IPhoto 6 no longer loads photo library

I'm running two profiles/users on my Intel iMac: mine (admin) and my wife's. Until today I've been using iPhoto only on my profile and everything has been running fine. Then today I wanted my wife to have access to our iPhoto library so I moved the library into the shared folder and made sure it still worked in my profile and it did. I then changed the permissions to give her access, I then went onto her profile, held down the option key while loading iPhoto, directed iPhoto to the shared folder and it loaded all the photos on her profile. However, now when I go back to my profile, when I start up iPhoto, I get an endless wheel while it tries to load the photos. I've tried recreating the library but it doesn't work. Interestingly if I create a new library it works and even if I move that new library to the shared folder it still works.
From that basic diagnostic test I think iPhoto is running ok but something is wrong with that original iPhoto library.
I've read other similar posts on this site but have not found any that solved my problem. Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Click here and follow the instructions. The iPhoto library cannot be shared between multiple user accounts in the same way as most files.
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IPhoto won't load my library, it just crashes

If anyone can help me with this I would be very grateful.
I recently backed up my iPhoto folder, which was running version 5. I then nuked my computer, and installed Tiger from scratch. Then I installed iLife, updated it using Software Update. I then moved my the "iPhoto Library" into the Pictures folder, and launched iPhoto. iPhoto told me that it needs to upgrade my library from a previous version. So I've tried that. It processes stuff for about 10 seconds, then iPhoto crashes.
I've tried everything I can think of. Trashed preferences. Deleted iPhoto completely and reinstalled. Tried using as a brand new user. Made a blank iPhoto Library folder and slowly added folders and files to it from the old backed up iPhoto Library. If anyone of you is a super-geek, here's what the crash report says:
http://people.whitman.edu/~sprungde/iPhotoCrash.txt
I'm really stuck. It's taken me a long time to develop my iPhoto library, which I use here at work. I really don't want to lose all that organizational work. Does anybody have any ideas? I read the other "crash" posts and none of them quite fit my situation...
Thanks in adavance,
David

Congrats to Lois.
Meanwhile, I've spent several hours trying some other stuff. For fun, I installed iPhoto 4. That didn't work either... at first. I also tried experimenting with removing the album XML file, as well as the "Albums" folder (this may be a hold over from the iPhoto 4 days?). I got to a point, while messing with these files, that iPhoto would actually load my library, but like Lois, it was full of blank grey squares, and not my photos.
My coworker made a google discovery that if you hold down Command(Apple) + Option in iPhoto 5, you can force iPhoto to try to rebuild your photo library. But then I would still get the "Upgrade or Quit" message, and the Upgrade option would crash iPhoto. My coworker also helped me with this little Unix command, which you run from the Terminal:
sudo fs_usage | grep iPhoto
Make sure iPhoto isn't running before you type this in, and then once you start iPhoto, you'll get a huge list of what iPhoto is trying to do with your system. I've posted my results here: http://people.whitman.edu/~sprungde/Terminal-Output-iPhoto.txt
Note that when it's done, you need to push control + C to quit that Unix process (or whatever it's called).
What this report from the Terminal suggests is that right before it crashes, iPhoto seems to be doing something QuickTime-related. Is that the problem? I don't know, but I'm running Quicktime 7.0.3, and Apple just yesterday released an installer that lets you downgrade from 7.0.3 to 7.0.1, here's that link: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime701reinstallerforquicktime703.ht ml . Why has Apple released this? Don't know. Is it connected to my problem? Don't know yet either.
As it turns out, though, you can try that Library Rebuild trick in iPhoto 4 as well. The key command is Command(Apple) + Option + Shift. Now, I'm positive that on my previous machine, I was running iPhoto 5. But I have been using/upgrading iPhoto since it was first introduced, and a google source suggests that iPhoto 4 was less cranky about corruptions in the Library than iPhoto 5 is...
Anyway, I ran the Library Rebuild trick with iPhoto 4. It worked on it for a long time, then crashed. I relaunched, and... there were all my photos and albums! But wait, it's not time to cheer yet. I then ran iPhoto 5. It actually upgraded my Library, but...
It didn't quite work. It's riddled with problems. Some of my albums are completely empty. Every single picture has been squished into a square shaped thumbnail. A chunk-- I don't know how large yet-- of my pictures are just flat out missing. Pushing the edit button yields... nothing. Just a blank space where the picture should be.
By the way, I also called Apple. The nice tech support guy was sympathetic, but basically said that I would be able to manually drag all of my folders (in all those freakin' folders iPhoto creates in its Library) into iPhoto if I let iPhoto create a brand new, empty library... and of course the key thing is that I would lose all my albums, which for me is the whole point.
So, where does that leave me? Maybe I can experiment with downgrading Quicktime. Other than that, does anybody have any ideas? Thank God I have never fully committed to iPhoto for managing my assets. Let this be a warning to you all.
--David

IPHOTO NO LONGER LOADS AFTER INSTALLING 10.4.10 on G4

After installing 10.4.10 on a G4 desktop, iPhoto no longer loads. When I try to rebuild library, the applications quits at the last instant. Any suggestions on how to fix or how to uninstall and get back to earlier system?

