Wallpaper not loading from iCloud Photos on macOS

Hi there!

I have all my pictures stored on iCloud with the Photos app.

I want to use the Favorites folder of that app to cycle randomly through all my photos and change the wallpaper everyday.

On macOS, in Settings > Wallpaper, I added that folder and I can see all my photos.

But, when I click on the Shuffle icon, macOS doesn't load any of my photos from that folder. Instead, it loads the default wallpaper of the current OS.

If I click manually on any of the Photos from that folder, the photo does load properly and it becomes added to the cycle. So, I have to click manually on every single photos of that folder to "pre-load" them so they become available for macOS to shuffle through.

It seems like macOS is not able to read the folder from iCloud by itself even if it is loaded properly in the Settings > Wallpaper window.

This happens with any folder from the Photos app, not just the Favorites.

If I download all my photos locally on a folder I created myself on the mac's SSD drive and select it in the Settings > Wallpaper window instead of the iCloud folder, there is no issue, the shuffle feature works as intended, so clearly the issue is from iCloud.

In Settings > iCloud, the Photos app is turned on and the "Sync with this Mac" option is turned on as well.

In Photos > iCloud, the "Download Originals on this Mac" option is turned on.

This is the second time this happens on a new mac !

I had the exact same issue on my Mac mini (2023) and now on my MacBook Pro (2024), so I don't believe the OS is to blame here, rather some sort of miscommunication between the OS and iCloud.

Any idea ? Anyone with the same issue ?

Thanks for your time!