My last article about resetting the password on your Mac generated a lot of interest from our readers. Some good, some bad, but a couple had interesting points to bring up that I felt needed to be talked about more.
One reader’s comments informed me that if you change your password, it does not change the password to your keychain. This is both a good and a bad thing. It is good because if your machine is stolen and the thief uses the method I described for resetting the password, they do not have access to all of the passwords you might have saved on your machine. On the flip side it is bad because you can never get those passwords back, so you better hope you remember them all or else you are up the creek, so to speak.
If you do end up resetting the password on your Mac, you have two options moving forward:
The first option is to enter the old password every time your computer needs to access keychain. This is fine if you remember the old password, but if you reset your password because you forgot it, this avenue is somewhat moot.
The second option is to reset Keychain. This will clear all of the data from keychain so that you can begin rebuilding your keychain library. This is a definitive ending to your old keychain and once it is cleared, there will be no going back. Since I am not a fan of that type of solution, I recommend copying your Keychain folder to a backup drive in case the day ever comes that your remember your old password before deleting Keychain.
To elaborate on the second option of deleting your old keychain, I have outlined the process for that in just a few easy steps.
Caution – Deleting a keychain also deletes all the password data saved in that keychain.
- In Keychain Access, choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu.
- If available, click the Reset My Default Keychain button. This will remove the login keychain and create a new one with the password provided.
- If Reset My Default Keychain is not available, choose Keychain List from the Edit menu.
- Delete the “login” keychain.
The next time you log in to the account, you can save your current password in a keychain. That should just about do it for deleting and recreating your Keychain. I hope this helps anyone out there who finds themselves stuck in a pickle like this. I would love to hear any and all feedback about this tip, so please don’t hesitate to send your questions or comments my way.