tonybaloney

Q: cannot start icloud photo sharing

I have many apple devices, all of which can access iCloud Photo Sharing, but not my main iMac. However, if I sign into a guest account, I can access iCloud Photo Sharing. I assume it's a file system problem, but not sure which one(s).

 

When I go to Shared in Photos, I get a message, "iCloud Photo Sharing is only available in the System Photo Library." I've toggled iCloud Photos on and off, signed in and out of iCloud, deleted com.apple.cloudphotosd, among others and still no love. Any ideas?

 

El Cap 10.11.6, but had same problem in prior versions as well.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Aug 29, 2016 7:17 AM

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Q: cannot start icloud photo sharing

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 29, 2016 7:28 AM in response to tonybaloney
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 29, 2016 7:28 AM in response to tonybaloney

    You are providing confusing information

     

    what exactly are you doing - iCloud Photo sharing and iCloud Photo Library are two totally different services - with iCloud Photo Sharing you do not "access" the photos - you invite people to subscribe to shared albums

     

    What version of the OS and of Photos are you using and what are your iCloud setting on you Mac and on each IOS device. And as to the system library - launch Photos using the library want and then in the preferences set it as the system library (if set as system library is greyed out it is the system library)

     

    LN

  • by tonybaloney,

    tonybaloney tonybaloney Aug 29, 2016 7:35 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 29, 2016 7:35 AM in response to LarryHN

    I can't do either the sharing, nor the library while signed into my normal user account. If I sign into a Guest account, I can do both easily.

     

    When I go to View > Sharing, I get the iCloud Photo Sharing... message. Shared Albums don't show on side bar, so even if they're two totally different services, they seem to be suffering from the same problem of not being able to activate either.

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Aug 29, 2016 7:44 AM in response to tonybaloney
    Level 10 (105,680 points)
    iLife
    Aug 29, 2016 7:44 AM in response to tonybaloney

    When I go to Shared in Photos, I get a message, "iCloud Photo Sharing is only available in the System Photo Library."

    This message means, that your current Photos Library is not your System Photo Library.

    Have you tried to enable your Photos Library as your System Photo Library? This is done in the Photos > Preferences > General.

    The option "Use as System Photo Library" in the Photos > Preferences > General needs to be greyed out, to show that the library is your System Photo Library.

    Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 16.42.00GMT.jpg

     

    Is your Photos Library on your System drive or an external drive? You may not be able to make the library your system photo library, if the library is on a drive with an unsupported file system.

  • by tonybaloney,

    tonybaloney tonybaloney Aug 29, 2016 7:52 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 29, 2016 7:52 AM in response to léonie

    Woah! Simply clicking Use as System Photo Library fixed it. Thanks so much!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 29, 2016 7:53 AM in response to tonybaloney
    Level 10 (105,680 points)
    iLife
    Aug 29, 2016 7:53 AM in response to tonybaloney

    You're welcome

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 29, 2016 8:33 AM in response to tonybaloney
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 29, 2016 8:33 AM in response to tonybaloney

    OK

     

    But it helps if you answer the questions we ank

    What version of the OS and of Photos are you using and what are your iCloud setting on you Mac and on each IOS device.

     

    And this addresses the system library issue - again please tell us exactly what you are doing and what eexactly happens

    And as to the system library - launch Photos using the library want and then in the preferences set it as the system library (if set as system library is greyed out it is the system library)

    We can not see you so you have to porvide informaiton and feedback - "it does not work" is no help at all - we need to know exactly  what does happen and exactly what settings you do have

     

     

    LN

  • by tonybaloney,

    tonybaloney tonybaloney Aug 29, 2016 9:05 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 29, 2016 9:05 AM in response to LarryHN

    OS X 10.11.6, Photos 1.5.

     

    ICloud setting?

    Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 11.57.51 AM.png

     

    Even though I had these settings, I would get this screen in shared:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 12.01.47 PM.png

    Until I went into Photos Preferences and selected Use as System Photo Library (now greyed out).

     

    Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 12.00.01 PM.png

     

    I hope that's complete and clear.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 29, 2016 9:51 AM in response to tonybaloney
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 29, 2016 9:51 AM in response to tonybaloney

    Now it is

     

    and the results match what I said in my post

     

    And as to the system library - launch Photos using the library want and then in the preferences set it as the system library (if set as system library is greyed out it is the system library)

     

    LN