Wallpapers appearing upside down in macOS Tahoe 26.3

MyCedar wrote:

My posts keep getting taken down by Apple

To address this issue

Suggest reading the full article related to " Apple Support Communities Use Agreement "

There might be some answers in there

PBordeaux wrote:

Images also appear upside down when dragged from Photos to applications.

[Edited by Moderator]

As fellow users we have no control over what gets moderated what does not...

[PBordeaux wrote: Maybe they shouldn’t prompt us with “Tell us what’s on your mind.”]

I think you make a good point— it hardly seems moderating user feedback like this is altruistic nor constructive w/ overly sensitive oversight penalizing user feedback in a public forum... Maybe this needs to be reviewed or the language changed...(?)

I do not see it against the terms of use...(?)

possibly: <B3 "Post constructive comments and questions. Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer. Constructive feedback about product features is also welcome."> there may be others...

maybe an etiquette faux pas(?) ref: Community etiquette guidelines

• <"Bring forward new, helpful information when you reply."> maybe it is the piling on the heap that offends...

Beach Ball Blues wrote:

Tahoe 26.3 is worse than Tahoe 26.2. I couldn't open pages, but at least my photos weren't upside down. They took down my comment about problems with Tahoe, we can't even complain.

https://discussions.apple.com/terms

1. Submissions

1. Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not post Submissions about non-technical topics, including:
   1. Speculation or rumors about unannounced products.
   2. Discussion of Apple policies or procedures or Apple’s moderation of the Site.

Chomp81 wrote:

And I don't get why the top ranked reply is the one that we have in this post.

Is useless.

I really hope they fix it in 26.4.

It's so sad to see how A.p.p.l.e. is in d.e.c.l.1.ne; every time I see the inverted w.a.ll.paper; it makes me so upset...

Top-ranking replies are posting that have been analyzed by Apple's System using certain undisclosed criterias

When the posting has been deemed to meet those undisclosed criterias

The System affixes the " Top-ranking replies " Moniker

There is no human interventions what so ever

Added, Trr ( for short ) are dynamic

Meaning, that should another posting appear in the same question and it is deemed to be better, even if it may contain inaccurate or misleading information

The Trr may be reassigned to the later posting

This happens all the time and is how the System on these Forums is designed work

Absolutely ridiculous and the workaround doesn't work My photos look fine in preview so there's no need to rotate an export. It's only in wallpaper that the change orientation. I regret upgrading. Please fix this Apple.

I also am having issue with my long standing wallpaper photo, suddenly appearing upside down. I tried changing photos and the same thing happened. This is new since I installed Tahoe 26.3. Apple, please fix this!!!!

For what it's worth, I am also having issues with Spotlight (in addition to my Wallpaper)—this issue started occurring after a previous OS update-this is not a new issue for me though I thought I'd mention it since others are mentioning other issues since the latest update.

I have an external USB-C that I store my work documents on-and when I search for a document using Spotlight-it comes up with nothing. However, if I disconnect and re-connect my external drive-for the first 5-10 seconds I am able to search my external drive for docs. However, it ceases to work within seconds. I have done the obvious-added and then removed the drive to/from Spotlight Privacy to prompt a re-indexing, and that does not work.

I also followed the below instructions—which only worked temporarily:

I want a permanent fix to the Spotlight issue-to be clear-my external drive *is* searchable-but only within seconds of connecting the drive. Then....nothing.

Psych13 wrote:

For what it's worth, I am also having issues with Spotlight (in addition to my Wallpaper)—this issue started occurring after a previous OS update-this is not a new issue for me though I thought I'd mention it since others are mentioning other issues since the latest update.

I have an external USB-C that I store my work documents on-and when I search for a document using Spotlight-it comes up with nothing. However, if I disconnect and re-connect my external drive-for the first 5-10 seconds I am able to search my external drive for docs. However, it ceases to work within seconds. I have done the obvious-added and then removed the drive to/from Spotlight Privacy to prompt a re-indexing, and that does not work.

I also followed the below instructions—which only worked temporarily:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/af413c8c-1636-4d75-93fc-b97b50e03b58

I want a permanent fix to the Spotlight issue-to be clear-my external drive *is* searchable-but only within seconds of connecting the drive. Then....nothing.

How is your external drive formatted? And by chance do you use it with manufacturer or other third party disk tool software or security tools? This sounds like a different problem and maybe should be posted in its own separate thread to avoid confusion in responses.

