Keychain Minder 1.3

Now with the ability to create a new Keychain

Get the new version in our Downloads section.

Keychain Minder

Essentially this app checks to see if the default keychain, which is usually the login keychain, was unlocked during the login process. If it was unlocked the app does not show in the dock or display anything it just quickly quits. The idea is that a user won't even notice this is going on if everything works out well.

If the keychain is not unlocked it will display a dialog box prompting the user to put in the old and new passwords. It will then attempt to reset the default keychain. If successful this will also cause the keychain to be unlocked and usable by any apps on the machine.

If the user has forgotten their old password, they can create a new keychain with their new password and backup the old one.

Also, when entering in their password Keychain Minder checks to make sure it is in fact their login password. This way there is no chance of them mistyping the password.

The app also creates a pref file, com.afp548.KeychainMinder.plist, with one entry. Set this to NO if you don't want the app to check at login. This is useful for when you set this application as a login item through managed preferences but some users want to have a unique login keychain password.

How do I use this?

Run this as a login item for your users. You configure that in the Accounts preference pane of the System Preferences.

Why do this?

The primary function of this application to keep the users from getting confused when they've changed their password through a web interface or from the PC. When logging back into OS X their login password no longer matches their login keychain password so things like Safari start yelling about a locked keychain. This is all rather cryptic and confusing for the user, so this app hopes to help smooth things out.

Troubleshooting

Keychain Minder logs everything that it does to the users Console.log. So open up Console.app and check it out.

What's New?

1.3 - 2/21/05

- Fancy new icon! Thanks to Eric Benfer for that.
- Now will backup current keychain to ~/Library/Keychains/login.Backup.keychain and create new login.keychain, or whatever your default keychain is. Has capacity to increment backup names, so we'll never overwrite.
- Changed main window text to be more comprehensible.
- Improved error handling and logging

1.2 - 12/24/04

- Checks supplied new password to ensure it's actually your real login password and will refuse to change or create new keychains if it's not.

1.1 - 12/14/04

- Added support for app to have plist file, com.afp548.KeychainMinder.plist, with one entry. Set this to NO if you don't want the app to check at login. This is useful for when you set this application as a login item through managed preferences but some users want to have a unique login keychain password.

1.0 - 12/10/04

- Original release