On my laptop, Photos for Mac stopped syncing a few moths ago. I haven't been able to figure out why. My iPhone and iPad are still syncing through iCloud.
Any suggestions what could be the matter?
My settings are these:
MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13), (2,8 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM)
That even an empty library cannot sync is weird.
How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support
That even an empty library cannot sync is weird.
How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support
After disabling Photos in the System Preferences' iCloud section, when I try to enable Photos again, it says:
"iCloud Photo Library is only available on Mac OS Standard and Mac OS Extended formatted volumes."
Did this start right after the upgrade to High Sierra? Photos on High Sierra may not be syncing with iCloud, if you are not connected to WiFi but are using Ethernet with a firewall. It will also not update, if you are connected to a shared cellular network.
4 items is the reason - nothing will download until the upload is complete
Items implies that you have something like a PDF or other not image format in your library
Make two new smart albums (file menu ==> new smart album)
1 - Photo - is - referenced
2 - Photo - is - unable to upload to iCloud Photo Library
These should both be empty and hopefully #2 will show the 4 items so you can address them
LN
You could also have a look at your iCloud webpage at www.icloud.com . Sign in with your AppleID and open the Photos.app. Look at the photos already in iCloud. perhaps you can identify the four items that still need uploading. Frequently this are videos you recently imported.
No, unfortunately not.
I went ahead and unchecked iCloud Photo Library in the preferences and then checked it again. That got rid of most of the photos in the library; there are only 37 left plus one video. Now it says it's updating, but nothing happens. I have Little Snitch's Network Monitor enabled, and it shows no traffic. It's as if Photos doesn't connect to iCloud. (I've tried turning off Little Snitch, and it makes no difference.)
I have Little Snitch's Network Monitor enabled
Critical detail you did not mention - disable Little Snitch and probably everything will sync normally - very often Little Snitch blocks iCloud Photo Library syncs
I went ahead and unchecked iCloud Photo Library in the preferences and then checked it again
That should only have been done as a very last result as it triggered a new total upload of your mac Photos library to iCloud and nothing will download until the new total upload you triggered is finished
In any case you did so now you need to disable LS and hopefully things will sync notmally
LN
"iCloud Photo Library is only available on Mac OS Standard and Mac OS Extended formatted volumes."
Where is your Photos Library stored? Is it on an external drive that s not supported for Photos Libraries?
The Photos Library needs to be on a volume, that is locally mounted and formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled, not-case-sensitive) and not used by Time Machine.
MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13)
Is your system macOS 10.13.3? If not, try to update. macOs 10.13 definitely should work with Photos Libraries on APFS on file systems.
Is your library your system photo library? Click"Photos > Preferences> General: Use as system photo library", if it is not grayed out.
If your library is in iCloud, you could try to create a new empty library on your Mac and make it your your system photo library, and then enable it as your iCloud Photo Library. This will be faster than uploading your complete library again toiCloud.
Yes, macOS 10.13.3. The "Use as system photo library" option is greyed out, so I assume it's already selected.
The formatting message is gone now, and Photos says it's "Updating 5.855 Items". There doesn't appear to be any traffic though, and none of the photos on iCloud appear in the Photos app. So it still seems like there's no actual connection.
I know you said you turned it off once and nothing changed but this sure sounds like a third party program interfering and Little stitch is very often the cause of syncs not working
Download and run Etrecheck and post the results here so we can see if there are any other third party suspects
LN
EtreCheck does list "Stuck iCloud" under Major Issues. Here's the report, with a few irrelevant sections left out.
. . .
EtreCheck version: 4.1.3 (4A188)
Report generated: 2018-03-12 07:31:10
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 4:52
Performance: Good
Problem: Other problem
Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
Stuck iCloud - This machine has a large number of pending iCloud transfers.
Heavy CPU usage - Some processes are using an unusually high amount of CPU.
Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.
Time Machine auto backup disabled - Time Machine auto backups are disabled.
Heavy RAM usage - This machine is using a large amount of RAM.
Small backup drive - Time Machine backup drive is too small.
Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.
System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background.
32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.
Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro13,3
1 2,9 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-6920HQ) CPU: 4-core
16 RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
8 GB LPDDR3 2133 ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
8 GB LPDDR3 2133 ok
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 177
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 530 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 2880 x 1800
AMD Radeon Pro 460 - VRAM: 4 GB
Drives:
disk0 - APPLE SSD SM1024L 1.00 TB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal PCI-Express 8.0 GT/s x4 NVM Express
disk0s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB
disk0s2 550.89 GB
disk1s1 - A***v (APFS) 550.89 GB 548.76 GB
disk0s3 449.35 GB
disk2s1 - m***S (APFS) 449.35 GB 419.23 GB
disk2s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 449.35 GB 21 MB
disk2s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 449.35 GB 510 MB
disk2s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 449.35 GB 2.15 GB
Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - A***v 550.89 GB (1.97 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/Arkiv
disk2s1 - m***S 449.35 GB (27.29 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
disk2s4 - VM [APFS VM] 449.35 GB (27.29 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm
Network:
Interface lpss-serial1: LPSS Serial Adapter (1)
Interface lpss-serial2: LPSS Serial Adapter (2)
Interface en8: iPad
Interface fw0: Thunderbolt FireWire
Interface en0: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
One IPv4 address
Interface en7: iPhone
Interface en6: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge 2
iCloud Quota: 151.35 GB available
iCloud Status: 21 pending files
System Software:
macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)
Time since boot: About a day
System Load: 2.24 (1 min ago) 1.63 (5 min ago) 1.46 (15 min ago)
Security:
System Status
Gatekeeper Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection Enabled
Unsigned Files:
…
32-bit Applications:
…
Kernel Extensions:
/Applications/DiskWarrior.app
[Not Loaded] DiskWarriorPreview.kext (5.0 - SDK 10.5)
/Library/Extensions
[Loaded] LittleSnitch.kext (4.0.5 - SDK 10.11)
[Loaded] Soundflower.kext (2.0b2 - SDK 10.10)
[Not Loaded] NIUSBAudio2DJ.kext (2.8.0 (R36) - SDK 10.9)
[Not Loaded] NIUSBAudio4DJ.kext (2.8.0 (R36) - SDK 10.9)
[Not Loaded] NIUSBTraktorAudio2.kext (2.8.0 (R36) - SDK 10.9)
[Not Loaded] NIUSBTraktorKontrolS4.kext (2.8.0 (R36) - SDK 10.9)
[Not Loaded] NIUSBTraktorKontrolX1.kext (2.8.0 (R36) - SDK 10.9)
[Loaded] MB_MBAM_Protection.kext (3.2 - SDK 10.13)
/System/Library/Extensions
[Not Loaded] AkaiProfessionalADVANCE.kext (1.0.0 - SDK 10.8)
[Not Loaded] PACESupportFamily.kext (5.9.1 - SDK 10.6)
[Loaded] UAD2System.kext (9.5.0 - SDK 10.8)
[Loaded] UAFWAudio.kext (4.3.1 - SDK 10.9)
[Loaded] AudioMuxDriver.kext (2 - SDK 10.8)
/System/Library/Extensions/PACESupportFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[Not Loaded] PACESupportLeopard.kext (5.9.1 - SDK 10.4)
[Not Loaded] PACESupportPanther.kext (5.9.1 - SDK 10.-1)
[Loaded] PACESupportSnowLeopard.kext (5.9.1 - SDK 10.6)
[Not Loaded] PACESupportTiger.kext (5.9.1 - SDK 10.4)
System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 7 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 149 Apple tasks
[Running] 134 Apple tasks
System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 35 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 165 Apple tasks
[Running] 131 Apple tasks
Launch Agents:
[Running] com.maintain.SystemEvents.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-09-20)
[Loaded] com.Arturia.ArturiaSoftwareCenterAgent.plist (Arturia - installed 2017-11-16)
[Running] com.jamfsoftware.jamf.agent.plist (? c81c0c0d - installed 2017-07-28)
[Running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-19)
[Running] com.apple.ist.ds.appleconnect.AppleConnectAgent.plist (? ca8dcb34 - installed 2018-02-12)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.PurgeInactiveMemory.plist (? 0 - installed 2017-11-09)
[Loaded] 9ZTHPRB4MV.com.soundradix.TTLWrapperAgent.SL.plist (? d0ba6f7d - installed 2017-02-01)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-18)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.Sleep.plist (? 94f768ba - installed 2017-12-01)
[Loaded] 9ZTHPRB4MV.com.soundradix.TTLWrapperSandbox.SL.plist (? 489ac0db - installed 2017-02-01)
[Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a 23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)
[Loaded] 9ZTHPRB4MV.com.soundradix.TTLWrapperSandbox.plist (? df51efc2 - installed 2017-02-01)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 - installed 2018-02-26)
[Running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.frontend.agent.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-26)
[Not Loaded] studiomux.plist (? dc59ec66 - installed 2016-02-08)
[Running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchHelper.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2018-01-18)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.LogOut.plist (? 1d95663e - installed 2017-12-01)
[Loaded] 9ZTHPRB4MV.com.soundradix.TTLWrapperAgent.plist (? 226b2db6 - installed 2017-02-01)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.Restart.plist (? 5421a7fd - installed 2017-12-01)
[Running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2018-01-18)
[Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-30)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.ShutDown.plist (? 9b7e817c - installed 2017-12-01)
Launch Daemons:
[Loaded] com.apple.ais.collector.plist (? 3d46f2a4 - installed 2017-12-20)
[Running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-26)
[Loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-01)
[Loaded] com.jamfsoftware.task.1.plist (? b3737f09 - installed 2017-07-28)
[Loaded] com.charlessoft.pacifist.helper.plist (Charles Srstka - installed 2017-11-05)
