Photos Application Stuck At Downloading Originals

If you want to get all of your full sized image files downloaded from your iCloud library do the following;

1 - on your current library disable iCloud Library.

2 - on a volume which is large enough to hold all of the full sized image files create a new, empty library.

3 - make the library the System Photo Library.

4 - enable iCloud Library.

5 - do not enable "Optimize Mac Storage".

6 - leave the library open and in the background and the computer on until all photos and videos have been downloaded. It could take over a week depending on the size the the iCloud Library.

You can use the laptop while the download is in progress by leaving Photos open in the the background.

What worked for me is going to activity manager and force quitting "MDCrashReport" and photos resumed downloading originals normally. Hope it helps

For me, it appears that restarting the device activates whatever background process that downloads the original photos. However, it is a major inconvenience to have to restart my devices all, all, all the time just for it to download like 3 originals.

Same here. I am very frustrated. I have 67,000 images and almost daily phone calls to Creative Media senior advisors. Have recently had engineers involved. I have noticed that the only way I can download originals (1 TB file) is to constantly move my mouse. The download is basically stuck at around 275 GB but will download a few bytes at a time as long as I move my mouse. If I stop doing that, it stops. I have done everything I can think of:

-reinstalled MacOS X 14.2.1

-Booted in Safe Mode

-Created a new User

-Repaired my Photos Library

Nothing works. My problem is on an M2 MacBook Air 2023 model. My Mac Mini 2023 is fine. Not having an issue.

Same with syncing. All Mac's and iOS X devices in sync with iCloud. Just cannot get my originals downloaded to the Air. (BTW, I have 1.35 TB available so that is not the issue)

Too frustrating and a waste of time pushing my mouse around for 23 bytes of data in an hour.

Same problem and Sonoma 14.2.1 did not solve it.

I tried the same workaround with the "Play Slideshow", but unfortunately, out of my 132516 photos and videos, I still have 7346 that won't download.

And there are gaps between the number of photos in iCloud, iPhone and the app Photo in my Mac.

I'll be happy to get a fix for that very annoying issue.

I just got a new Mac (MacBook Pro M3) and I am having the same issue. I also started having this issue about 2 weeks ago with my iPad. It's nice to know that you have spoken with support and that the engineers are aware of the problem.

Same happening here, I can't play slideshows, add smart folders or even at times add manually to a folder as it doesn't connect well to the cloud. I have even "unchecked" optimize Mac storage weeks ago and has not worked. Beyond frustrating.

Did you hear back any further from Apple regarding this issue?

Hopefully not, this seems to be an issue for a lot of users, apparently.

What did you do on your end? Did you already have the "download originals" set when you updated? Or did you turn it on after the update?

For me, it seems to still not be functioning.