LR Classis CC - Freezes when importing

[Stephen K]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic: 8.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Hi there

I've come across a strange problem when trying to import photos either from a camera, card or my local HD (LR 8.1, Windows 10 PC).

Up until yesterday it had worked perfectly, but now when I choose import from the Library Module, and chose the source with either "Copy" or "Move" selected , LR stops responding.

Strangely, if before selecting my source, I choose "Add" rather than "Move" or "Copy", LR responds correctly, showing all photos in that location. I can then switch to "Copy" or "Move" and it then works fine.

Given I have a workaround, it's not a complete disaster, but I'd obviously like to get LR to work properly.

Things I've tried:
- resetting preferences
- re-installing LR

Appreciate any other ideas.

Thanks & regards

Stephen

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Stephen

A long shot, but do you have any devices attached to the computer? I'm particularly thinking Android phones/tablets. That's been known to stop the dialog responding.

 

[Stephen K]

Hi Victoria,

Thanks for your reply.

No other devices are attached to the computer, and no hardware has changed in the period between it working as it should and now.

A few other things I've tried, which haven't helped:
- Trying to import a single file (instead of a large number of files)
- Turned off "Use Graphics Processor"
- Cleaned registry

 

[Jim Wilde]

When using "Copy" or "Move", check to make sure you have a valid drive/folder selection in the "Destination" panel.

 

[Stephen K]

Hi Again,

Just wondering whether anyone else has had this issue and what they did to resolve it.

I can still get by with my workaround, but it doesn't make sense that it no longer works properly, so I'm keen to get to the bottom of it.

Appreciate any further ideas.

Thanks

Stephen

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

It could be Windows, i have seen stranger things...
What i would do in your situation is making a second user on your computer and try it again with a new, clean catalog.

 

[Stephen K]

Another workaround I came across through more searches online is to choose "Organize Into One Folder" instead of "Organize By Date" during the import process, and that works. If I choose "Organize Into One Folder", then choose my source folder for the files I want to copy or move, it displays previews of each photo for selection as you'd expect. I can then change back to my preferred import option of "Organize By Date", and it works as normal. Very strange.

Although this works, my preference is not to use strange workarounds, but rather resolve the underlying issue.

Roelof, thanks for your suggestion also. I tried creating a new user and was able to import to the existing catalog with the new user. I guess I could go ahead and try to copy settings etc to a new user, but again, that's not desirable.

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

I tried creating a new user and was able to import to the existing catalog with the new user. I guess I could go ahead and try to copy settings etc to a new user, but again, that's not desirable

So it seems to be related with Windows. Is it possible to go back to a Windows restorepoint from before the problems started?

 

[Stephen K]

So it seems to be related with Windows. Is it possible to go back to a Windows restorepoint from before the problems started?

Unfortunately not. This problem started months ago, so the only restore points are more recent.

 

[Stephen K]

I think I have sorted this issue.

I tried importing photos to other folders, and it worked fine, so figured that it must have something to do with my main "Photos" folder.

As it turns out, there was a shortcut to "Photos" in the root directory of the "Photos" folder (not sure how that got there).

The destination pointer was showing against both the folder name and the shortcut, so perhaps this was confusing Lightroom?

Once the shortcut was deleted, it seems to work fine again.