Mac Photos App stuck on Updating

Hello alankarmisra,

We're glad you thought to ask Apple Support Communities about the issue you're having updating your Photos library on your Mac even though you've deleted all photos from iCloud. Do you also show updating on your iPhone and iPad in the Photos app, or only on the Mac? What about if you visit the iCloud website, do you see any photos remaining there? If so, it could still be removing the photos from the system.

If you don't show updating on your other devices and no photos on the iCloud website, complete the following steps to see if they help. Be sure you're connected to power and a strong Wi-Fi connection prior to starting:

• If you use a VPN or security software, temporarily disable/remove those as they can block connections. If so, you'll want to work with the developer of those apps to look into this more: How to contact an app developer
• Turn off iCloud Photos, restart your Mac, then turn the setting back on:
  • Set up and use iCloud Photos
  • Log out, sleep, wake, restart or shut down your Mac

Keep us posted on the results.

Take care.

OK

Then the next tests are intended to find if this problem is system wide, or just in one user account.

1 - Start the mac in safe mode? Does the problem persist while in safe mode. Try again after re-starting in normal mode.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

(It will take longer than normal to start up)

2 - Try creating a new user account in system settings, log into that user account, and see if the problem exists in that account.

I deleted the original photos library file, created a new one, and used that as a system file, even then, no help.

Where exactly are you seeing the "Updating" message? If a library is empty and not syncing with iCloud, there is no status bar and no "Photos" tab. Some processes will already be trying to update the library, for example the face detection will be waiting for some photos to scan and be showing the message to connect the Mac to power.

When you enable iCloud Photos for the empty library, you will see an "updating" message, which will be stuck, as long as the library is completely empty. Try to import a few photos, so Photos can initialise the waiting processes.

Try to take a regular photo with the camera as well, so you are not just having a screenshot in iCloud. screenshots are handled differently.

How is your Mac connected to the internet? Is it connected to Wi-Fi or are you using a cellular Hotspot? Try to connect to Wi-Fi, and make sure, that no antivirus filter or firewall can intercept the connection to Apple's cloud servers.

Try holding down the option key when starting photos.

Click "create new" to create a new empty library, open it, then go to photos preferences and set it as the system library.

What then happens?

That's great. You're welcome. 😊