Photos was unable to open "Photos Library"

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Sahasvat_V Author

Level 1

142 points

Photos was unable to open "Photos Library"

So I asked this question before but the info given there is totally wrong 😅

Anyway I launch photos and the message I get is " Photos was unable to open "Photos Library" "

Two options, "Quit", and "Open Other…"

Chose Open Other…

Got my OLD, not at all needed iPhoto Library and Photos library(system photo library)

I don't want to open the iPhoto library because…

1. Nothing there belongs to me
2. iPhoto is replaced by Photos
3. MY Photos are in "Photos Library" and not iphoto library

Also all my photos in the photos library are there, I checked in iCloud.com and my iPad

So I chose to open the Photos Library

So, then I click choose library for the photos library(system photo library) option and get this thing:

It could've crashed

So I did the thing to fix it by quitting photos and opening it up again from the dock holding command and option and double clicking

I click repair and enter the password and this is shown:

Repair is literally 100% complete and I still can't open it

Again, my photos are still there in icloud.com and my ipad, it's just that i can't view them on my mac for some reason

More info:

I was in MacOS 10.15.6 yesterday and upgraded to 11.0.1 yesterday, so today is when all this happened
In MacOS Catalina, I could open Photos and view everything
I'm not able to access photos preferences because it's greyed out
I create a new library to open and still get the same message that it could not be opened

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 13, 2020 10:11 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Sahasvat_V Author

Level 1

142 points

Nov 13, 2020 11:27 PM in response to TonyCollinet

I don't really know how I fixed it

I logged out of my user account and logged in again a few times

Restarted my mac, and it somehow just showed me my library

Thanks for the reply

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Answer 2

Sahasvat_V Author

Level 1

142 points

Nov 13, 2020 11:20 PM in response to Sahasvat_V

I fixed it myself now I can see all the photos

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Answer 3

Nov 13, 2020 11:25 PM in response to Sahasvat_V

Hi

I think we can solve this. What we will do is create a new library, make it the system library, and then download the photos as they are stored in iCloud. Try the following.

1 - With photos closed, rename the library that is not working (so that we can use the same name for the new library)

2 - Hold down the option key while starting photos again, and select the new library option. Create a new library in the pictures folder called "photos library.photoslibrary"

3 - Open the new library

4 - Go to photos preferences, and in the general tab click "use as system photo library"

5 - Still in preferences, but the iCloud tab, uncheck iCloud photos, wait a minute and recheck it again.

You will now need to leave photos on - possible for a long time (maybe even days) if your library is large - but it should start filling the new library with all your photos from iCloud.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

195,207 points

Nov 13, 2020 11:41 PM in response to Sahasvat_V

One of your screenshots is showing the alert "photolibraryd could have crashed". When you logged off and on again and restarted your Mac this restarted all background processes, including "photolibraryd". Probably that helped to be able to open the library again.

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Answer 5

Nov 13, 2020 11:25 PM in response to Sahasvat_V

Ah - can you say how you fixed it for others who might experience the same?

Thanks

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Photos was unable to open "Photos Library"

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