Mac OS X Keychain Access: "A default keychain could not be found" error

Question

I am trying to sign an iPhone app for publishing, so I am following the instructions to do so. Anyhow, when creating my Certificate Signing Request I get this error from Keychain Access: "A default keychain could not be found"

I found no help on Google concerning this issue - can anybody help?

Thanks!

Gombroon

Answer 1

Sounds like you're missing your login.keychain. Either that, or you somehow un-set it as default. Look at your Keychains list in Keychain Access (View->Show Keychains). Do you have "login"? And is it bold? If either of those answers was "no", that's your problem. If you don't have a login keychain, go ahead and create one (File->New Keychain). If you don't have a bolded keychain, right-click your "login" keychain and there should be a menu item 'Make Keychain "login" Default'.

Bromeosin

What if login is in bold? – Sirree

"Make Keychain Default" is not an option in the context menu for me... – Hydrokinetic

Answer 2

You can use security command in mac

security list-keychains   # print all the keychains 
security default-keychain -s "<printed keychain using above command>"  
eg: security default-keychain "Users/myname/Library/Keychain/login-db"

I had a problem with I create another keychain as the default keychain I wanted to delete that keychain and make the login keychain as default keychain. You can also use

security delete-keychain "keychain name"  # to delete the keychain

Stomatitis

This saved me after installing enterprise profiles which messed up keychains! – Blumenfeld

Answer 3

Not allowed to create certificate:

Open Keychain and goto Keychain Access -> 'KeyChain First Aid'. Apply check on REPAIR radio button and enter Admin password in password field and click on START button. System will repair the keychain and then create certificate.

These steps worked for me.

Finance

There is no Keychain First Aid in Mac OS Sierra. What to do? – Sponson

On Catalina OS: You can blow away your default keychain and create a new one by clicking on Keychain Access>Preferences>[check Reset My Default Keychain] – Solvency

Answer 4

You need to go into the Lib>Keychains and delete the contents in the folder.

Delete References. Restart, and you should be a happy camper :)

Monarski