After MacOS Sonoma update, Photos app is unable to open my Photos Library because it's stored in iCloud Drive.

I am having same issue. The answers are somewhat helpful but can someone give a detailed step by step on how to do this? I have clicked settings - Apple ID - iCloud - and then I see a page that from top to bottom, iCloud, Account Storage, Optimize Mac Storage, then a box labeled "Apps Using iCloud" which has (from top to bottom) Photos, iCloud Drive, eCloud Mail and Passwords and Keychain and below that a box labeled iCloud+. If I click on iCloud Drive and then on "Apps syncing to iCloud Drive" I see the photo icon and it is already clicked to sync along with 11 others including Mail, messages, Quick Time Player etc.

Nothing that I click on seems to give me the option to put my photos that I had organized by album back on my desktop.

Sorry, I did finally find it - it was where it always was I guess, just I wasn't aware of where that was. It seems like after previous updates, the Mac Photos app was always able to remember where the Photo Library was and opened it. After this Sonoma update, Photos acted like it couldn't find the Photo Library and was asking me to point it out. Just took me awhile to find it.

Thank you for all of the helpful comments. I'm experiencing a similar issue with a slight twist. I am working on a 500 Gig hard drive that is backed up via an old time capsule on my local network. I also subscribe to iCloud+ and have plenty of room. When I first read this reply, I thought the file might just be misplaced. I found one sitting outside of my Pictures folder, but still in my User group. However, that library is my daughter's library (???). There are no other libraries on my personal drive. So, my next step was to create a new library as suggested. However, when I did that it will not let me set the new library up as my "System Library" because I have obviously misplaced it?? I can still see all of my photos on iCloud.com and my iPhone 13 pro. My next step would be to turn off photos in system settings, and then re-boot (with fingers crossed). I am concerned though about the warnings that tell me I might lose all my data. FYI, I also tried to find the library on an old backup. I was having trouble a few months' ago with one of the kids' laptops not backing up. Therefore, I wiped the whole time capsule (3tb) and started over. I have backups for the entire family from June 8th, 2023. So, I was looking for library file. Strange as it may seem, the only library file I have going back to June (pre-Sonoma and pre-issue) is the one I mentioned earlier (my daughter's). It's same exact byte size (6.09) throughout. Another interesting point here is that there is no "Photos.app" on any of those backups. I have to assume that Sonoma somehow erased / replaced the library with my daugher's and that replicated in the backups???? I have no idea. I knew better than to upgrade before the first couple of updates, but I did it anyway. Hoping someone out there can help.

to quote eli@mac "My photo library has been happily sitting on my iCloud drive ever since there was an iCloud drive. I never had an issue with it. In fact that was a reason i opted for the 2TB monthly fee. Now the sonoma upgrade forces me to move it locally where i really have no room for it, so i have to attach another drive to a usb port which i don't have so I have to attach another usb hub to my existing usb hub! And for the entry level macs with small drives there has to be constant resolution conversions (optimizations... HA!) for image manipulation? Why am i not convinced that this is progress in this day and age that EVERYTHING else lives on the cloud?

Please enlighten me!"

Yes, and me too!

I also do experience that my photo library cannot be found after upgrade Sonoma. When I try to drag the photo library from my iCloud drive to my pictures folder I get the response "Are you sure that you want to remove your library from iCloud Drive?" .

This worries me because I do not know the consequences that my data get lost. I copied it first but there is no synchronization after I altered a picture.

Some additional information on iCloud Drive: any file placed on iCloud Drive is mirrored on the Mac in the User/Home/Library/Mobile Documents folder:

It's syncing service so that all of your devices that have iCloud Drive enabled can access the same documents. It's not off computer storage.

Some of us aren't tech savvy at all and don't understand all of the instructions. Even Apples instructions tell you to click on things that don't exist.

I wish Apple would just change this one back to how it was. It worked.

