Catalogs Can't Start LrC After Move to New PC

[mwheeler622]

Lightroom Version Number

13.4

Operating System

1. Windows 11

My old PC went belly up (mother board), so I bought a new PC and had the vendor migrate my data. Alas, whereas Lightroom et al lived under my /Users/Mark folder, the new username is "Owner", so everything was copied to /Users/Owner. I reinstalled LrC, but get the following error messages when I try to start it.

 

[mwheeler622]

In fact, I see C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom Catalog v 13-4 lrcat.data. LrC just can't find it.

 

[Califdan]

Using File Explorer, navigate to your catalog folder (probably under "Pictures -> Lightroom". the catalog folder is the one with the LrC logo and has an extension of ".lrcat" but in Explorer you'll have to uncheck the "Hide file extensions for known file types" option to see the ".lrcat". Double click on that file and LrC will open with the catalog you clicked on.

Now if any of your images were on you're C drive those folders will show up as Missing in LrC. right click on one and slect "show parent folder". Do this enough times to expose the highest level folder containing your images (perhaps also the 'pictures' folder). Then right click on it and select "Locate missing folder" and in the pop up box selec t the folder under user "Owner".

BTW, I really get ticked off at techies/consultants who just do things (like name your account "Owner" or "User") rather than asking you what you want. I'm sure your techie has done enough Windows installs to know what things like that will come up during the install and should have a canned "questionnaire" for you to fill out ahead of time with things like.

• what do you want your computer to be named
• what do you want your Win11 user id to be
• What Microsoft account do you want it associated with
• Do you want your data to be managed by OneDrive
• Etc.

And, if they migrated your info from the prior system they darn well could see what your user ID was and should have used the same name on the new computer. You should complain - especailly if you paid good money for this 'professional' service. Not very professional in my opinion

 

[mwheeler622]

That worked marvelously! They only thing I did differently was to click on "Lightroom Catalog v13-4.lrcat", not the older "Lightroom Catalog" file. All my files appear to be there - nothing came up "Missing".

Thanks for your help! You have no idea how stressful the thought of losing over 22k photos has been.

 

[Califdan]

One more thing. You may also have to change the location where LrC places LR/Cloud downloads in your preferences (if was not still the defualt). And if you had been putting catalog backups on your "C:" drive when you exit LrC you'll have to fix that as well.

 

[PhilBurton]

And, if they migrated your info from the prior system they darn well could see what your user ID was and should have used the same name on the new computer. You should complain - especailly if you paid good money for this 'professional' service. Not very professional in my opinion

I second what @Califdan said. If you have any remaining Lightroom issues, you could do a whole lot worse than working with @Califdan as a consultant. Seriously.

 

[Califdan]

Thanks for the reccomendation Phil