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User profile for user: JHirschman
JHirschman Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Photos says "Unsupported Library" after migrating to M1 Max Macbook Pro

Before I migrated, I upgraded my old Macbook Pro to Monterey, thinking that would minimize the things that needed to be changed.


After migrating, the new M1 Max laptop can't open my Photos, saying:

The library “Photos Library.photoslibrary” is from a newer version of Photos


I've upgraded everything on the new laptop to the latest versions. Does this mean the M1 Macbooks are running older versions of Photos than Intel based ones?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 8, 2021 9:54 AM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,309 points

Posted on Nov 8, 2021 10:44 AM

Photos is a part of the system. You may want to compare the system versions on your two Macs in the menu  in the main menu bar:  > About this Mac. Are the two system versions shown there the same?


Are you using iCloud Photos? If your photos are in iCloud Photos, you can create a compatible version of your Photos Library by creating a new, empty library on your new M1 Max laptop and enabling iCloud Photos for this library. The photos from iCloud will download to this new library and it will be compatible with the system version on this Mac.


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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,309 points

Nov 8, 2021 10:44 AM in response to JHirschman

Photos is a part of the system. You may want to compare the system versions on your two Macs in the menu  in the main menu bar:  > About this Mac. Are the two system versions shown there the same?


Are you using iCloud Photos? If your photos are in iCloud Photos, you can create a compatible version of your Photos Library by creating a new, empty library on your new M1 Max laptop and enabling iCloud Photos for this library. The photos from iCloud will download to this new library and it will be compatible with the system version on this Mac.


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User profile for user: JHirschman
JHirschman Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 8, 2021 4:02 PM in response to léonie

Ahh! The new laptop was running 12.0, but the old one was running 12.0.1!!! It didn't occur to me that could be the problem, but it looks like it was.


Upgrading to 12.0.1 seems to have fixed the problem -- thank you very much!!


FWIW, I totally understand whybig formatting changes ("You can't look at your photos because your OS version is so old.") happen at the major OS transitions -- 11.x to 12.x, or MAYBE 11.5 to 11.6. But I don't think most users expect compatibility problems between 12.0 and 12.0.1.

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Photos says "Unsupported Library" after migrating to M1 Max Macbook Pro

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