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Where have all the Apple screensaver sources located usually under default collections gone in Monterey?

Some weeks ago I installed macOS Monterey from scratch on my MBP 2019 and found that the Floating screensaver I have used since forever in all my macs was broken. I read that there was a bug with the screensavers that use pictures as a source and that it was going to be fixed in v12.1. I decided then to use the source Colors while I waited for the fix.


Today that I installed v12.1 I see that the only default collection source offered under the Floating screensaver settings is Colors, the same applies for all the other screensavers that use picture sources. I can still choose a folder or my own Photo library as source but the only default collection offered is Colors. Where have all the other collections gone? Collections of pictures from the actual and many previous versions of macOS were always available as screensaver sources (Big Sur, Catalina, Sierra, etc). You can see an example of this taken from my previous macOS Big Sur install under this post attachments.


  • Could you be kind and check under Sources / Default collections at your end on the screensavers based on pictures like Floating, Flip Up, etc? Do you see the whole list under Default collections with pics from several macOS releases?


  • I would want to know what has happened with the usual picture sources that we have always been able to use as screensavers? Why aren't they showing at my end now on Monterey?


Thank you.


MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Dec 15, 2021 1:16 PM

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7 replies

Dec 16, 2021 3:45 PM in response to tbirdvet

The issue here is that after installing Monterey we have lost all the contents on the folder /System/Library/Screen Savers/Default Collections apart from /4 - Colors. This folder as pointed contained all the default picture collections delivered by Apple with macOS. Some of this folders are shown in this picture taken from a very old backup from September 2019:



All the macOS versions previous to Monterey included the collections even if you installed macOS from scratch. I know because I installed the previous 3 versions of macOS from scratch and the collections were always available to use.

Dec 16, 2021 4:11 PM in response to DavidG74

Could a kind soul check if you have the full contents of /System/Library/Screen Savers/Default Collections with all the folders with the screensaver pictures, zip the Default Collections folder, upload the file somewhere and paste the link on this thread? My backups are too old and are only showing a few of the collections. This would solve my issue.

Really appreciate the help, thanks.

Where have all the Apple screensaver sources located usually under default collections gone in Monterey?

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