Member Avatar for Millymax

Am I the only one in the world who hates Keychains? Mainly because I can't get to grips with what on Earth they're for . . . and that, I think is why I'm in A Mess! :mad:

I upgraded to 10.3.9. Then I tried to buy from iTunes Music Store -- but a pop-up thingy said I had to update my keychain access and that it would affect them all. (All? What 'all'?)

As you can see, I don't have a clue what this means or implies. :rolleyes: But I was ready for trouble.

I went to the Help -- which was UnHelpful -- and then opened Keychaon Access. Now, maybe I should have left well alone. But I clicked things. Not that much seemed to happen.

So I closed Keychain Access and went on my merry way.

THEN another pop-up appeared called Unlock Keychain that said:

Keychain Access wants to use keychain "Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates".


So I put in my password, clicked OK . . . and nothing happened.
When I clicked Cancel . . . nothing happened.

And nothing continues to happen. The pop-up won't go away and is in front of all the other windows.

How DO I get rid of it? And can anyone tell me where I can read about keychains without getting confused? I think it's about time I found out!!

Thanks in advance.

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If that Unlock Keychain panel is stuck on top, you are likely looking at a secondary keychain named Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates that Office/Entourage once added. You do not need to wipe your whole login keychain to stop the nag. A lighter, targeted cleanup usually fixes it, and keeps ’s advice as a last resort.

Try this, in order:

  • Repair first. In 10.3.x/10.4, open Keychain Access, choose Keychain First Aid, and run Repair. This clears a lot of odd prompts from that era. (macworld.com)
  • Remove only the bad keychain. In Keychain Access, select the Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates keychain in the left sidebar, then File > Delete Keychain "Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates" and choose Delete References (safe: it removes the reference without trashing files). (support.apple.com)
  • Reopen Word/Entourage and allow access when prompted. If Office still pesters you every launch, restore its keychain permissions by locking the login keychain, launching an Office app, then authenticating once. (support.microsoft.com)

If you ever changed your Mac login password, repeated prompts can also mean your login keychain password is out of sync. Reset the default keychain to resync it; just know this creates a fresh, empty login keychain so you will re-enter saved passwords as you go. (support.apple.com)

Two quick tips from the thread: , if the pop-up refuses to close or sits in front of everything, a restart is often the only way out because the system SecurityAgent can hang. After a reboot, do the steps above before opening Office again. (discussions.apple.com)

This approach removes the specific Microsoft keychain that is looping without bulldozing your entire login keychain, and it has been more reliable than starting from scratch in my experience.

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Member Avatar for yellow

Keychains:

It's a resource to store all your varied passwords that you might use for internet sites in one place. Theoretically, you should only have to supply your login password and all the rest of the keychains are unlocked and automatically made available to website and the like.

If you're having troubles with keychains that you cannot resolve with passwords, go to /Users/your_user/Library/Keychains/ and remove the keychain with your username. Restart. And you're starting fresh with keychains.

Member Avatar for Millymax

Thank you for that! I shall get rid, immediately.

Will that get rid of the pesky floating-in-front-of-everything panel?

I'll soon find out!

Member Avatar for makahuhu

um... did it work? OMG... I've tried like hell to get Microsoft OUT OF MY LIFE! I'll admit that I do use virtual PC to run XP sometimes, but this is for testing purposes only. As a UI developer, I need to be able to test css/xhtml code in IE6 and IE7. I've a a Windows user most of my life, but 3 months ago I made the switch and can honestly say there is joy in my heart when I sit down to work on my powerbook.

But this damn Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates is driving me absolutly batty! I have to click OK or cancel (with the password blank) to this popup about 50 times a day now! AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!

Is this because I have office 2004 installed on my mac, with Entourage (which I don't even use)?

I hope to doing this keychain thing fixes the problem. I know I'm not the only one seeing this bloody microsoft keychain thing. But searching endlessly, I've yet to find a documented solution.

So it sounds like the solution is to go to...
SYSTEM VOLUME --> Applications --> Utilities --> Keychain Access

and keep that folder blank! What's the downside... reprocusions?

As I've seen most people write in the forum... we'll see.

Member Avatar for Millymax

um... did it work?

Oh, dear ... guess what? I can't remember what I did. :sad:

All I can say is IT'S GONE!!!

I'm going to the Apple Store today, so I'll ask their Geniuses about it, and I'll report back.

(Memo to self: Always make a note of what you do so you can remember for next time! :cheesy: )

Member Avatar for Millymax

OK, I've spoken to the really helpful chaps at the Apple Store, and they said we're certainly not the only ones plagued by the wretched Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates.

But there's no easy answer, I'm afraid. Apparently it's a problem at Microsoft's end, not a Mac problem. They also talked about Entourage and the Instant Messenger (have I got that right?) causing the problem. So it's really a case of waiting for Microsoft to do some techie tweak.

Some people have found that updating to the latest version of OS X solves the problem. Thinking about it, that's probably how I got over the it; once I'd updated, I didn't get the hassle any more.

BUT ... they said that it's not a sure-fire solution. Sorry about that.

Let us know what you try and how it works.


Good luck!

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