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I'm running into an issue where keychain password verification box does not verify password - does not shake for incorrect password and nothing happens when I press "allow". I'm using iCloud keychain.

What could make the Keychain Access wants to... dialog box to not verify the password?

Nothing happens when I press "Allow" with password enters. The box does not shake when password is incorrect: enter image description here

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    I have the exact same problem :( anyone?
    – Gamer
    Oct 4, 2015 at 7:44
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    Related: stackoverflow.com/q/33311873/1214800 OMG I want to smash things!
    – brandonscript
    Oct 26, 2015 at 19:07
  • Related: apple.stackexchange.com/questions/213124/…
    – Nathan
    Nov 9, 2015 at 3:39
  • I came across this issue as well, it turned out that I had to disconnect my Wacom Tablet, and use a regular mouse (Magic Mouse in my case) in order for the 'allow' or 'always allow' buttons to work. Such a weird bug to diagnose. Luckily I didn't have to turn off any of the apps in the Settings -> Security -> Accessibility area.
    – Anil
    Jan 4, 2016 at 3:38
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    This issue is caused by a new Apple restriction on Keychain whereby scripts and apps will no longer have remote access to Keychain functions like export. I would have left this as an answer, but this thread has been protected from spammy answers that contribute no worth to the question
    – jcpennypincher
    Feb 10, 2016 at 0:07

3 Answers 3

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I encountered this same issue today. I could not "Allow" or "Always Allow" any programs, nor could I confirm my password in any dialogues. The interface wouldn't shake, even if I had entered the incorrect password.

I use Synergy to facilitate programming over several different computers. My mouse and keyboard do not belong to the Mac OSX device. I was able to hit the "Allow" button once I used a mouse actually hooked up the Mac OSX device.

In general, try turning off any virtual or physical KVM services and use the Mac mouse/keyboard directly.

Hopefully this can help you or someone else who comes here looking for help.

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  • I found with Remote Desktop running, having a mouse connected (and watching on the nearby remote screen) still exhibits the problem. Even connecting a screen and keyboard while remote desktop is observing presented the issue. I removed remote desktop and tried from VNC - same problem. However, having VNC running, and accessing from the local installed keyboard is OK. This sucks!
    – Jasper Blues
    Nov 5, 2015 at 9:34
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    @BobChao87's answer is right. I had same problem when MagicPrefs program (used to customize experience of Apple Magic Mouse) was launched. If you're using MagicPrefs, simply quit this program and everything will work well.
    – Kirk Hammett
    Nov 9, 2015 at 12:24
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    @Behdad I think, we may contact MagicPrefs directly to ask if they can warn users about this problem. UPD: contacted developers regarding this question.
    – Kirk Hammett
    Nov 16, 2015 at 13:56
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    Bless you @KirkHammett for saving me from sheer madness!
    – SaxDaddy
    Feb 12, 2016 at 19:03
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    @KirkHammett I have MagicPrefs and it wouldn't allow me to 'Allow', nor with the touchPad, nor with the external mouse. But hitting <enter> without moving the mouse worked
    – codrut
    Apr 7, 2016 at 11:53
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For me, I had to go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy.

On the left, click on Accessibility, then on the right side uncheck every checkbox. This resolves the problem. For me, I had Steam (from VALVe) running and Karabiner (keyboard key editor) which also was allowed to control the computer.

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  • That's odd. I have a bunch of items in this privacy section yet my keychain is still filly functional. Are you able to detect a console error message showing what is logged when the bad extensions are enabled? I have eight enabled apps to control and one disabled. Of course, when I remote control this mac - that breaks keychain for "security reasons" - but not all apps in Accessibility seem to cause keychain to prevent synthetic actions.
    – bmike ♦
    Jan 15, 2016 at 15:56
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    I couldn't find any console errors. Steam seems to be the problem but I wasn't able to confirm it.
    – Steve Tauber
    Jan 15, 2016 at 16:40
  • +1 This solved it for me. Thanks! Dropbox was one of the programs in that list for me.
    – JasonSmith
    Feb 3, 2016 at 16:17
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Just got this fixed. I use a plugin called SmoothMouse that improves acceleration of trackpad and mouse. It likely integrates with the accessibility APIs in OS X and thus triggers the same behavior as screensharing. Disabling the plugin resolved the problem.

You can see the sister StackOverflow question here as well.

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    I was having the same problem using a Wacom tablet with El Capitan. Disconnecting the tablet allowed me to export my certificates.
    – MiKL
    Nov 25, 2015 at 8:39
  • @MiKL, I had the same issue, through testing various harward configurations came to the realization that my Wacom tablet was the issue. :/
    – Anil
    Jan 4, 2016 at 3:39
  • I also tried installing the latest drivers from the Wacom site, but that did not resolve the issue. :(
    – Anil
    Jan 4, 2016 at 4:03
  • I confirm this appears to have resolved my issues. I was using MagicPrefs and when I quit it is too resolved the unable to press Allow. (I could use <space> to press Allow but never the mouse or the Always Allow. Deny always worked.
    – cgseller
    Feb 26, 2016 at 15:11

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