Keychain: Secure Notes: Access to this item is restricted

[krezza]

I recently did a clean install on my MacBook pro. Before I did the clean install, I backed up what I thought would be the keychain stuff. This is what I backed up. I used a back up program called ibackup and I selected keychain to back it up. I also copied the keychain folder, which was located in the Macintosh Hard drive in the Library folder, and also I backed up the folder, which was in the other Library folder in the System folder.

I then copy all the backed up content back into those folders. I can access the keychain and my entire login passwords with out any problems. I can see the secure notes are there that I created but once I try to open then so I can see contents of the secure notes I get this error “Access to this item is restricted”

I hoping I can access my secure notes again. I want to mention once I do a restart it seems like my keychain secure notes resets it self and I have no secure notes in the keychain anymore. I hope someone can help.


Thanks

[Weaselboy]

First thing, I think by overwriting all those folders you have mucked up Keychain. Reinstall the OS to fix those folders you changed.

Do you still have access to the old machine?

There are only two files you need to move over to copy the keychain. Go to the folder below and copy the two .keychain files there from the old machine and put then in the same folder on the new machine. Then logout and back in for the keychain to be recognized.

/Users/username/Library/Keychains

[krezza]

Thanks for the reply. I don't have access to the old OS. I did the clean install on the same computer. I just backed up the two library folders. I am sorry I don't see a keychain folder in this directory /Users/username/Library/Keychains

I only have the old keychain folders that I backup from theses places

/Macintosh HD/Library/Keychains
/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Keychains

So what would be causing this error “Access to this item is restricted” when I try and open the secure notes?

Thanks

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by krezza

Thanks for the reply. I don't have access to the old OS. I did the clean install on the same computer. I just backed up the two library folders. I am sorry I don't see a keychain folder in this directory /Users/username/Library/Keychains

I only have the old keychain folders that I backup from theses places

/Macintosh HD/Library/Keychains
/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Keychains

So what would be causing this error “Access to this item is restricted” when I try and open the secure notes?

Thanks

Nothing in those two folders will help you, as they do not contain your personal keychain data.

Where I put username you need to substitute whatever your username is.

Here is a more certain way to get there.

Click the blank desktop to bring focus to Finder. Hit shift-command-g (all three keys at once). Paste ~//Library/Keychains into the box that pops up and hit enter. This will get you to your personal keychain folder and this is where the new keychain files belong.

Can you retrieve these files from the backup you made?

[kgs]

Originally Posted by krezza

Thanks for the reply. I don't have access to the old OS. I did the clean install on the same computer. I just backed up the two library folders. I am sorry I don't see a keychain folder in this directory /Users/username/Library/Keychains

I only have the old keychain folders that I backup from theses places

/Macintosh HD/Library/Keychains
/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Keychains

So what would be causing this error “Access to this item is restricted” when I try and open the secure notes?

Thanks

As the other poster pointed out, you probably didn't backup your real keychain files. Those are in ~/Library/Keychains/

The error you're getting is likely due to permissions. The file is owned by someone other than yourself, therefore, you don't have permission. Common situation when users copy files like this.

[krezza]

Originally Posted by Weaselboy

Nothing in those two folders will help you, as they do not contain your personal keychain data.

Where I put username you need to substitute whatever your username is.

Here is a more certain way to get there.

Click the blank desktop to bring focus to Finder. Hit shift-command-g (all three keys at once). Paste ~//Library/Keychains into the box that pops up and hit enter. This will get you to your personal keychain folder and this is where the new keychain files belong.

Can you retrieve these files from the backup you made?

Thanks for that. I did have that data backed up. AS I could see it didn't have my secure notes data in there. When I put my other backed up content in the keychains folder which is located here.

/Macintosh HD/Library/Keychains

My secure notes data came back and now just the same when I access it I still get the restricted error.

The keychain data of the logins I can access with no problems at all.

Thanks for helping

----------

Originally Posted by kgs

As the other poster pointed out, you probably didn't backup your real keychain files. Those are in ~/Library/Keychains/

The error you're getting is likely due to permissions. The file is owned by someone other than yourself, therefore, you don't have permission. Common situation when users copy files like this.

When I finished the clean install, I did put the same username and password that I had on my old system. Maybe that is not good enough. So there is no way to get around the restricted error?

Thanks

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Hi Guys, I have now seen what I did. When I created secure notes I created it under system secure notes not under login secure notes. Is this what is causing the problem?

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by krezza

Hi Guys, I have now seen what I did. When I created secure notes I created it under system secure notes not under login secure notes. Is this what is causing the problem?

Ah.... yes that would cause this problem. You would have had to manually create a new secure note under System though, is that what you did before?

[krezza]

Originally Posted by Weaselboy

Ah.... yes that would cause this problem. You would have had to manually create a new secure note under System though, is that what you did before?

Yes, That is what I did before. I now know what to do so I won't do that again. In the mean time is there any way I can still view my secure notes under the system keychain and over come the restricted error?

Thanks

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by krezza

Yes, That is what I did before. I now know what to do so I won't do that again. In the mean time is there any way I can still view my secure notes under the system keychain and over come the restricted error?

Thanks

I really don't know as I have not run across this before.