You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Hi. I have a new MacBook pro and i can't open the Photos library. please help

Hi. I have a new MacBook pro and i can't open the Photos library. please help



Posted on Apr 18, 2022 2:43 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 19, 2022 11:37 PM

What do you mean by „the library is on iCloud“? Is the photo library package stored on iCloud Drive or has the Photos lLibrary been syncing with iCloud Photos Library? Photos cannot work with a library stored on iCloud Drive. The syncing would damage the library package. But if you library has been syncing with iCloud Photos and all your photos and videos are still in your iCloud Photos Library, you can rebuild your library by downloading the photos to a new empty library.

  • quit Photos, if it is running. Launch it again while holding down the options key. When the dialog to select a library appears select to create a new library, preferably in you Pictures folder.
  • go to the Photos Preferences General tab and click „use as system photos library“.
  • open the iCloud tab and enable iCloud Photos and Optimise Mac Storage, if you do not have much free storage.
  • Wait for the photos to reappear in your library
9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 19, 2022 11:37 PM in response to RobOberer

What do you mean by „the library is on iCloud“? Is the photo library package stored on iCloud Drive or has the Photos lLibrary been syncing with iCloud Photos Library? Photos cannot work with a library stored on iCloud Drive. The syncing would damage the library package. But if you library has been syncing with iCloud Photos and all your photos and videos are still in your iCloud Photos Library, you can rebuild your library by downloading the photos to a new empty library.

  • quit Photos, if it is running. Launch it again while holding down the options key. When the dialog to select a library appears select to create a new library, preferably in you Pictures folder.
  • go to the Photos Preferences General tab and click „use as system photos library“.
  • open the iCloud tab and enable iCloud Photos and Optimise Mac Storage, if you do not have much free storage.
  • Wait for the photos to reappear in your library

Apr 19, 2022 1:12 AM in response to RobOberer

Hi


Where is the library stored? If it is on an external drive, what is the format of the drive. And is the drive also used for time machine (or has it been in the past?).


If it is on your system drive, how did you transfer it from the old computer?


Do you have all the photos already in iCloud? If so, we could sync iCloud to a new empty library and solve the issue that way. Question above is still important though.


Apr 19, 2022 6:52 PM in response to Keith Barkley

My old computer was a MacBook Air 2015 - Operating system - Catalina Version 10.15.7

New computer is a MacBook Pro 2021 - Operation system - Monterey Version 12.0.1

The photo library i am trying to access is on iCloud

The photo library is no longer accessible on my old computer (as well as my new computer) since i transferred to the new computer

Thanks

Rob

Apr 19, 2022 6:54 PM in response to TonyCollinet

My old computer was a MacBook Air 2015 - Operating system - Catalina Version 10.15.7

New computer is a MacBook Pro 2021 - Operation system - Monterey Version 12.0.1

The photo library i am trying to access is on iCloud

The photo library is no longer accessible on my old computer (as well as my new computer) since i transferred to the new computer

Thanks

Rob

Hi. I have a new MacBook pro and i can't open the Photos library. please help

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.