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LR Classic CC Will not Start.

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L

Longlegs

Member
Premium Classic Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
36
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version Number
Not sure but it is always kept uptodate.
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
When I try to open LR Classic cc a message pops up saying Upgraded Version of Catalog Found.I click Yes use the newer upgraded catalog.Lightroom then opens.when it opens there are no images just grey squares and a message saying Lightroom Encountered an Error when reading from its previous cache and needs to quit.i click okay and Lightoom shuts down.My Lightroom Classic CC has worked without fault until today.whats suddenly caused this.Than You.Robert
 
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It sounds as though you've had some form of system event (system or app crash) while Lightroom was active which has done two things (at least):

1. Corrupted the Lightroom preferences file. When that happens and you next start Lightroom it will look for an existing preferences file, i.e. from a previous version (if none exists it starts up as per a new installation and creates a new empty catalog). In your case, I'd guess the previous versions prefs file was found, which LR Classic will use as the base for the new prefs file....that would give Classic the pointer to the previous version's catalog, and it's clever enough to find the upgraded version....hence the message that you received. Hopefully the catalog is fine (or will be when you get past problem 2).

2. It would appear that the Previews cache was also corrupted at the same time. The solution to this is simply to locate and delete the Previews cache....it will be in the same folder as the catalog and will have the same name as the catalog plus it will have "Previews.lrdata" at the end, i.e. it will have the name "yourcatalogname Previews.lrdata". You can delete this folder, but make sure it's only that folder, and NOT the associated "yourcatalogname.lrcat" file. On restart, Lightroom will create a new (initially empty) previews cache, so you'll initially see the grey thumbnails.....but they should start to populate with the actual thumbnail images as the files are brought into either the grid or the filmstrip.

Once you are satisfied that all is working well, you can force Lightroom to build new previews in advance (Library>Previews>Build.....), which can be done for either selected images only, or the entire library.

You might also think about investigating to see if some system event did occur, in order to try to avoid a recurrence.
 
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Jim thank I have done has you said.but when I start lightroom I still get the message saying Lightroom has encountered error when reading previous cache and needs to quit.this is the only thing on my laptop that will not work.Thank You.Robert
 
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It sounds as though you may not have deleted the correct previews cache. Can you post a screenshot from Explorer showing the contents of the folder which contains the catalog?
 
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Jim I hope his works.please find image of my lightroom folder in my pictures.Thank You.Robert
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Thanks, but that certainly looks as though there are some serious issues going on, I've never seen anything like that before. A couple of questions:

1. Did you delete ALL the ".... Previews.lrdata" sub-folders from this folder before taking this screenshot, as there should be 7 such sub-folders there?

2. The presence of so many catalogs is a mystery, are you able to shed any light on that?

3. The fact that there are 6 "....lrcat.lock" files suggests that either your laptop frequently crashes when Lightroom has been running, or you're in the habit of shutting down the laptop by using the power button, or Lightroom itself regularly crashes. Those ".lrcat.lock" files are supposed to be deleted automatically by Lightroom when it is shut down correctly. Do you have any insight into why Lightroom has not been shutting down normally.

Can you do a couple of things:

1. Repeat the screenshot, but before doing that can you change the Explorer view to "Details", and then make sure that both the "Date Modified" and "Date Created" columns re included?

2. Start Lightroom by pressing and holding the Ctrl key before starting Lightroom as you normally would. That should produce the "Select Catalog" dialog box, can you post a screenshot of that box?
 
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Jim thanks hope this is what you want.Robert
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Well, that's part of what I need. I still need the other screenshot, and I'd very much like your comments on the first 3 questions that I asked.
 
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Jim which other screenshot did you want I thought I sent two.Has to your questions.
I think I did delete all the Preview.Irdata sub folders.
So many Catalogs.i do back them up quit regularly not sure if that's got anything to do with it.
My Laptop has never crashed,i always close down from the start button.
Lightroom has never crashed,i always use File-Exit to close down.
It shut down normally the other night when I tried to start it the following morning I start getting this problem.
Can I ask.i do a full system backup every 3 months,i back up thing in-between .What would happen if I deleted the Lightroom folder in my pictures and replaced it with the one from my last system backup. Thank You Robert.
 
