Frequently Asked Question
The keychain is secure storage that macOS uses to save passwords and other sensitive information. It works by encrypting the entire contents of the keychain with a key derived from a password; if you don't know the password, it is extremely difficult to get the information stored in the keychain.
By default, macOS derives the keychain's key from your account's password behind the scenes. If your account's password is changed without updating your keychain password, macOS will be unable to derive the encryption key, and consequently, will ask you to provide the old password to unlock the keychain.
Preferred Method
To fix these prompts from appearing, the easiest method is to correct it as a part of the login process. If you are currently logged in to your computer, log out. Then, attempt to log back in.
If your keychain password doesn't match your login password, you will be prompted to either:
- Update your keychain password. This will preserve the contents of the keychain, but requires that you know what your keychain password is. Often, this is a previously used password.
- Create a new keychain. This will erase your old keychain and replace it with a new one. You will lose the previous contents of your keychain.
Click the appropriate button, then provide your keychain password if prompted.
Alternative Method
If you would prefer to not log out, you can update the login keychain password with the following steps:
- In Finder, go to Applications > Utilities, and open the Keychain Access application.
- On the left side, click on the login keychain so it is selected.
- In the menu bar, select Edit > Change Password for Keychain "login"...
- Follow the prompts to update the keychain password.
- For the old password, enter your former account password. If you can't remember what it is, you will need to create a new keychain.
- For the new password, be sure to enter your current account password
- Log out, then log back in to test that the prompts for the keychain password no longer appear.