What is default password?

It's been a while since I've seen a default keyring - what version of Ubuntu is that? Open up the default keyring to determine what applications are stored in there. If there's only one or two, you might want to consider just deleting that keyring and storing everything in the login keyring instead.

It's possible that you have default keyring because your login keyring is out of sync with your login password. Depending on your security requirements, you might want to consider changing the password on your login keyring to a blank password (called "unsafe storage") which ensures that all future passwords are stored in the login keyring.

I'd only advocate this approach if a) you're using encrypted home or b) you don't care about security.

'Default' keyring actually means "the keyring called 'Default'" And it is a keyring automatically created upon user account creation.

That 'Default' keyring is where all the password goes, the Instant messaging app stores passwords, so it uses a keyring to store them. The keyring is locked so, to access it it need to unlock it to recover the passwords stored.

The password for that keyring is equal to the login password until you manually change one of these. So if you've changed login passwords now the keyring called 'Default' password is out of sync. Desktop uses your login password to try to unlock the keyring, if it fails ask you the password, assuming you've changed the keyring password.

You have recently changed your user account password, didnt you?

This is what happend:

• The "KeyRing" feature in Gnome is kinda like a "Vault" where credentials and passwords for apps are stored. Empathy, for instance, uses the KeyRing to store your IM's accounts logins and passwords

• Each KeyRing (you can have several) has a "master password", which is initially set to your login password. That "opens the vault", ie, allows apps to store and retrieve their recorded data. You were supposed to give the apps this "permition" by entering your keyring password each time an app request the KeyRing a stored value.

(thats what happening to you now)

• So, as long as your user and keyring passwords are the same, theres no need to do that, Gnome do it for you. Both passwords match, apps get their permition to store and retieve data without disturbing the user.

(thats what used to happen to you)

• But, since you changed your user password, but not your keyring one, now they dont match anymore, thus you are requested to input your keyring password for Empathy

So, to restore the previous behaviour, one thing you must do is change the keyring password to match your user password

Do that for both login and default keyring. Or, better yet, if you dont care losing all the passwords stored in the default keyring, just delete it. Apps may ask for credentials one more time, but you will have to give your (now synced) user password only once.

And check if the newly-created entry has really made it into the login keyring. If another default keyring is created again, then we will have to investigate further.

Are you asking what is the GNOME keyring in general? This is from Wikipedia

GNOME Keyring is a daemon application designed to take care of the user's security credentials, such as user names and passwords. The sensitive data is encrypted and stored in a keyring file in the user's home folder. The default keyring uses the login password for encryption, so users don't need to remember yet another password. GNOME Keyring is implemented as a daemon and uses the process name gnome-keyring-daemon. Applications can store and request passwords by using the libgnome-keyring library. GNOME Keyring is part of the GNOME desktop.