Keychain corrupted?

[harvdog47]

Hello,
I have exhausted all my help options: so here I am. I use 3 Apple devices on a regular basis; an M1 iMac, an M1 MacBook Pro, and an iPhone 15. They are all synced with iCloud. My problem is my iMac is constantly asking for Keychain login passwords. It doesn't seem to matter which App it is. It occurs with Lightroom Classic, Safari and others that are more obscure like iCloudHelper???? If I cancel out 2 or 3 times I am able to use the affected apps; but it is still aggravating.
When the new Passwords App came out I dropped my subscription to 1Password and eventually removed it from all of my devices.I have been on the phone with 3 separate Apple specialist who all directed me to Apple Support or Keychain Access and resetting something in the Edit menu (which I've done) to no change.

There is a backstory to this problem that may or may not be related. Early in October my iMac on startup went to a blackish screen with a small circle and exclamation point in the center. The Genius Bar in my neighborhood was able to clear it up in a few hours but not without a total erasing of my HD. It was and is backed up with Time Machine. Once home I migrated my backpack to the iMac. Everything seemed good . . . . except for my Keychain.

BYW: Keychain and Passwords work fine on the laptop and iPhone. Wondering if a Keychain transplant into the iMac would help? Sounds drastic.
Harvey B

 

[IWT]

Hi Harvey

I'm interested to know if the Genius Bar folk erased your original login to your Mac and created a new one? Reason I ask is that when that happens your old Keychain is no longer accessible and a new Keychain is created.

I'm not saying this is the cause; rather asking you if they did create a new login or not?

It's a pity you felt the need to dispense with 1Password. It's always good to have some other form of backup.

BTW, I'm thinking that your Mac is running Sequoia. Am I right?

Ian

 

[Rod]

assuming you had a subscription to 1Password you could always reinstall it. I'm unfamiliar with that password manager but unless you erased all data before removing it shouldn't it still have all your passwords? My password manager stores my passwords locally rather than a remote data base and syncs via iCloud to all my devices. I agree with IWT, Although I am transitioning slowly to Apple Passwords I still keep my PM on all my devices.

 

[harvdog47]

Hi Harvey

I'm interested to know if the Genius Bar folk erased your original login to your Mac and created a new one? Reason I ask is that when that happens your old Keychain is no longer accessible and a new Keychain is created.

I'm not saying this is the cause; rather asking you if they did create a new login or not?

It's a pity you felt the need to dispense with 1Password. It's always good to have some other form of backup.

BTW, I'm thinking that your Mac is running Sequoia. Am I right?

Ian

Hi Ian,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes I am running Sequoia 15.1. Actually had 15.2Beta when my Keychain problems began. I do feel there is a connection but have no idea why.

As for reinstating 1Password, I'm may try that since my migration from Time Machine should have brought one over. One reason why I dropped it was with 2 email addresses and 2 password managers it always seemed that I would go through all possibilities before finding the correct combination of username and password.

 

[Rod]

If you can reinstate 1Password successfully I believe you can migrate all your passwords as a CSV file into the Apple passwords app. That would effectively bring Keychain up to date. At least for user passwords.

 

[Jimmysb]

In a similar vein, when I started using a Mac I used Firefox, which saved all my passwords, and on moving to Safari, found that very few were saved in Keychain. I had most passwords saved elsewhere, however from time to time have to open Firefox to find a "lost" password.

 

[Rod]

I think Safari is much more integrated with the Passwords app now. You will probably begin to see offers of Passkeys too, they are the future for passwords and the combination of Safari and Passwords works particularly well for them. I have about 6 now.

 

[harvdog47]

In a similar vein, when I started using a Mac I used Firefox, which saved all my passwords, and on moving to Safari, found that very few were saved in Keychain. I had most passwords saved elsewhere, however from time to time have to open Firefox to find a "lost" password.

Actually I tried an old (not very secure) password on one of the pop-up keychain login boxes and it worked. I am continuing this process until all keychain logins are satisfied. May work? Only time will tell. I did reinstate 1Password and may end up adding those passwords to Apple Password.
Thanks again to all for you help.
Harv

 

[harvdog47]

Still having "Keychain Login" problems. Actually none of the popups have gone away. Now I'm getting things like: com.apple.iCloud helper wants to use the . . . . ., or sharingd wants to use the Keychain . . . , or assistantd wants to use your Keychain Login Password..

This is not happening on my laptop or iPhone. I was wondering if there was a way to delete/ all Keychain password in the cloud and reintroduce them from either my iPhone or laptop?
Hmm maybe not.....there will remain a copy on my Mac . Yes?

Is it possible to delete all keychains form my iMac only and reintroduce them from another device.
Harv

 

[pm-r]

is there was a way to delete/ all Keychain password in the cloud

I don't know that that would be the best idea for your situation if they are working with your other Max and iDevices but according to a Google search has certainly seems to be possible.

Maybe have a read through some of the hits it provides:

Google Search

Do you have some other type of backup you can use in case things go backwards then you lose everything.





- Patrick
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