Unable To Open Photos Library On Mac

Photos in your System Photo Library are available in apps like iMovie, Pages, and Keynote. You can also sync them to iOS devices and view them on Apple TV. And if you want to use your own images as your desktop picture or screen saver, the images need to be in your System Photo Library before you can select them in System Preferences.

Unable To Open Photos Library On Mac Download

Solution 1: Use Mac Built-in Photos Library Repair Tool. If Mac photos the library could not be opened or it is showing unexpected errors, then Photos Library Repair Tool is one of the best ways to fix it. This is a built-in repair tool, comes with macOS and it is pretty easy to use. Step 1: Press and hold the “Option” and “Command. May 21, 2015 How to Repair Photos Library in Photos App for Mac OS X. Though repairing the library is supposed to fix problems, it’s a good idea to backup the Mac and your photos library into Time Machine, or your backup method of choice, before attempting to repair it.

If you have only one photo library, then it's the System Photo Library. Otherwise, the first photo library that you create or open in Photos will become the System Photo Library. If you have more than one library, you might need to designate a System Photo Library, so other apps can access the photos and videos you want them to use.

Follow these steps to designate a System Photo Library:

Open My Photo Library

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. Hold down the Option key and open Photos. One of the photo libraries is already designated as YourLibraryName (System Photo Library).
  3. Choose the library you want to designate as the System Photo Library.
  4. After Photos opens the library, choose Photos > Preferences from the menu bar.
  5. Click the General tab.
  6. Click the Use as System Photo Library button.

If you open a second or different library in the Photos app, and you haven't designated it as the System Photo Library, other applications will use photos from the original System Photo Library. Hold down the Option key when you open Photos to see which library is set as the System Photo Library.

iCloud and the System Photo Library

You can use iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream only with the System Photo Library. If you choose a different library in Photos without designating it as the System Photo Library, the iCloud tab in Photos preferences is disabled:

If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photos, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photos. If you want to keep the contents of your photo libraries separate, don’t turn on iCloud Photos for more than one library in Photos.

Sometimes, when you use iPhoto to open a photo library, you may see an error that says ‘This photo library is locked, on a locked disk or you do not have permissions to make changes’. What are the reasons for the error and how can you resolve it? Let us understand more in this article. Where is ruler in mac photo library.

Case 1: Make sure iPhoto is being accessed from only one machine

Please note that the iPhoto library can be accessed from only one iPhoto at a time. So, if you are accessing the library that is already open on another machine (using file sharing or any such feature) you may receive the error. In that case, close the iPhoto on the machine that has it open and try re-opening it on your machine.

Mac os hidden library folder. Case 2: Obtain read and write permissions

To be able to open the iPhoto library, it requires that you have both read and write permissions. Even if you don’t intend to make changes to the library, you still need to have write permissions just to open the library and view images.

  • If the iPhoto library is on an external hard drive or a USB pen drive, follow the steps below to obtain permissions.
  1. Connect the device on which you have iPhoto library and open Finder
  2. Choose the device from the list and click on File > Info
  3. At the bottom of the Info dialogue, check the box next to ‘Ignore ownership on this volume’ and close the window.

This will help you obtain all read-write permissions to the drive on which iPhoto library is present. Now you should be able to open the library without any issues.

  • The same is the case when you are accessing an iPhoto library from a NAS drive or Time Capsule; make sure you obtain write permissions.

Case 3: Repair iPhoto library

If the above methods don’t help, there may be corruption issues within your iPhoto library. To repair such issues, use the built in Repair library feature as explained in the steps below.

  1. Click on the Command + Option keys and open iPhoto
  2. Press the keys until the Rebuild Photo Library dialog box appears
  3. Click on Repairthe iPhoto Library Database for the tool to repair the database and click on Rebuild
  4. Then proceed with the on-screen instructions to repair the library’s database

If Repair library doesn’t fix the issue, you can also use ‘Rebuild the iPhoto library database’ feature which will allow you to rebuild the library. This can resolve most problems, but before you attempt this step, make sure to have a backup of your photos just in case anything happens during the process.

However if you have lost photos after repairing or rebuilding library, and no backup is available, you can use Remo Recover to recover lost photos from iPhoto library. A trial version of the software is available for free, be sure to try it out today!