When I open photos the Preferences tab is greyed out.
If I open System Preferences and try to tick photos in the iCloud preferences it keeps asking for my computer password but gets no further . It seems to be stuck in a loop.
Please can someone advise how I resolve this.
This is a new MacBook Pro 13inch. My old MacBook Pro was using include without any issues.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.2
I hate that this is causing so many headaches. Even if you tried all this before, it won't hurt to go through & step by step, word by word, go through these articles & try to repair the library.
System Photo Library overview for Photos on Mac - Apple Support (IN)
Repair your library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support (IN)
Also, this a good link to bookmark, Photos User Guide for Mac - Apple Support (IN)
Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.
NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;
• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)
• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically
• Disables user-installed fonts
• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files
Thank you. I'm out of that loop and now able to check the photos box in iCloud.
However when I open photos and click Get Started it says "The Library Could Not Be Opened". The preferences id still greyed out in photos.
I've tried that but it doesn't help unfortunately. The preferences option is still greyed out when I open photos even in safe mode. This is a brand new laptop. I haven't installed anything. I am able to see my documents etc that are all in iCloud but not my photos.
It seems to me that I don't have a System Photo Library. I would have thought this would be already on there. ~Do I need to add it and if so how do I do that?
Thank you everyone- this is all really helpful.
Any library can be the System Photo Library. Just open the library you want to be your primary library, go to Photos' General preference pane and click on this button:
Make sure Photos is checked in this preference pane:
Then try the Photos/iCloud preference pane again.
I've opened the repair library but I'm not convinced that anything is happening as I immediately got this message. After several minutes it's still at 0% complete.
If your Photo library is larger than your iCloud account, it won't work.
I don't think it is. It worked without an issue on my previous MacBook. The iCloud account shows 82GB of available storage.
I can't check that box. It goes into an endless loop of asking for my password but won't let me tick it.
Do you have an iPhone or iPad with current iOS your confirmation code might be coming up on?
I have had this same issue before....all you have to do is sign out of icloud in system preferences & sign back in. It usually takes care of the endless loop.
I hope that works for you!
Brilliant. Thank you. I created a new library and bingo its set.
Thank you so much for your help.
Great! I am so glad you got this working!
I can't turn on iCloud in photos