Hello young:
Hopefully you had a backup of your system prior to updating. Going "back" will probably not help as it it unlikely that OS X 10.4.10 caused the problem (it has been ouut for awhile, and no similar problems have been noted, as far as I know).
I suggest that you do several things:
Run repair disk from your software install DVD.
Run repair permissions from your internal HD.
If those do not help, download the combo OS X 10.4.10 and reinstall it.
Barry

When I start my iPhoto it says: "Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable". I don't have a back-up of my library and I don't know what to do! Thanks

When I start my iPhoto it says: "Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable". I don't have a back-up of my library and I don't know what to do! Thanks

Try to restart your Mac. If the library is really in use by another application, that can clear it.
Tell us more about your system. Which version of iPhoto are you using? Which version of MacOS X?
Where are you storing your iPhoto Library?
What happened before this problem first started? Did iPhoto crash? Did you move the iPhoto Library somewhere else?
Try Terence Devlin's fix here: Re: IPHOTO LOCKED
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?

When I open iPhoto this appears- "Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable" I have not used iPhoto before on this computer. I downloaded iPhoto Library Manager as suggested but nothing happened. What should I do?

When I open iPhoto this appears- "Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable" I have not used iPhoto before on this computer. I downloaded iPhoto Library Manager as suggested but nothing happened. What should I do?

I think the usual advice is to use the Rebuild command in Library Manager.
Regards
TD

Downloaded OS 10.10. Was instructed to download iPhone 9.6. After 9.6 was downloaded iPhoto requested to update photo library which it will not do. How do I upgrade the photo library?

Downloaded OS 10.10. Was instructed to download iPhone 9.6. After 9.6 was downloaded iPhoto requested to update photo library which it will not do. How do I upgrade the photo library?

Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

How Come, after updating to ios 6 iPhoto no longer supports photo streaming What happened?

How Come, after updating to ios 6 iPhoto no longer supports photo streaming? What happened?

You probably just need to re-enable Photo Stream. It's not clear what the difference is, but there is an option to enable Photo Stream (as well as Shared Photo Stream) in both the iCloud Settings and the Photos & Camera Settings.
-Doug

IPhoto 5.04 "Loading photos ..." on startup, library never loads

iPhoto 5.04 displays "Loading photos ..." when started but nothing ever loads, have left it 15+ minutes. Activity Monitor shows it using cpu, does not appear to hang, responds to a Quit ok.
This is 10.4.3 on a 20" g5 imac, 2gb memory (pre-isight version). Had been working fine, nothing new attached or installed. Have recently done a lot of imovie/idvd work, that's about all that's different in usage.
Have removed the iphoto library folder, so it should simply create a new library when it opens.
Console log has this msg:
2005-12-14 07:48:57.242 iPhoto[144] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: * -initForReadingWithData: nil argument
(Dont know what it means but doesnt look good.)
System log does not appear to have any pertinent messages.
There is no ~/Library/Cache file for iphoto. Have removed all user prefs for iphoto, idvd, and imovie.
Ditto on a Safe Boot.
Works fine for all other users on the system.
There's been a bit about this on MacFixit but nothing definitive.
Ideas? Thanks.
G5 imac (pre-isight) Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Thanks, Mr Toad! Actually seemed to be a permissions problem somewhere in the library. Fixed by doing a GetInfo on iPhoto Library and forcing permissions on everything contained therein. I think perhaps another user had done something in the library after opening iPhoto with the opt key and changing to this library. Still have to sort that out. (Trying to somewhat share libraries among users.) Was able to get a default new library finally by blowing away the old library and all the users' preferences (saved off of course). So not quite as weird as the version problem created by Pacifist. Thanks for that link, tho, very interesting and a good note to hang onto.
-K

IPhoto stuck on "Loading photos"

Hi everybody! Hope you can help me. Once I click on iPhoto it opens iPhoto window, but just gets stuck staying "Loading photos" with a wheel that just keeps turning. Im using iPhoto version 6.0.6. The last thing I did using this program was to upload pictures. I left iPhoto on all night, but still found it saying "Loading photos" the next morning. Also tried to look through others posts, but my iPhoto version seems newer than theirs. Would appreciate your help. Thanks

apldapple:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. If smtr's suggestion doesn't not clear up the problem try deleting the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist. Then launch iPhoto and see if it will open OK.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

IPhoto '08 freezes on photo library upgrade

I realize this is pretty similar to other posts, but it's apparently different enough that answers to those posts don't seem to work for me.
After installing iLife '08, launching iPhoto indicates that I need to upgrade my photo library - only two options are [Upgrade] and [Quit]. Selecting [Upgrade] starts the "Updating photo library..." process. Time remaining is, apparently, "About an hour". And then...nothing. The status bar never moves, the program freezes and I'm left with Force Quit as my only option. Same result after each one of my (at least) ten attempts.
I tried using Terminal to unlock my photo library files to no avail. It doesn't seem to be an issue with losing the library since the photos are still there in Finder after I Force Quit iPhoto.
Any suggestions/ideas?
I apologize in advance if the question has already been answered - just point me in the right direction and I'll go away happy.
Thanks!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Even though you tried terminal give this a try:download and run BatChmod on the iPhoto Library folder with the settings shown here, putting your administrator login name in the owner section and Staff in the group section. You can either type in the path to the folder or just drag the folder into that field. Then try again.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

HT6378 How to copy iPhoto albums to iCloud Photo Library?

