iPhoto locked with OSX Mavericks update

Fixed this issue on my Mac by locating the iPhoto Library in /Users/username/Library/iPhoto and opening the Library with iPhoto. iPhoto did not display the Library is locked message; instead offered to upgrade the Library in order to use the new version of iPhoto (as always after upgrades).

Starting iPhoto directly, however, results in the same problem. So, for now, I guess, this little workaround is a quick way to access to your photos.

Strange, my iPhoto Library is not locked but I encounter the same issue when opening iPhoto directly (i.e. from the Applications folder). When opening the Library from the Finder, you can bring up the rescue dialog by pressing cmd+alt. However, even rebuilding the whole library did not help for me…

I think we have to wait for Apple to fix these issues.

Couple of things to try:

Restart your mac and try launch iPhoto again.

If that fails:

Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

Look there for a file called ‘iPhoto’Lock.data or similar. Drag it to the Desktop. Make no other changes. Start iPhoto. Does that help?

If not: Where is your iPhoto Library stored? If it's on an External Disk, what format is that?

I also had the same problem and I have the same MBP. I decided to just buy the latest version of iPhoto, installed it and now it works fine 🙂 I know you would like a free solution but it was only $14.99 and that worked for me. I use that program so much it was worth it to me to have it fully functional and accesible.

I completely agree, I just panicked and purchased it since it was so cheap and I had every photo from the last 2.5 years of my life on it (including wedding pictures). Just one known solution and I was too impatient to figure out free one. I just figured it was like any Windows OS upgrade that some programs do not work with new updates, KWIM?

Haha! Well, before I switched over to a Mac, I had dealt with the nightmares of Windows and was used to buying some new programs everytime there was an update! I hope you find a (free) solution soon!

Terence Devlin,

I tried restarting and moved the Lock.data file without success. I even deleted iPhoto.app and reinstalled via the App Store. My iPhoto Library is located on my Macintosh HD in /Users/username/Library/iPhoto, so the file system should not be a problem. Also, I repaired permissions with Disk Utility.

As I said, opening the Library directly starts up iPhoto without the annoying dialogue.

Further suggestions?

This worked for me also. Thanks so much. It is a little work around, but will work until the problem is fixed. I held down control/option key while I opened iPhoto, Open, Oother Library, IPhoto Library and it asked for an upgrade. iPhoto works. These may be the same steps you followed, but this was my sequence.

Moving iPhoto Library from the Library folder to the Pictures folder solved the problem for me. I can now start iPhoto normally by clicking on the application. For whatever reason, it appears iPhoto now wants to start in the Pictures folder.

Mine worked fine after updating to Mavericks. Then the other day, I was working with iPhoto in Mail, clicked on a library selection, and got the error message. I tried moving the lock.data file, tried restarting the computer, but nothing worked. I tried repairing it several times, with no effect at all. I then used Finder to search for photos, and opened an image from there. Once into iPhoto, I then moved back to all albums, looked at several albums and events, and closed the program completely. It's worked fine since and now opens from the dock again.

I did also notice I had several iPhoto libraries listed with numerical suffixes, but I have no idea if that's normal or not.

It looked like the direct link somehow lost its direction and pointed to an invalid location.