How to Find Your Keychain Password

By James Wright

Updated September 28, 2017

The Keychain Access application is a utility used by the Mac operating system to keep track of any passwords you use. It lists all the passwords currently saved on your computer, shows you detailed information about each password file and lets you view the password used for each application without having to change it. To find and view your Keychain passwords, you simply need to use the Keychain Access utility that comes with your Mac.

Open your Keychain application. To access this, open a new Finder window, open your "Applications" folder, enter the "Utilities" folder, then open "Keychain Access."

Scroll through the list of passwords currently stored in your Keychain. You can select various categories to help your search, though to find specific passwords (like system passwords, wireless passwords, etc.) you will need to select a different option under the "Keychains" category, where "login" is typically the default option.

Double-click the name of the keychain password you would like to view. In the popup box that appears, select "Show password" under the "Attributes" tab. Another popup box will appear, asking you to type in your user password. After this is entered, you will be able to see the password you have entered.

Warnings

This method works if you know your main user password - if you do not remember your administrator password to log in, you will need to reset it using your Mac OS install disc.

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