Delete Keychain (MacOS)

Question(s)

*How do I delete a user's keychain?
*I forgot my keychain password. Can I clear it? (Answer: yes, delete and recreate your keychain.)

Context

• Mac OS X, 10.9 and up.

Answer

1. Start Keychain Access from the Applications > Utilities folder.
2. Go to the File menu > Delete Keychain "name-of-keychain" (usually this would be the "login" keychain).
3. Select the option to Delete References & Files.
4. Quit the Keychain Access App
5. Log out of the user on the machine (Go to the Apple logo in top left corner of screen and choose "Log out..."
6. At the log-in screen click on the user and log back in.

Please remember in doing these steps, ANY passwords that are saved on the computer will be forgotten (i.e. mail passwords, iCloud password, passwords for websites etc). These will have to be added in again.

Alternately:

1. From the Edit menu, select Keychain List.
2. Highlight the line with the keychain that you want to delete (probably the "login" keychain).
3. Use the minus [-] sign to delete it from the list. Use the Cancel button to get out of the Keychain :ist.
4. Do not make a new keychain yet.
5. Go to the Finder, and navigate to Home > Library > Keychains. If you are using OS X 10.9 or later, the Library folder is hidden so you will have to follow these instructions to get there.
6. Take the old keychain file (probably "login.keychain"), and put it in the Trash.
7. Go back to the Keychain Access application. From the File menu, choose -> New Keychain...
8. Type the name of the new keychain (probably "login"). The default location of "Keychains" is correct.
9. Click the Create... button. When prompted, type the new password.

Please remember in doing these steps, ANY passwords that are saved on the computer will be forgotten (i.e. mail passwords, iCloud password, passwords for websites etc). These will have to be added in again.