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Dreamweaver CS5 for Mac loses site FTP logins - a solution

Posted by Robert Lee on 24 January 2012

Dreamweaver CS5 for Mac loses site FTP logins - a solution

For months now I've been frustrated by a really annoying bug in Dreamweaver CS 5 Mac. For some sites it just refuses to remember FTP logins, whilst for others it keeps them fine.  So each time I fire up Dreamweaver and need to upload a file for the first time on an affected site I have to go to the "Manage Sites" dialogue box and re-enter the FTP username and password.  For the rest of that session it will work OK, but as soon as I quit Dreamweaver and restart it, the FTP login is lost again.

Well today I found the solution.  It appears that it's something to do with the data stored in the Keychain.  I found that if I deleted the Keychain item for the Dreamweaver site concerned, and then let Dreamweaver create a new one - bingo!  Problem solved!

Here's a step by step guide to fixing it:

  1. Quit Dreamweaver if it's running.
  2. Go to Spotlight (magnifying glass icon on the far right hand side of the menu bar) and type "Keychain". Look for the "Keychain Access" application and click to launch it.
  3. In Keychain Access, you should see a list of Keychain items.  Look in the "Name" column for an item named with the FTP address of the server in your affected site. It will look something like this: "myserver.com-SiteServer 0". It will also say "application password" in the "Kind" column.
  4. Click the item to select it. You should see some properties of the Keychain item appear at the top of the Keychain Access window. As a double check, ensure that the value shown for "Account" is the FTP username.  If it's not, then you may have the wrong item.
  5. Once you're happy you have the correct item, and it's selected, hit the Delete key to remove it. Leave the application open for now.
  6. Start Dreamweaver, go to the "Manage Sites" dialogue box (Site > Manage Sites...), and edit the affected site. Click on the Servers section and double click the server in the list to edit it.
  7. Enter the FTP username and password, then click Save to close the edit server box, and click Save again to close the edit site box.
  8. You should now see that a new Keychain item has been created in Keychain Access (it should have the same name).
  9. You can quit Keychain Access and Dreamweaver now, then restart Dreamweaver and upload a file to your site - you find it works now without having to re-enter the FTP details.

Happy days!

TAGS: Mac OS X

Comments

3 comments received

Posted by Matt on 30 April 2014 at 3:30am:

Worked like a charm. Thanks Robert!

Posted by Susan on 6 January 2014 at 2:04pm:

This worked like a charm. I've called tech support at Apple, Dreamweaver, and Dotster (my web host) for help with this and none of them could fix the problem. Thanks very much.

Posted by Ken on 16 January 2013 at 2:49am:

RE: Dreamweaver CS5 Mac login and password settings are not saving.

Robert Lee ... THAT WAS TOO EASY ! I've been reading forever on the adobe site on fixes that never worked dating back to 2006 or was it 2008? Of course Adobe would never offered a fix. Looks like they've deleted lots of forum stuff for CS5 in hopes that customers will buy in to their new money pit. MY Sincere THANKS TO YOU AND HOPEFULLY OTHERS WILL FIND THIS FIX. If you have a site where CS5 people go now a days ... feel free to let us know !
Cheers!

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