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Sorry, yes I do see that screenshot.

I'm not yet sure the problem is actually within the Lightroom folder. Next screenshot: in Explorer go to users>yourusername>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>Lightroom>Preferences, open that sub-folder and take a screenshot of the contents.
 
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OK, that looks fine, which makes the events still a mystery.

What I suggest you do first is to clean up that Lightroom folder. Start by deleting all the files and folders that I've marked with an "X" on your earlier screenshot. Obviously take care not to delete anything else, particularly the catalog files which display with the LR icon.

Then, try starting LR again by holding down the CTRL key, and when you get that dialog box click on the "Choose a different catalog" box and in the resulting file browser, navigate to the Lightroom folder and select the "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat" file that I've indicated with the red rectangle. Let me know how that goes, and post a screenshot if you get an error message.
 
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Yeah, it would help if I posted the updated screenshot. My bad....
12232
 
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OK, can you now look in the Lightroom folder to see if there's a "Lightroom Catalog-3 Previews.lrdata" folder listed there now?

Do you have an external drive that you can connect to the laptop?
 
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Jim there is no Lightroom Catalog-3 Previews.lrdata in the folder,these folders have appeared.yes I do have an external hard drive.Robert
 

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I'm thinking that the catalog has been corrupted, though it doesn't usually manifest itself in this way. One last thing before we go looking at your backups, try copying just the "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat" file to the external drive, then rename the users>yourusername>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>Lightroom>Preferences folder....call it something like "OldPreferences".

Then again start Lightroom by holding down the CTRL key, select "Choose a different Catalog" and navigate to the "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat" on the external drive. Does that make a difference?

If not, can you expand the "Backups" folder in the Lightroom folder back on your laptop's drive, post a screenshot of the contents.
 
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Jim done has said and lightroom starts up and works okay,played about with five minutes and all seems okay.what does this now mean.Thanks Robert
 
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Not sure what it means. Logically it should mean there's a problem of some description with the laptop's hard drive, which would be worth checking, or it may be a super corrupted preferences file.

I think what I would do now is:

  1. On the laptop's hard drive, rename the Lightroom folder to something else, such as "Old Lightroom".
  2. Create a new sub-folder in the same parent folder as "Old Lightroom", which can be called whatever you want but simply "Lightroom" would be best.
  3. Copy the "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat" and the "Lightroom Catalog-3 Previews.lrdata" from the external drive into the new "Lightroom" folder on the laptop's drive.
  4. Then again start Lightroom by holding down the CTRL key, select "Choose a different Catalog" and navigate to the "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat" in the new "Lightroom" folder on the laptop's drive.

Does it still start up OK? If so, copy the "Backups" folder from "Old Lightroom" folder into "New Lightroom" folder, and that should be that. But note that having the catalog backups folder on the same drive as the original catalog is only a good idea if you have a separate backup (to an external drive, or cloud) of the "Lightroom" folder.
 
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Jim done has said but it will not start up I get the same error message.but if I plug my external hard drive in and select the catalog I put on there it starts and works okay.Not sure its my hard drive.its an SSD Drive,i have loads of other software including Photoshop CC.Indisign .top end Astronomy stuff everything works except Lightroom.Thanks Robert
 
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Well all the indications are that there's an issue with the SSD, but I'm not an expert. I can't think of anything Lightroom-related which would cause this, if the program works when the catalog is on one drive, but won't work when it's on another, that very much points to the drive.

Given that all this started yesterday, it would be worth looking through the Event Viewer to see if there's anything obvious, and also running a diagnostic program to check the SSD drive for errors.
 
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Jim I will see if I can check the ssd ,if I cannot get it going on my ssd drive I will run it from the external drive,i could manage that has I only use it a couple of time a week.Jim can I thank you for all your help and when or if I get it sorted out I will let you know.Robert
 
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