychain Access, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. 

  2. Choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu, then click the Reset My Default Keychain button in the preferences window.

  3. Enter your new password and click OK to confirm.

  4. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu to return to the login screen.
  5. Log in to your account using your new password. Your account password and login Keychain password now match again.
If you don't see a Reset My Default Keychain button, close the preferences window and select the “login” Keychain from the left side of the Keychain Access window. Press the Delete key, then click Delete References.