Using Keyrings
When working with Ubuntu and network shares, WiFi connections, and so on, you will sometimes be asked for your keyring password. Don’t be confused by this. Simply enter your main Ubuntu password.
There’s a lot more to the Keyring, though. Ubuntu can remember all your passwords and prompt you just once, the first time you need one of those passwords, to enter your keyring password. The idea is clever in that you can have several passwords for different things, and yet only have to remember one master password. But it’s not always clear to new users what is going on. It can also be annoying when you don’t actually want to use the keyring feature.
So here’s how it works. If you don’t want to use the keyring, whenever you are prompted by a keyring request, just press Enter. As long as you haven’t already set a keyring password for the particular type of access you want, you shouldn’t be prompted again for that item.
Otherwise, if you do want to use the keyring system, think up one password you would like as a master password, and enter that whenever asked for your keyring password. You can then supply the actual passwords just the once for each item. They will then be remembered by Ubuntu, which will prompt only for the keyring password in future, and only once per session.
Managing Your Keyring
You can manage your keyring by selecting Applications → Accessories → Passwords and Encryption Keys. This will bring up a window similar to the one shown in Figure 10-21.
Figure 10-21. The ...