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Photos freezes after trying to change System Photo Library

I exported my photo library into an external hard drive to save space on my Mac following the steps on article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517. But when I try to designate the library in the external hard drive as the System Photo Library, the Photos app freezes, the rainbow circle appears and when I right click the icon it says the app is not responding.

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 21, 2020 4:58 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 27, 2020 3:20 PM

Hey there mauro2,


Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We understand you’re having issues using your Photo library from an external drive. We’ll be happy to help.


Make sure your Mac is up to date:


How to update the software on your Mac


Then boot into safe mode and see if you can set it up there:


Start up your Mac in safe mode


Try repairing the library using the steps here if the issue continues:


How to use the Photos library repair tool


We hope this helps.


Take care.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 27, 2020 3:20 PM in response to mauro2

Hey there mauro2,


Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We understand you’re having issues using your Photo library from an external drive. We’ll be happy to help.


Make sure your Mac is up to date:


How to update the software on your Mac


Then boot into safe mode and see if you can set it up there:


Start up your Mac in safe mode


Try repairing the library using the steps here if the issue continues:


How to use the Photos library repair tool


We hope this helps.


Take care.

Photos freezes after trying to change System Photo Library

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