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your reply-my external drive is formatted as MS-DOS (FAT32) and I'm not exactly sure why it is, as I don't use Windows computers. I *am* aware that there are better ways of formatting external drives for Apple computers, etc. but as far as I can see from doing my own research-the fact that it is formatted this way should not affect whether it's searchable in Spotlight. I am confident this is not why Spotlight is not working with my external drive, but am open to opinions that may differ:). I realise that I can move all my data elsewhere and reformat the drive, but I'd prefer not to do that.

As for your other Q. re-security tools or third party disk tool software-I think the answer to that is no. However, the external drive is password protected, but again, according to Kingston (the manufacturer) this should not impact whether it's searchable. The fact that it *is* searchable within seconds of it being connected—would suggest that this is searchable, correct?

And finally, I hear you on the separate thread:). Many thanks.

Psych13 wrote:

Hi Steve,

... my external drive is formatted as MS-DOS (FAT32) and I'm not exactly sure why it is, as I don't use Windows computers. I *am* aware that there are better ways of formatting external drives for Apple computers, etc. but as far as I can see from doing my own research-the fact that it is formatted this way should not affect whether it's searchable in Spotlight. I am confident this is not why Spotlight is not working with my external drive, but am open to opinions that may differ:). I realise that I can move all my data elsewhere and reformat the drive, but I'd prefer not to do that.

I agree that FAT-32 drives should be searchable, but keep in mind FAT-32 is an ancient and outmoded format scheme. FAT-32 has a file size limit if 4GB and a max volume size of 2TB. If exceeding those, not sure if the file system will work properly with MacOS. Much better is ExFAT (for Windows compatibility) or APFS/GUID if Windows is not utilized with the drive.

As for your other Q. re-security tools or third party disk tool software-I think the answer to that is no. However, the external drive is password protected, but again, according to Kingston (the manufacturer) this should not impact whether it's searchable. The fact that it *is* searchable within seconds of it being connected—would suggest that this is searchable, correct?

So this might be worth delving into a bit more. It sounds like you are encrypting or password protecting the drive with a third party manufacturer's tools. Unless that encryption scheme is well integrated with Tahoe's MacOS, it might be restricting the access needed by MacOS to properly search the drive. If searching does seem to work for a second or two, that might be the delay before the disk encryption scheme kicks in and prevents access. (I am speculating here a little.) You could try removing the password protection to test (you can reactivate it later), but even so the presence of that third party drive tool software may still impede MacOS functionality.

A better way to protect the drive is to use Apple's OS-built-in FileVault. Then there won't be conflicts that may arise due to third party tools' incompatibilities. With Apple encryption, updating the OS should not be an issue.

Although Kingston says their encryption "should not impact whether it's searchable," there are many past examples of drive manufacturer tools unexpectedly causing major problems. One of the most dramatic dates from 2013, and here is a copy of an email I received from Western Digital in 2013:

Dear WD Registered Customer,

As a valued WD customer we want to make you aware of new reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9). WD is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications. Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading. If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer.

The WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager, and WD SmartWare software applications are not new and have been available from WD for many years, however solely as a precaution WD has removed these applications from our website as we investigate this issue. .

Sincerely,

Western Digital

That issue back in 2013 (there have been others since then with other companies as well) was that with this third party drive tool software installed, all data on the external drive was lost by some users who simply updated to the latest (then) version of MacOS. A worst nightmare come true. From then on, I have never used third party drive utility software tools for encryption, password protect, or anything else (some of those tools have nice customizable features).

I know you prefer not to do it, but I think the prudent thing here is to copy all files from that external drive to another one, reformat the FAT-32 drive to APFS/GUID with Disk Utility, then copy the files back.

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your replies-I hear what you're saying re-the external drive and possible impact of it being password protected; I've also read the email from Western Digital-thank you for sharing this. Kingston are a brand that organisations like the police use (in the UK) and due to the nature of my work, I can't compromise the security of my data-I've not had any data losses as a result of OS updates, etc. but take on board what you/Western Digital have written. A lot to digest, and I appreciate the information you've provided. Many thanks again.

I appreciate the helpful answer. However, I guess this means we just have to live with upside down Wallpaper until they get around to fixing the bug. Later in 2026? 2027? I will try to take pictures where it doesn't matter which side is up and use those. Right, it is not a security or performance bug, but it is irritating. Maybe I'll go just back to working on my old right-side up Dell computer.

Images also appear upside down when dragged from Photos to applications.

[Edited by Moderator]