Keychain issues

[lrd]

A few weeks ago I had to rebuild my iPad to include reinstalling Skype. We use my wife's account but the password had long since been forgotten. I can normally go into the keychain to retrieve passwords from my account but when I try from within hers (I'm an admin, she is not…) and check the show passwords box I get prompted for a login password. She doesn't have one (entering nothing has no effect) and my admin one doesn't work. This is problem "A". How do I get into her keychain? (I manage all passwords for her anyway…)

Problem "B" - Coincidentally about the same time as the above happened, Outlook (For Mac 2011) suddenly starting prompting for all email passwords every time it goes online. It won't remember them, even if I check the "save in Keychain" box. This is pissing her off no end (they are long hard-to-type passwords), and me also because I can't figure out how to fix it.

Ideas??

 

[chscag]

I assume you tried entering a "null" for her keychain password? If that didn't work, assign her a password and then try again. Also... you probably should be running a password manager since both you and your wife probably have several or many passwords to remember. The Mac App store has several you can look at, some free, some not. As for MS Outlook 2011 asking for a password each time, try rebuilding her identity. A password manager would also be useful for Outlook.

 

[Rod]

It is my understanding (correct me guys if I'm wrong on this) that an Admin cannot access the keychain of another user. Also if your wife has no login password she may not be able to access her own keychain either. I would suggest you go to User & Groups Preferences and create a login password for her. Restart and get your wife (or yourself) to login with her password then see if she/you can access her KeyChain.
If your wife hates passwords you can set the prefs so she does not have to login at startup but I find having to login (with password only) is a good way of ensuring you never forget it.
Hint: Make it a simple phrase rather than a random series of characters, eg "I like bags" or variations of that such as "ilikebags," "ilikeBAGS" "Ilike15bags" variations are unlimited and usually much easier to remember.
Lastly I think your wife should be an Admin too.

 

[lrd]

I assume you tried entering a "null" for her keychain password?

How do you enter a null password? By definition Null is the absence of content.

If that didn't work, assign her a password and then try again. Also...you probably should be running a password manager since both you and your wife probably have several or many passwords to remember.

I do have have a password manager that has solved many issues (1Password). However it only works with web pages, not applications (like Quicken or Outlook…or Skype).

The Mac App store has several you can look at, some free, some not. As for MS Outlook 2011 asking for a password each time, try rebuilding her identity.

How? Wouldn't that erase all the content in her contacts, calendar, etc…?

A password manager would also be useful for Outlook.

Never needed one before; until recently it (in fact all versions) would save the passwords. This version did as well…until now.

It is my understanding (correct me guys if I'm wrong on this) that an Admin cannot access the keychain of another user. Also if your wife has no login password she may not be able to access her own keychain either. I would suggest you go to User & Groups Preferences and create a login password for her. Restart and get your wife (or yourself) to login with her password then see if she/you can access her KeyChain.
If your wife hates passwords you can set the prefs so she does not have to login at startup but I find having to login (with password only) is a good way of ensuring you never forget it.

Interesting, I'll look into that.

Lastly I think your wife should be an Admin too.

I was afraid she'd screw something up. And I didn't want her *****ing about a password (not setting her up as an Admin without one…)

I'll try the user password thing first. Outlook is the most important thing to fix…hopefully that will do it, but I'm not hopeful. It worked for many months without one.

 

[chscag]

How do you enter a null password? By definition Null is the absence of content.

You enter a "null" by just pressing enter - which I assume you're doing? Rebuilding the Outlook identity data base usually resolves most problems. If you wish to give it a try, take a look at this MS KB article.

 

[lrd]

I did (In my original post I said "(entering nothing has no effect)" but thanks. Looking at that KB article now...

 

[lrd]

Crazy…did a google search on "how to access keychain without user password" and I found a page that said within Keychain Access select Keychain First Aid. It found some port settings docked and voila…Outlook works now without passwords.

 

[FunMac]

Please look into the article given below,

* If you have a problem with keychains:
Keychain Access: If you have a problem with keychains

* Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X:
Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X - Apple Support