I have several years of photos in my iPhoto library. How do I copy these into iCloud Photo Library, retaining all my albums? I don't want to just copy all the photos without keeping my organization.

After having upgraded all devices to latest version, I wonder how do you get now the Mac iPhoto library into iCloud Photo library? iCloud Photo Library setting has been enabled on all devices.
iPhoto on your Mac is not supposed to work with iCloud Photo Library. The new "Photos" app for the mac will be able to do it. The release of this app has been announced for "Early next year".
For now, only your mobile devices can upload to iCloud Photo Library. So you have to upload your photos to the mobile devices to get them into iCloud Photo Library Beta.
That is not easy, because you cannot upload from your iPhoto library to your iOS 8 devices using iTunes with iCloud Photo Library Beta enabled on the device. It will disable syncing photos with iTunes. As long as you are using iCloud Photo Library Beta, mail the Photos to your devices or upload using Photo Stream.

Updated iPhoto (2.0) and photo library upgrade is stuck

I have just updated to iPhoto 2.0 on my iPhone 5. I get a message that the photo library on this device is being upgraded. For the last over 30 minutes. I have tried to reboot, uninstall iPhoto and then redownload load, but same issue. (I have done the same update on an iPad with no trouble.) Anyone have any thoughts on what I could do?
Keith

Mine is doing the same thing. I have 3000 pictures and let it run for almost an hour and no luck. After a bunch of force closing and re launching it I got the message to go away but it shows no pictures. Opened it again and now it shows the same "The photo library on this device is being upgraded". Anyone get past this

When i open iPhoto it says my photo library is unreadable and will not open. How can i fix this without losing my photos?

"Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable... Shut down and restart your computer, and then open iPhoto again. If the problem persists, try rebuilding your photo library. To do this, quit iPhoto, and then reopen it while keeping the Option and Command keys pressed. You can also try restoring your photo library from a backup."
How do i solve this problem? Dpes rebuilding your photo library delete all your photos? I have thousands of photos with no back up HELP!!

Well if you have no back up you need to make a back up now. It might be too late, but you're not going to know until you fix this.
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store
Then try:
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

Iphoto upgrade examines my photo library and says its damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened.

For some reason, iphoto automatically goes to an upgrade window upon launch. I believe I still have iPhoto 09 but since it won't launch i can't check that out. But it was created on 3/13/09 and last modified on 9/20/10...so I'm sure it's still the 09 (or is the 08?) version.
At any rate, when I launch iPhoto I automatically arrive at an upgrade window (which tells me that after upgrade my photo library will not be readable by previous versions of iphoto - OK, fine, I hit the upgrade button). Right after I hit the upgrade button, I see that my photo library is being examined. Which results in a message telling me that my photo library is damaged or unreadable and must be restored.
OK, I go to Time Machine and restore the latest. After restore, I see all the files. But when I launch iphoto, hit the upgrade button, it again examines the library and finds it unreadable. I've done this several time now.
Now what?
Thanks, Jim

Well that's a Catch-22 isn't it. You can't open the Library but need to for the rebuild.
Coupled with the dodgy back-up I think your only option now is to create a new Library, recover the photos and start over.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

I lost all of my iPhoto pictures i think. when i click on iPhoto it says "which photo library do you want iPhoto to use"

the version of my laptop is 10.8.5
there is no photo library anywhere on my computer
the "pictures" folder only has a "photo booth library" which i am not concerned with
i believe this has happened before (couple of months ago) but I'm not sure how i handled it and if it was the exact same situation
bottom line is that something pops up when i click on iPhoto and there is not photo library to choose from.
please help!!

What happened between yesterday and now? Did you update software? Install new software?
Did you run new software, for example cleaning applications?
Can it be, that you are now signed into your Mac from a different user account?
Spotlight will not search everywhere.
Search with Find Any File for iPhoto Libraries - download Find Any File here: The trial is free:
http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/index.htmlhttp://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/index.php
You can search everywhere with FindAnyFile, where Spotlight will not search.
I learned this from Old Toad , see his post here:
Re: My iPhoto Library disappeared...how do I get it back?
Download and run Find Any File to search for a file with "ThumbJPGSegment" in the file name. These are files common to all versions of iPhoto libraries.
FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages. If there's a library hiding somewhere on your hard drive FAF will find it.

IPhoto 6 no longer loads photo library

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