The "accountsd wants to use the login keychain" error is one of those issues you can encounter from time to time. It can be very frustrating and problematic, so narrowing down the problem and solving it quickly is crucial. Thankfully, we created a guide to help you tackle this error.
What is accountsd, and why does this error appear?
Accountsd is a part of the Accounts framework, and this is the accounts daemon. Its role is to start login credentials for services and apps on the Mac. When you see the "accountsd wants to use the login keychain" error, then most likely your keychain and login passwords are not in sync. When you create a user and log in, the login password and keychains are in sync. If the administrator changes login passwords, that can lead to a lack of sync.
How can you sync the login keychain and passwords?
Go to Application/Utilities, and there you have to enter Keychain Access. Press Edit.
Here you want to select the option to change keychain login password
In some cases, the keychain is locked, so you have to enter your previous password
Once you enter the password correctly in the Current Password window, enter the current password in the New Password field. You will need to type the new password again in the Verify field. Then it's all in sync.
Stop the auto-lock function for the keychain
Enter Keychain Access, and there you want to right-click on Login.
Here you need to press Change Settings for Keychain Login via that drop-down menu
Here uncheck Lock After and Lock When Sleeping.
Save, and you will solve the issue.
Removing the iCloud Keychain
You can do that by going to System Preferences, selecting Apple ID and then scrolling to find Keychain. Deselect the Keychain option and restart your Mac. Re-enter the Keychain option and select it if you want to re-enable the iCloud Keychain.
Reset the Local Keychain
There are difficult situations when you might need to reset the local keychain completely. In that case, you need to follow these steps:
Enter Keychain Access
Select Keychain Access from the menu bar, then Preferences from the Drop Down. Then you can choose Reset my Default Keychains.
Upon doing that, you must enter a new password, press Ok and then log out of your Mac. Log back, and that will finalize the keychain reset.
Try the Keychain First Aid
The Keychain First Aid feature is very interesting and can be seen on Mac OS Catalina or older. You can use it via:
Entering the Keychain Access app and choosing the Keychain Access from the menu bar.
Here you need to enter the drop-down menu and select Keychain First Aid. You will need to enter the user and pass for the app you can't access. Select Verify and then choose Start.
Creating a new keychain
Even if it's more complex to do this, it can be the preferable option in some cases.
Enter your Finder, choose Go from the menu bar, and then press Go to Folder. Here you want to add "~/Library/Keychains" as the destination folder.
After that, you can press Go, pick the Keychains folder and hold the Option key while dragging the folder to your desktop. Right-click to rename the folder and finalize this process.
Conclusion
Dealing with the "accountsd wants to use the login keychain" can be quite a challenge, but there are multiple ways to solve this issue. You can do that while solving any of the keychain problems very quickly.