[Running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.settings.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-26)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)
[Loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-19)
[Running] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2018-01-18)
[Loaded] com.Arturia.UpdaterHelper.plist (? 35ee0a24 - installed 2016-12-22)
[Not Loaded] com.maintain.HideSpotlightMenuBarIcon.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-09-20)
[Not Loaded] com.jamfsoftware.startupItem.plist (? 44b5eabd - installed 2017-07-28)
[Running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-30)
[Running] com.jamfsoftware.jamf.daemon.plist (? cd5a6125 - installed 2017-07-28)
[Loaded] com.Arturia.InstallHelper.plist (Arturia - installed 2017-12-06)
[Running] com.apple.ist.ds.appleconnect.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-02-12)
[Loaded] com.barebones.authd.plist (? c13813d8 - installed 2017-01-09)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-18)
[Loaded] com.uaudio.UAFWAudio.plist (TC Applied Technologies - installed 2018-01-31)
[Loaded] com.native-instruments.NativeAccess.Helper2.plist (Native Instruments GmbH - installed 2017-05-16)
[Running] com.apple.ist.ds.SplunkAgent.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-02-15)
[Loaded] PACESupport.plist (? ab6b5614 - installed 2013-02-01)
[Loaded] com.rogueamoeba.instanton-agent.plist (Rogue Amoeba Software, LLC - installed 2018-01-15)
[Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-11-01)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2016-06-11)
[Loaded] com.apple.ist.feedbackkit.FKDaemonService.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-02-15)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)
[Running] com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist (PACE Anti-Piracy, Inc. - installed 2018-02-07)
User Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-02-26)
[Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-30)
[Not Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-08-03)
[Other] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-02-03)
User Login Items:
Itsycal Application (Sanjay Madan
(/Applications/Itsycal.app)
TextExpander Application
(/Applications/TextExpander.app)
NIHardwareAgent Application (Native Instruments GmbH
(/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Hardware/NIHardwareAgent.app)
UAD Meter Launcher Application
(/Library/Application Support/Universal Audio/UAD Meter Launcher.app)
UA Mixer Engine Application (Universal Audio
(/Library/Application Support/Universal Audio/Apollo/UA Mixer Engine.app)
Internet Plug-ins:
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-02-19)
FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06)
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-23)
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-27)
AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20038 (installed 2018-02-27)
Flash Player: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06)
PepperFlashPlayer: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06)
AppleConnect: 2.9.9.5 (installed 2018-02-15)
Safari Extensions:
AdBlock.safariextz - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2017-11-14)
Save to Pocket.safariextz - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (installed 2017-08-01)
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials.safariextz - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (installed 2018-02-09)
Clip to DEVONthink.safariextz - DEVONtechnologies - http://www.devontechnologies.com/redirect.php?id=download-extras (installed 2017-08-16)
1Password.safariextz - AgileBits - https://agilebits.com/onepassword (installed 2017-11-06)
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player (installed 2018-02-01)
Native Instruments USB Audio (installed 2017-08-13)
Perian (installed 2011-07-23)
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: No
Mobile backups: No
Auto backup: No
Volumes being backed up:
m***S: Disk size: 449.35 GB - Disk used: 422.06 GB
Destinations:
m************) [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 450.04 GB
Total number of backups: 0
Oldest backup:
Last backup:
Top Processes by CPU:
Process (count) Source % of CPU
Adobe Lightroom Classic Adobe Systems, Inc. 138
Mail Apple 11
WindowServer Apple 10
UA Mixer Engine Universal Audio 2
kernel_task Apple 2
Top Processes by Memory:
Process (count) Source RAM usage
Adobe Lightroom Classic Adobe Systems, Inc. 3.26 GB
kernel_task Apple 1.69 GB
Safari Apple 782 MB
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (10) Apple 551 MB
LaunchBar 493 MB
Top Processes by Network Use:
Process Source Input Output
mDNSResponder Apple 2 MB 1 MB
Mail Apple 663 KB 218 KB
biometrickitd Apple 19 KB 75 KB
netbiosd Apple 11 KB 8 KB
apsd Apple 9 KB 9 KB
Top Processes by Energy Use:
Process (count) Source Energy usage (0-100)
Adobe Lightroom Classic Adobe Systems, Inc. 14
WindowServer Apple 8
Mail Apple 6
Little Snitch Configuration Objective Development Software GmbH 3
UA Mixer Engine Universal Audio 2
Virtual Memory Information:
Available RAM 2.94 GB
Free RAM 21 MB
Used RAM 13.06 GB
Cached files 2.92 GB
Swap Used 137 MB
Software Installs (past 30 days):
…
Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2018-03-10 08:37:56 LaunchBar.app CPU (once)
2018-03-09 20:34:26 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent CPU (once)
2018-03-09 19:54:28 Photos.app Crash (once)
2018-03-08 23:33:15 XLD.app Hang (once)
2018-03-08 14:00:34 coreservicesd CPU (once)
2018-03-06 19:31:16 com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper Crash (once)
2018-03-05 17:38:34 Preview.app Crash (once)
End of report
I had a similar situation. Syncing had stopped around 25th March, status showed "Updating nnn pictures".
Yesterday I noticed the situation and did some searching and found this thread. Shot down the VPN and the sync started to roll.
Br,
This is what it says, and it's been saying that for a long time. It seems like it's stuck.
Photos for Mac has stopped syncing – ?
