I am new to the Mac computer and my iMovie will not open. My son who is away at college had used it before but now when I click on it the "iMovie" shows in the top toolbar but the program itself won't open. What am I doing wrong?
Not sure what is going on. Make sure you have enough drive space for the app to open....at least 15 GB.
Try first deleting iMovie's preference file. With iMovie closed, go to your Home file(the one with the icon of a house and your user name). Then, within that, locate Library/Preferences/com.apple.imovie.plist. If you have both iMovie8 and version 6 installed, be sure that you find the correct one, which will be imovie7.plist; the iMovie 6 one will be just imovie.plist.
Drag this plist file to the trash.
Now try to open iMovie and see if it works.
If not, close it again, and repair permissions on your computer's drive. Go to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and open DU. You should see your drive listed on the left. Click once on its name, and then make sure that First Aid is highlighted and go to the bottom of the screen and click on 'Repair Disk Permissions.' If you have never done this before, it may take some time. If there are any fixes to be done, click OK or Fix. Then repair permissions again until you see that the drive is ok.
Try opening iMovie again. If that fails, you may need to reinstall the app from your iLife08 disks. Post back if you need assistance with that.
Not sure what is going on. Make sure you have enough drive space for the app to open....at least 15 GB.
Try first deleting iMovie's preference file. With iMovie closed, go to your Home file(the one with the icon of a house and your user name). Then, within that, locate Library/Preferences/com.apple.imovie.plist. If you have both iMovie8 and version 6 installed, be sure that you find the correct one, which will be imovie7.plist; the iMovie 6 one will be just imovie.plist.
Drag this plist file to the trash.
Now try to open iMovie and see if it works.
If not, close it again, and repair permissions on your computer's drive. Go to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and open DU. You should see your drive listed on the left. Click once on its name, and then make sure that First Aid is highlighted and go to the bottom of the screen and click on 'Repair Disk Permissions.' If you have never done this before, it may take some time. If there are any fixes to be done, click OK or Fix. Then repair permissions again until you see that the drive is ok.
Try opening iMovie again. If that fails, you may need to reinstall the app from your iLife08 disks. Post back if you need assistance with that.
Hi and thank you for the help so far. When I open the Disk Utility I have two things listed, 232.9 GB WDC WD2500AAjs-40vwao Media and Macintosh HD I did the repair thing on the WDC one is that right? Ok to reinstall if I have to I have this disc that says iwork is that what I want to reinstall from? other then that I have no other discs that came with the computer.
Also just to clarify, When I click on the Imovie icon it hops up and down and the little light comes on under it but nothing opens. When i open photobooth I can click a still photo but not record a movie, my son had made a little movie of his brother's when he was home from college using the camera that is built into the computer and since then the built in camera has only been used on Yahoo to chat with him. I just want to make sure I am giving you the correct information.
Hi and thanx again. I did all the updates and Imovie now opens, The PROBLEM now is, It does not recognize my camera. I have the little camera that is built into the computer and I clicked create new project when I click the movie camera icon on the imovie screen it says no camera connected. I did check to see if i could play the existing video that my son created and I can. How do I get imovie to recognize my camera (isight I think). Sorry if I sound stupid but this is the first mac I have owned.
I'm stuck too.
I have done everything from deleting the .plist to removing all the components from my quicktime folders. both in my hd and in my username. this is so strange. I go to open the program, and the icon does its little zoom & fade as if it is opening but the application never initiates. It just doesnt ever start.
I had the same problem after trying to import movies in .mov and H.264 format. The software closed and was unable to relaunch. I had to go into macintosh HD, followed by the user and into movies. Once there it is best to go into Imovie projects and delete the projects there that were set-up prior to the import or aren't important to you. After this the application should be able to load up.
This is what i experienced, hope that it's helpful.
no dice. i got my hard drive wiped by the guys at the apple store when i sent my laptop in for repairs during the year, get it back and the program doesnt work.
so i have no previous projects!
Hi, the information Beverly gave me in the first reply to my problem fixed the Imovie program so it opens so maybe do what was suggested there to get the program to open.
My problem is that Imovie will not recognize the camera that is built into my computer and I am very new to the mac world so I can't even begin to fix it on my own.
I still need HELP to get imovie to recognize the camera.
Can you move the toggle switch to get the iSight to work?
There is a toggle switch just under the main iMovie screen, to the left of the play buttons. It has a little movie camera icon on its left and a pair of scissors on its right. If the switch is on the scissors, you are in 'Edit' mode; if you place it on the camera, you are in 'Record' mode. Move the switch to the camera, then click on the little icon to bring up a menu with the option of selecting 'Record with iSight.' Click on that and the iSight should work.
HI I do not see the toggle switch. Next to the play button there is an icon with a star in it. I am looking to the left of the Imovie main screen. At the top left I have project libraries witht 4 things listed in in and under that a small toolbar with two arrows (play) and to the left of those there is the icon with the star in it. again under that I have EVENT library with the list and again those same little buttons and icon. when I click the camera icon in the middle it gives me no options just says no camera connected.
Oh, my apologies.....I am still using iMovie 6 most of the time. Sorry 😟 to mislead you.
In iMovie 08, there is a little camcorder icon at the middle far left. If you single-click on it, a new window opens. It has the text 'Camera' at the far left bottom, and a dropdown menu bar where you can select 'Built-in iSight' or your camcorder (if it is connected).
Hi, well that's the problem exactly!! when I click the icon of the camera in Imovie I get a new window that says "no camera connected." How do I get Imovie to recognize my built in camera. I have clicked every icon and button and option in the tool bar and nothing gives me any options to set a camera. The camera does work with yahoo and also works for still photo's in photobooth. I thought there might be a conflict with yahoo so I uninstalled yahoo and re-installed the imovie, garage band, and all those things on the cd and still no luck. HELPPPPPPPPPP
What happens when you do connect a camcorder? Do you get the option to select that in the dropdown selection bar of that camcorder icon? If you haven't tried that, do so, maybe that will jumpstart iMovie to recognizing iSight.
This may sound so stupid but the suggestion to go and upgrade my quicktime has been mentioned several times. So I did the upgrade but when I click on Quicktime it asks me to purchase it. Now the stupid part is...I thought it came with the software for my mac. My 1 & 2 discs have quick time on them. Will Imovie not allow me to use the built in camera unless I purchase quicktime? Imovie worked with the built in camera a month ago.
