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Howard Brazee Author

Level 2

170 points

Screen Saver reverts to National Geographic

Several times lately (Yosemite only???), I have discovered my screen saver has reset itself to show National Geographic photos. And they are usually set to show both my iMac and my second monitor the same photos.

It's easy enough to set back to my desired iPhoto library. But I wonder what causes it to be reset?

What I haven't figured out is what to do when both monitors are displaying the same photos. Eventually that problem fixes itself. Nor what to do when it starts with the same photos in the same order. (I have a hot corner, and have been testing after I reset it to use my iPhoto library, and each time I turn it on, I get the same photo sequence as before - on both monitors).

I just tried it again - the third time since I started this message - and it's back to National Geographic.

I set it back, this time telling it to shuffle, and both monitors showed different photos as desired. I should have checked that earlier. But why doesn't my setting stay?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Nov 3, 2014 5:12 PM

Top-ranking reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Posted on Nov 3, 2014 6:57 PM

Back up all data. Quit System Preferences if it's running.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost

In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return. A folder should open. If it does, look for a file with a long name that begins "com.apple.screensaver". There may be several such files. Move them all to the Trash.

Log out or restart the computer. Test. If the problem is resolved, empty the Trash and recreate your settings in the Screen Saver tab.

View in context

160 replies

Jan 8, 2015 11:26 AM in response to Howard Brazee

I just upgraded to beta version of OS X 10.10.2 (14C94b), and to my good surprise it woke up in the original private collection of photos....I will keep on monitoring to see if it's not tempoorary 🙂

Jan 9, 2015 4:37 AM in response to jazz54

Yep, same with me, I tried the solution marked as "solution" and it didn't work. Hopefully 10.10.2 will fix it.

Jan 10, 2015 5:20 AM in response to Howard Brazee

Sorry to say, but unfortunately this is still not fixed, not even with beta version of OS X 10.10.2 (14C94b)/

After a couple of hours it reverts back to National Geographic 😟

The Zach

Level 2

426 points

Jan 10, 2015 4:57 PM in response to Zohar Blau

Same problem here. It started for me, however, before upgrading to Yosemite.

Jan 13, 2015 4:49 PM in response to The Zach

Experiencing this and many other bugs in yosemite and mac apps. Here's how I fixed this one. Ridiculous, but it works.

Search in Finder for 1-National Geographic. Open the folder, select all of the images and move them to the trash. Find the images you want for your screensaver, copy and paste them into the 1-National Geographic folder. Now you can select the National Geographic folder in the screensaver control panel and it will display your photos.

Lots of bugs, but at least the graphics in the Dock have a new look. Many of the problems I'm experiencing with Apple products recently are starting to remind me of the "Windows" nightmares when I am forced to use a PC. Maybe Apple should be re-branded with a name like AppleSoft or MicroApple.

cdubaldo

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2015 11:47 PM in response to SK Produces

Yes, replacing the National Geo pictures with my own would work but I want to keep my thousands of pictures where they are right now. Hopefully the bug will be eventually solved in a future update...

Howard Brazee Author

Level 2

170 points

Jan 19, 2015 7:40 AM in response to cdubaldo

Same here. That is not an acceptable solution.

On a different subject - what do the symbols mean before threads in the Contents page of this discussion thread? You know, they look like the speak clouds in comics, with either a ? or a check mark in them?

Jan 19, 2015 9:31 AM in response to Hothamhugh

Leaving open the screen saver screen did work but wonder of wonders my iMac (2009) now stays on iPhoto even without the help of keeping the screen saver dialogue box open. Magic, Apple or AI learnt finally what I wanted. Great now to enjoy my old photos in random order.

Jan 19, 2015 10:42 AM in response to cdubaldo

I am having the same issue, was hoping the latest update to Yosemite would fix, and thought it had, but as soon as my computer went to sleep, the preferences reverted back to National Geographic. I also, do not want to move my entire photos library to the National Geographic location. I like to have the screen saver select from all of my photos in random order. There needs to be a fix to this. I would love to just delete National Geographic directory!!!

Jan 19, 2015 11:20 AM in response to mellooney

I've tried to resolve this periodically for quite a while, but have never been able to permanently fix it. Since it is always national Geo that it reverts to, I wonder what might happen if I were to delete the National Geo photos.

Jan 27, 2015 6:41 PM in response to Howard Brazee

I upgraded to 10.10.2 and I thought the problem had been fixed but it hasn't. This is what I have found out which sheds some light but I don't know how to fix it.

In the ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost Folder there is the screen saver files. The one in question I see is this one:

com.apple.ScreenSaverPhotoChooser.3894DB94-8127-583F-A292-E5634E257DF3.plist

After setting my screensaver information properly. the XML file contains this:

<dict>

<key>LastViewedPhotoPath</key>

<key>SelectedMediaGroup</key>

<key>SelectedSource</key>

<key>ShufflesPhotos</key>

<true/>

</dict>

</plist>

After the screensaver is run, it looks like this:

<dict>

<key>LastViewedPhotoPath</key>

<string>/path/to/last/image/(my proper image that it was viewing)</string>

<key>SelectedSource</key>

<key>ShufflesPhotos</key>

<true/>

</dict>

</plist>

After running it again, it turned to this.

<dict>

<key>LastViewedPhotoPath</key>

<string>/Library/Screen Savers/Default Collections/1-National Geographic/NatGeo03.jpg</string>

<key>SelectedFolderPath</key>

<string>/Library/Screen Savers/Default Collections/1-National Geographic</string>

<key>SelectedSource</key>

<key>ShufflesPhotos</key>

<true/>

</dict>

</plist>

Unfortunately, even if I copy the original plist back into the folder, the settings don't revert. But Obviously, I'm seeing the "SelectedMediaGroup" is missing after the screensaver runs once. and then it doesn't know what to do so it reverts to National Geographic as the default.

Jan 28, 2015 12:27 AM in response to Thomas Deliduka

How complicated! I wonder if any others have tried the simple solution I followed of leaving the screen saver open for a few days and that kept the random showing of iPhoto library going. Then after some three days I closed the screen saver and lo and behold the problem is permanently cured, at least for my aged 2009 iMac!! Has it worked for you?

Jan 28, 2015 4:19 AM in response to Hothamhugh

With 8 kids in the house and homework, etc. I cannot set my computer to be un-disturbed for three days while the screensaver "sets" in.

I noticed in my testing that the file in question that I posted above gets overwritten each time (obviously). A temp file is created and then after the screensaver exits, the temp file is copied over the file.

Not every time does the pictures screensaver get overwritten. One of my tests, I was able to load the proper screensaver twice before the "SelectedMediaGroup" tag disappeared.

What I posted is not a solution, by any means, but it's an observation on what is happening. We need an apple developer to fix it.

Jan 28, 2015 9:32 AM in response to Thomas Deliduka

Guess what 10.10.2 update has re-installed National Geographical!! Now I shall see if I can again get back iPhoto on shuffle by leaving open the screen saver dialogue box for a few days. What a bore!!

Jan 28, 2015 12:39 PM in response to Howard Brazee

Yesterday I deleted the Default photos folder---contains NG photos plus a couple others. So far, so good. If there's nothing for it to default to, it seems it won't. I'll keep an eye on it and let the forum know.

Screen Saver reverts to National Geographic