Aperture Library unavailable in Desktop Background

Question

Level 1

8 points

Aperture Library unavailable in Desktop Background

I've been transitioning to Aperture for quite some time and have been having recurring trouble, with both 3.0 and 3.1, in using the Aperture Library in my Desktop Backgrounds preference pane.

When loading the Desktop preference pane, the stock images and an unused iPhoto library load up, but the Aperture library waits for a few moments and then it loads nothing. No tiny arrow on the left, no images in the window, nothing. The Aperture library loads into the Screen Saver preference pane, as well as other places for the iLife Media Browser. JUST NOT the Desktop Background pane.

I took the time to look in the Console for some insight and I got that System Preferences sent the message:

** DesktopPref error: DSKApertureRootSource -loaddata TIME OUT!!! There something wrong with iLife Media Browser

Yes, that would be Apple's poor grammar. If anybody has ANY insight into this, I'd welcome it, because I'd love to get this solved.

For those who might already suggest, let me note that I have rebuilt the library twice, repaired permissions, blah blah blah.

MacBook Rev. A, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 2, 2010 11:05 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 4, 2010 6:58 PM in response to clr81

I'm experiencing the exact same thing. I left the "Change Desktop Background" window open for a while to see if it had something to do with my large library, but it never comes up with anything.

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Answer 2

Nov 4, 2010 7:20 PM in response to clr81

We've been discussing this topic a bit over on www.ApertureExpert.com. Suggestions so far have ranged from disabling and re-enabling both previews and iLife sharing, to deleting all cache files and restarting. Still waiting on results but I believe the cache deletion will work.

-Joseph @ApertureExpert

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Answer 3

Nov 5, 2010 8:28 PM in response to clr81

Yeah the moment I upgraded to version 3.1 I've started to experience this error.

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Answer 4

Willy W.

Level 1

15 points

Nov 16, 2010 8:33 AM in response to clr81

I found the solution - at least for me: In Aperture Preferences, go to "export" and then to External Editor File Format. I changed from TIFF (16-bit) to TIFF (8-bit) and now everything works fine. Aperture shows up (with the tiny arrow to the left) and is available in Desktop Background.

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Answer 5

Willy W.

Level 1

15 points

Nov 16, 2010 9:15 AM in response to clr81

Whooops! The solution I gave re changing from 16-bit TIFF export to 8-bit TIFF export worked ONCE. On second return to desktop pictures it did not. SO, I went back to 16-bit export and now it is working again. Go Figure!?

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Answer 6

Nov 24, 2010 8:03 AM in response to Willy W.

I too had this problem. I found that

i) switch share previews with ilife and iwork in the Previews section of Aperture preferences to Never
ii) quit Aperture
iii) open Desktop preferences (Aperture tab gone altogether)
iv) close Desktop preferences
v) open Aperture, switch back share previews with ilife & iwork to Always
vi) open Desktop preferences

worked for me. Whether any of the intermediate stages could be omitted, I don't know, as this cured the problem. I had repaired permissions on the HDD in between previous desktop picture selection and the occurrence of the problem, but have no idea whether this was the cause.

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Answer 7

Nov 24, 2010 9:40 PM in response to Michael Neale

I have exactly the same problem, but I can trace it a bit further.

I use three Aperture libraries.
I open one of them in Aperture, and then select the other ones with File > Switch library.

Two of them work fine and appear in "Change desktop background"
The third one does not appear - I only have "aperture" written in grey, but no subfolders.

THIS ONE IS THE ONE CONTAINING FACEBOOK SHARED ALBUMS !!

So I'm afraid the Facebook/flicker sharing functionality could be (once more (*)) the problem here.
Can anyone confirm based on own experience ?

+(*) once more because it seems that these functionalities already break the bridge between Aperture and FrontRow. It does on my iMac, and it has been reported in many other threads also.+

Message was edited by: Claude Cauwe

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Answer 8

clr81 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 30, 2010 5:55 PM in response to jlinaschke

Hi there, I tried all of these ideas, none of them work. The loading still times out, according to the logs.

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Answer 9

Marrco

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2010 6:59 PM in response to clr81

Shared asset problems with Aperture....since upgrading to Ilife11.
Since the upgrade, i cannot access my aperture Library from; desktop, screen saver, email photo browser, Iphoto, etc. Apparently some file has been corrupted in the process??, likely in Aperture? Aperture itself is working just fine. I have tried: All aperture first aid repairs, did also regenerate all previews. If i export and create new libraries, from portions of my main aperture library, i get some success, but if i try to create the entire new aperture library with all of my projects....no good, cannot view or access in shared programs.
Been on tech help with apple for 2 weeks, still no effective answers.
Just how ubiquitous is this problem...how hard is apple trying to hide it?

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Answer 10

Dec 21, 2010 4:51 PM in response to Marrco

Yup same issue here.

From my console log:

12/21/10 4:39:50 PM System Preferences[472] ** DesktopPref error: DSKApertureRootSource -loadData TIME OUT!!! There something wrong with iLife Media Browser

Sigh...

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Answer 11

MacBones

Level 1

45 points

Dec 27, 2010 6:46 PM in response to Dave Douglas1

Same problem. Not a great selling point for me to upgrade to Aperture.

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Answer 12

Dec 27, 2010 10:43 PM in response to MacBones

Same problem here. This started for me with the upgrade to iLife 11. Just installed Aperture 3.1.1 and still can see neither my iPhoto nor my new Aperture libraries in the desktop/screensaver preference panes.......aaarrrrggggghhh! Can someone please tell me how this kind of $#!+ gets passed Beta testing?

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Answer 13

Jan 12, 2011 9:08 AM in response to motomike27

Check out mrkgoo's solution here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2136604

Worked for me!

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Answer 14

clr81 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2011 9:32 PM in response to Dean Blackketter

This is a workaround, not a solution. I want to be able to have the photos from a particular smart album load up without me having to take the extra step of duplicating the photos in another directory.

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Answer 15

iCoco

Level 1

116 points

Jan 19, 2011 8:51 AM in response to Dean Blackketter

Had the same phenomenon here, and this workaround worked for me, too. Hopefully, Apple will address this issue with the next update.

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