I'm running MacOS 13.7.5 on a 2017 27" iMac. I went to open my Photos app and I got the message "The library could not be opened." It also mentions that the "Photos Library.photoslibrary could not be recognized."
What does this mean and how can I fix it?
Thanks
Lee Gray
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7
Where is your Photos Library located? Is it on an external drive? If so, is the drive formatted in APFS? (If this drive is in a an incompatible format, stop running Photos with it immediately! A Photos Library can sit on an incompatible drive, but running it may corrupt the database.)
If it's not an external drive that's the problem, then first thing, open the Library Chooser. (Close Photos and then option-click on the Photos icon.) This dialog
shows all the Libraries that Photos knows about, and it shows the path to each one. It also shows which Library is the System Library. If you have more than one, the click on each and see if one works.
Let us know what you find…
Assuming the library is located in your Pictures folder or on a properly formatted external drive give this a try:
Plan A
1 - launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new library.
2 - import a couple of photos into it and verify it works as it should.
3 - close the new library and try opening the original library.
Plan B
1 - open your original library with the Option+Command keys held down and try to repair the library.
Photos app not opening after update to MacOS13.7.5
