How to Open iPhoto library on Windows

Question

Level 1

10 points

How to Open iPhoto library on Windows

On December 7th 2017 DIPSAUS (Floris) asked the following question and received many answers that were unhelpful, misleading or just plain wrong. His question was :

Hey,

I made a backup of my iPhoto Library. Now, I want to open my backup iPhoto Library on Microsoft computer. It seems not possible to open the Library on Windows. Also, I don't have any Apple computer anymore. I cannot open the Library.

Is someone familiar with this issue?

Do you know how to solve this issue?

Is there some software which I can use to open the Library with?

Thanks in advance,

Thanks for reading,

Kind regards,

Floris

The real answer is that you can get to your photos easily on a Windows computer and copy them easily to any folder (directory) you want. People who say you cannot do it are wrong.

On a Windows computer the iPhoto library will appear in Windows Explorer as a Folder with the same name as the iPhoto library. When you open that Folder you will find many sub-folders. You will find a sub-folder called either Originals or Masters (depending on which version of iPhoto was used to create the iPhoto library). Your photos will be in sub-folders under the Originals folder or the Masters folder. If you edited any photos they will be in a folder called Modified, or some other name that is similar to Modified, but means the same thing.

HOWEVER, the File System of the external drive where you made your Backup is important. If the drive that contains the backup is formatted to Fat32 or ExFat, Windows should be able to read the drive as soon as you plug it in, BUT if the Backup drive is formatted to the Mac default File System of HFS-Plus, you will need to install other software to enable Windows to read the HFS+ file system. Paragon makes a very good HFS+ file system reader.

OR. If you have a computer with Linux installed, Linux will be able to read the HFS+ drive easily.

I have used both Windows and Linux to read many different iPhoto libraries and restore all of the photos that they contained, and save them to other places.

Michael ***

[Edited by Host]

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), And a few IBM/Lenovo laptops.

Posted on May 30, 2018 1:49 PM

Reply

Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

May 30, 2018 2:33 PM in response to jrmwalsh

But that is not opening an iPhoto or Photos library on a window machine (which was the question) and it loses all edits, metadata changes and all organization that has been done - nothing at all like opening the library and for most people a disaster

Yes it is easy to move the unedited originals to a Windows machine but that is the answer to a totally different question - for most people a better solution is to have iCloud Photo Library enabled on the Mac and use iCloud for Windows on the PC which does not lose all the data your suggest loses

LN

Reply

Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,220 points

May 30, 2018 3:11 PM in response to jrmwalsh

Really, before you challenge more experienced people be sure you understand the question being asked, and that your 'answer' is actually a response to it.

This:

I have used both Windows and Linux to read many different iPhoto libraries

is inaccurate. You have recovered files you have not read libraries. It's a big distinction.

Reply

Answer 3

jrmwalsh Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 5, 2018 2:39 PM in response to LarryHN

Dear Larry,

The person asking the question, DIPSAUS, says that he (she) only has a PC type computer now, and he states that he does not have an Apple computer any longer. Therefore using the method I suggested to open up his (or her) Library to get the photos out of it would not be a disaster.

He also states "That is worrisome. Now, I cannot retrieve 1000-5000 pictures." So it is clear that his main concern is getting his photos back.

The process that I have suggested WILL enable him to get his photos back. I have done it a few times and it has not resulted in a disaster.

And my answer is not directed at "most people", it is just directed to DIPSAUS and his problem of getting his "1000-5000 pictures" back.

Reply

Answer 4

jrmwalsh Author

Level 1

10 points

May 30, 2018 6:33 PM in response to Yer_Man

Dear Terence,

You suggest that before I "challenge more experienced people" I should ...

That is an interesting proposition because when I make make my comments and suggestions I do not know if "people" are "more experienced" than me or not. However to help in assessing this I have listed my experience below.

If your experience is significantly "more" than mine I might bow to your proficiency.

Firstly I am an engineer and a competent computer user. I started using computers in 1973 with a PDP-11/10 running the operating system RT-11, and connected to a mainframe 400 miles away. Programs were stored on punched cards in those days.

I built my first computer, a Motorola MK-6800 in 1977, it could only be programmed in Assembler, and it stored programs on an audio cassette player using standard audio cassettes.

I have built 50 or 60 computers since then from bare-metal components.

I am familiar with the following Operating System:

· RT-11 by Digital Equipment Corporation,

· MicroSoft DOS from versions 3.2, 4.xx, 5.xx through 6.20, 6.21 and 6.22,

· MS-Windows from 3.11 through W95, W98 and 98SE, ME, XP, Win 7 and 10,

· Apple's Mac OS, and Mac OSX.

I have been able to hack into a password-protected Windows NT-4 DEC-Server, with a 7-disk RAID array, and without knowing any passwords, I worked out a method to by-pass the operating system and its security system, start it up and extract all of the data off it.

I began programming in 1973 by learning Fortran IV, and I taught myself BASIC, QBasic, Visual Basic and VBA. I have also dabbled in FORTH and Python.

I have installed many Linux distributions from Redhat 4, to Fedora, to CentOS, to Ubuntu and Mint. I have setup remote services to enable me to remotely manage my friends' computers from my house (or anywhere in the world) if they need me to.

I have installed various Operating Systems hundreds of times, including Mac OS (original), Mac OSX, MS-DOS, Windows, and Linux. And I can troubleshoot and fix these operating systems fairly competently if they are not too badly broken. But it is often quicker to re-install an OS instead of trying to fix a broken one.

I can troubleshoot any hardware problems effectively. I have stripped many laptop computers down to their motherboards to fix various problems and have rebuilt them - they have always worked again first-time. I have also stripped and rebuilt Apple computers of various types.

My friends regard me as an expert, though I do know my limitations better than they do.

I am experienced enough for my opinions to carry some weight.

Reply