This isn't true. I have been storing my Photo Library in the icloud drive for years because I have an iMac, macbook and phone that I need to access all of the same photos across all of the devices and this is how the Apple Store set it up for me. Very annoying that we weren't given the warning to move it before we did the update and is also annoying because it uses space even if it is storing a smaller image locally it is still taking up valuable HDD real estate ... just wish I had known this prior to doing the update!

This isn't true. I have been storing my Photo Library in the icloud drive for years because I have an iMac, macbook and phone that I need to access all of the same photos across all of the devices and this is how the Apple Store set it up for me. Very annoying that we weren't given the warning to move it before we did the update and is also annoying because it uses space even if it is storing a smaller image locally it is still taking up valuable HDD real estate ... just wish I had known this prior to doing the update!

Keith Barkley everyone is confused. Unless it magically jumped to a different folder the photos library file has been sitting in an iCloud drive folder of my 2-year-old MacBook Pro since I got it and it appears from the comments here that many other's have been functioning just fine with this same setup which seems to have worked across devices. Maybe Sonoma upgrade did just that and moved the file to a different folder - I do know that I had to deal with a whole bunch of iCloud permissions on this stupid upgrade where I never had to do that before. On top of that, I tried to move the file to a different folder (it's 29gb) and an hour later I still saw a message saying it's "preparing" to move the file. I suspect it might take hours to do so if it's even possible. I've quit the process after an hour each time I've attempted it for fear of it going into some sort of death loop so now I'm stuck w/o access to my photos on my MacBook and no solution in sight. Apple doesn't seem to give a you know what as the last update on my Photos Library was 9/27 and it's now >2 weeks later and no solution seems to show up online. If anyone here knows Apple insiders, please contact them and get them to fix it.

Thanks for your feedback. What I am looking for is a step by step procedure to make my photo library available again without loss of data.

As a test I created a second library just to see how is was setup and how is was presented in the box listing the libraries (it has the extension name.photoslibrary). I opted for a location of the library in the map Pictures. This was easy and I could drag some photos in it. The photo app on my MB pro worked perfectly and there is no synchronization of these photos to the Cloud. By using the option key + double click the Photos icon in the dock I could switch between the two libraries. That worked well, I could switch between the two libraries although the original one was still the same result.

When I login via iCloud.com the original pictures are still in the cloud and my iPhone is still showing my original photos and new iPhone pictures are uploaded as well. So there is still communication between my iPhone and the iCloud using the original library.

The local iCloud drive on my MB still contains my photo file after the Sonoma update. So how to proceed, what steps do I have to take to make my original photo library alive again on my MB.

I do not possess much computer skills so I do need help.

How can I make my original library alive again (without losing my photos) like my second test library: original.photoslibrary?

1. Make backup of the original photo library via iCloud.com to a SSD?
2. Move the original photo library to the map Pictures and say yes to all the questions "Are you sure you want to remove your library from the iCloud drive?"
3. Synchronise the original library on the MB enabling communication with iCloud and other devices?

This worked BUT..... NOW I cannot add photos to text messages on my Macbook, neither drag and drop nor using the messaging interface works to insert a photo into iMessage. This is like Whack-a-Mole, one problem solved and another pops up. Great job Apple.

This is a long meandering thread, so it is unclear what "worked", but did you make your new library the system library?

I assume you mean to add images from Photos into your messages.

Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support

Yes, I created a new photo library in a different folder and was able to view my photos again after the iCloud upload. However, I cannot insert a picture from photos into my iMessage text messages on my Mac any longer. Drag and drop doesn't work. Neither does using the interface inside iMessage on my Mac.

I remember doing that when going through the steps and I just checked again and the "use as system photo library" button in the settings interface is grayed out so I'm assuming that means it's already being used as that. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't click download originals to Mac. It's hard to imagine that this is the issue considering how much Apple goes on about the Cloud and how many people don't have large hard drives on their computer but I'm putting it out there as a possibility. See settings screenshot below