My "Local Items" keychain keeps locking and I can't figure out how to prevent it from doing so. As near as I can tell it locks when my Mac sleeps (which I want) and also after a very short timeout (which I don't want).
In theory, I ought to be able to select the keychain in Keychain Access and choose "Change Settings..." there, or use security set-keychain-settings
in Terminal. But all menu items for the "Local Items" keychain are disabled in Keychain Access, and I can't figure out how to refer to the "Local Items" keychain using security
.
Note that this means it is impossible to unlock my "Local Items" keychain from Keychain Access. Moreover, when the keychain is needed (e.g. to login to a website) it is not asked fo: now "allow" dial is presented. As a result the only way to cope with its frequent locking is to periodically and proactively security unlock-keychain
(which works without an argument, fortunately, since I don't know how to identify the "Local Items" keychain in the command line)!
How do I prevent by "Local Items" Keychain from locking?
My basic set of keychains as reported in Terminal is
$ security list-keychains
"/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
$ security default-keychain
"/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
$ security default-keychain -d system
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
$ security default-keychain -d common
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
$ security default-keychain
"/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
$ security login-keychain
"/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
$ security show-keychain-info
Keychain "<NULL>" no-timeout
$ security show-keychain-info "/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
Keychain "/Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db" no-timeout
$ security show-keychain-info "/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
Keychain "/Library/Keychains/System.keychain" no-timeout
while the list in Keychain Access looks like this
The "login" keychain remains unlocked and the "System" keychain remains locked; while the "Local Items" Keychain locks as described above.
Output of find ~/Library/Keychains -exec ls -lad {} \;/
:
drwxr-xr-x 35 Rax staff 1120 Aug 18 14:23 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains
-r--r--r-- 1 root staff 0 Apr 24 15:35 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.glB6156675
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2626852 Aug 23 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-c5127d9-zr8ipV
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 0 Feb 11 2008 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.fl62323D2F
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2305068 Aug 7 2012 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-419e7628-XfWttr
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 1816092 Aug 12 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-bcbce214-XqMDb8
-rw-r--rw- 1 root staff 22572 May 11 11:39 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/parallels_shared.keychain-db
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2593480 Jun 7 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-2095c4e1-efwkXC
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Rax staff 10244 Jun 3 14:36 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.DS_Store
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Rax staff 3694988 Aug 18 14:23 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2507028 Oct 22 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-54e23350-eVgc4o
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2305068 Aug 5 2012 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-ac760145-TFyzKv
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2294264 Aug 1 2012 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-2cf4baf7-aeZlX1
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 1818456 Aug 13 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-a1fce254-cG4137
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Rax staff 0 Sep 22 2016 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.fl34AC2A0A
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 132644 Aug 12 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-bbace251-nXanZA
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 0 Apr 24 15:35 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/parallels_shared.keychain.prl_lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2605912 Aug 12 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-5fcce214-WmoSug
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 23136 Sep 21 2016 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/metadata.keychain
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 0 Sep 22 2016 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.flC23220F1
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2650236 Oct 21 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-52e25380-rVXfEL
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 1765124 Mar 29 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-27a31445-2bhqB9
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2605912 Aug 12 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-bbace434-J4uOow
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 70032 Aug 12 14:59 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/metadata.keychain-db
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 132644 Oct 14 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-f990005d6-Fhk8Du
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 1833784 Aug 23 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-c31477d9-0PWFuy
-r--r--r-- 1 Rax staff 0 Jun 3 14:30 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.fl45FFD97B
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 0 Jul 20 2011 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.flER1D1FA9
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2653684 Oct 8 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-f97005d6-M4MV4G
drwx------ 2 Rax staff 64 Feb 8 2010 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/.syncinfo
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2650236 Oct 20 2013 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-511e4350-kx3hnt
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Rax staff 3074760 Sep 22 2016 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain
drwx------ 9 Rax staff 288 Jul 15 10:35 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 32768 Aug 12 14:18 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/keychain-2.db-shm
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Rax staff 6148 Jun 3 14:34 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/.DS_Store
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 1306072 Aug 18 14:29 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/keychain-2.db-wal
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 1436 Nov 12 2017 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/user.kb
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 12443648 Aug 18 11:01 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/keychain-2.db
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 47 Sep 23 2015 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/accountStatus.plist
drwx------ 8 Rax staff 256 Apr 10 12:10 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 45056 Aug 7 09:37 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/sos_analytics.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 1713952 Aug 18 08:32 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/sos_analytics.db-wal
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 3333112 Aug 18 14:22 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/ckks_analytics.db-wal
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 606208 Aug 16 20:06 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/ckks_analytics.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 32768 Aug 12 14:21 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/sos_analytics.db-shm
-rw------- 1 Rax staff 32768 Aug 16 08:15 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/83...D1/Analytics/ckks_analytics.db-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 Rax staff 2360984 Sep 19 2012 /Users/Rax/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.sb-28f4c901-zucwGd
UPDATE: After crashing and force ejecting an external drive, the Local Keychain stopped locking itself, and remained open as expected. Rebooting, however, reverted to the locking behavior described above.
UPDATE: Suddenly this no longer happens. Apple logged me out of my Apple ID and made me go through a new procedure where I used by recovery key, and was asked to provide my machine login info, and my iPhone unlock code? (I was also told that recovery keys were no longer usable, unless I changed setting to enable them, though it's not clear how.) Does Apple now have my machine login info; my iPhone unlock code? In any case, my keychain now stays unlocked.
UPDATE: Never mind, that was only temporary. It still locks (even after updating to Bug Sur).