Keychain Access Forgets Network Password [NAS Server]

[Jim Lahey]

Hi. For several years I've been connecting to my NAS server through Finder without issue. The login credentials for the server are/were stored in KeyChain Access. Recently I've been having to manually login each time I want to connect. I couldn't see anything wrong with the network password settings (in Keychain Access) so I deleted the entry and logged in again via Finder. Obviously being sure to check 'remember this password in keychain'. The entry then reappears in Keychain Access as expected, but the next time I login it has forgotten the server again.

After some experimenting I've found that when I quit Keychain Access and come back to it after a period of time has elapsed, the entry/device has disappeared. Essentially the login credentials for this server in Keychain Access are volatile and do not persist. I'm on Ventura 13.6.5 and Keychain Access v11.0. I haven't recently updated. iCloud Keychain is enabled but as far as I can tell this is a local login item and not part of iCloud, so that shouldn't be a factor. Any ideas what may be happening here?

Thanks for reading.

 

[chown33]

I'd try a few things:
1. Add a secure note to your login keychain using Keychain Access, and see if it's stored persistently.
2. Make another keychain in Keychain Access. Make sure it's opened at login. Store the NAS password there (move it, if needed).
3. Make a test local user account. Does storing the NAS password work there, when logged into that local account?

Keychain Access User Guide for Mac

You can use Keychain Access on your Mac to keep track of passwords and other sensitive information in a keychain.

support.apple.com

EDIT
#1 is to test if the Login keychain is writable.

#2 is to test if a new keychain is writable. If it is, and Login keychain isn't, then one approach is to Export the Login keychain, then Import it to a new keychain. Then make the new keychain the Login one.

#3 is to test if all accounts exhibit the problem, or just one account.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Thank you for your help @chown33. I will look into this at the next opportunity 👍

 

[Jim Lahey]

@chown33

Firstly the secure note in login keychain was persistent. Secondly I made a new custom keychain and stored the NAS credentials in there. It worked initially but then soon deleted itself again the next time I tried to login. I have yet to try the third step of adding a new user but I will get around to that.

In the meantime I now have an additional problem that internet searches aren't giving me much help with. During the course of this furore I inadvertently double clicked a system keychain in a Time Machine backup and now have a duplicate (but now empty) in Keychain Access that cannot be deleted. Every option in grayed out. No change booting in safe mode. It's not causing issues but obviously I'd like to get rid of it. Any advice appreciated.

 

[chown33]

I'm stumped.

 

[Jim Lahey]

I'm stumped.

Me too! Thanks for your interest anyways 👍