iPhotos screensaver, and Wallpaper problem

If the "Your Photos" option is missing, try to force the creation by setting a wallpaper from the Photos.app.

• Launch Photos, if it is not yet running.
• Select a photo in Photos, then go to the menu "File > Share" and click "Set wallpaper". This should create the "Your Photos" section in the Wallpaper settings, if it does not yet exist.

If it is still missing, restart the Mac, and if it then still missing, make sure, your Photos Library has been enabled as the System Photos Library. Only the System Photos Library is visible in the media browser and the system settings.

• Launch Photos, if it is not yet running.
• Go to the menu "Photos > Settings".
• In the Settings - Click the "General" tab.
• Check the first line "Library location". The button "Use as System Photos Library" should be dimmed. If it is not, click it, to make your Library your System Photos Library. And restart the Mac again.

Can you now add a photo from Photos as a Desktop Wallpaper and does it appear in the System Settings > Wallpaper under "Your Photos"?

Do the Settings now look like shown by Richard? If not - where is your Photos Library stored? Is it on the internal volume or on an external volume?

Did you really mean iPhoto? Mojave from 5 years ago was the last OS that could run iPhoto. Could you mean the modern Photos app? If you need help dealing with an iPhoto Library in this new environment, let us know.

Getting to Screensavers in the last few OSs with Photos have been a bit obtuse, I think. In System Settings, you can do a search for Wallpaper to get this:

You can get to Screensavers the same way.

To use your own pictures, you need to scroll down past some pre-made ones to "Your Photos." Clicking on that will show a menu including ""Choose from Photos" and "Choose Folder"

On macOS 26.2 the following worked for me:

• I opened both the System Settings and the Photos.app side-by-side.
• In the System Settings window I clicked on "Wallpaper" ("Hintergrundbild" in German) to show the Wallpaper Settings..
• In the Photos I selected the album I wanted to use as the source for changing wallpapers in the sidebar of Photos.
• Then I dragged the album with the Desktop pictures to the well with the current wallpaper selection in the System Settings. This created a new set of desktop pictures in the Wallpaper Settings.

For example: I added the album "Wallpapers Mac" by dragging from the Photos Sidebar to the well in the System Settings and it appeared at the bottoms a new image set.

Leonie, In "library location", "Use as System Photo Library" can not be Undimmed.

If "Use as System Photo Library" is already dimmed, your Photos Library is either already the System Photos Library and all is fine as it should be, or your current Photos Library is in an unsuitable location, where it must not not be, because it is not safe. Where is your Photos Library stored? You can see this, when you click "Show in Finder". The best place for your Photos Library would be your Pictures folder, if you have enough free storage.

The location of the library is perfect. I am not sure about the name, however.

The Photos Library should have the filename extension .photoslibrary , does it?

For example, my Photos Library is called "Fotomediathek_Rowena_2025_03.photoslibrary"

Do you have set the Finder to hide the filename extensions on your Mac? That is possible, but makes it harder to check, if the if the library is having the correct filename extension.

Our Mac models are different, my Mac is an older MacBook Air, from 2022, with a M2 chip. But I never had the problem you are describing after the upgrade to macOS 26.2 .