Photo Library Locked

Has anyone figured out how to fix this?

This error message could mean two things:

1. Either Photos is trying to open a different library then you are expecting, for example a library on a backup drive where you do not have permissions to read or write.
2. Or your Photos Library is in an unsupported location. The previous system versions did not check, where the library is stored and opened it anyway, even if this could damage the library. macOS 14 Sonoma is now checking, if it is safe to open a library in the current location. If it is not, Photos will not open it.

• To fix problem 1, make sure you are opening your current Photos Library and not one in different location. Quit Photos, if it is running, then hold down the options key ⌥ while launching the Photos.app. When the dialog to select a library appears, release the options key ⌥ and select your main Photos Library from the list of available libraries.
• To fix problem 2, check, where your Photos Library is stored. The best place would be your Pictures folder, if you have enough storage on your internal drive. If you need to save storage and have to keep the library on an external drive, it should be prepared exactly as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support. The most important restrictions are:
  • The file system of the external drive needs to be either MacOS Extended(Journaled) or APFS and not case-sensitive.
  • There must not be any backup software or other system software installed on the drive, and it must not be used for Time Machine backups, or you will encounter permission error and file ownership errors. If you cannot set the "Ignore ownership on this volume" flag, the the drive is not suitable for Photos.
  • The external drive needs a wired connection. Plug it into your Mac. Photos has not be designed to work over the local network. Trying to work with a library Photos Library on a NAS or similar may be causing dataloss.
• Even on your internal drive are locations, where you cannot keep the library:
  • The Photos Library must not be in the Shared folder of another user, because Photos will not have write access.
  • The Photos Library must not be in any folder syncing with a cloud service. Do not put in into a DropBox folder or on Google Drive or on iCloud Drive.And if you have enabled "Desktop and Documents" for iCloud Drive and your Desktop and Documents folder are now syncing with iCloud Drive, you must not keep the Photos Library there either.

Could any of this apply in your case?

Exact thing happening to me, fairly brutal. Paid for a local shop to take a look and they were just going to wipe and restore everything. Still trying to figure out what to do, if I should just go back and restore from a prior time machine back-up. I'll let you know if something works.

Just got advised to call Apple help line- that it’s free. Anybody try that?