Photos app unable to open iCloud Photo Library on Mac

CMatheso wrote: … When I click on Photos, it comes back a dialogue box that says that photos can't open the library choose another library. That didn't would have work because photos was using the iCloud photo library.

The Photos app doesn't use the iCloud Photos Library. All the pictures you see in Photos belong to a local Photos Library that is usually in the Pictures folder on the Mac. Try looking in the Pictures folder, and you should find the package:

Photos Library.photoslibrary

and double click on that to open it. Once you get the right Library, you will see that anytime you open Photos.

If you don't find the Library in your Pictures folder, then close Photos and then option-click on it to see a list of Libraries that Photos knows about with the path to each. Note especially which one is the System Library:

While it's possible to have several Libraries on a Mac (as you see above,) only the System Library can connect to the iCloud Photos Library.

Let us know how this goes and what more you might need…

CMatheso wrote: … didn't recover the latest photos but I did have them on my phone so I just transfer them over.

That's great!

If your phone is connected to iCloud Photos, then they should transfer to iCloud and then to the Mac automatically. In fact, the Mac won't allow you to use iCloud Photos and also transfer them by cable. You have to choose one method or the other.