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Migration to Windows 11 nightmare

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lek6346

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2024
Messages
9
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classsic Version 13.1 [202312111226-41a494e8]
Operating System
  1. Windows 11
Can I UNDO a migration to win 11 from win 10? I discovered I didn't clean up all the files in win 10 before I migrated. The win 11 migration was a disaster partly because of me and onedrive on win 11 kidnapping my files they wanted to ransom me to pay for more storage. I have since been able to unlink one drive so now hopefully won't be a problem. I migrated/copied using a backup portable external drive with a backup from lr6, to the new pc to drive D then for some reason I tried to copy the files to C drive ( thats when the kidnapping took place). At this point it may be easier to undo everything, it was all copied not moved. I understand its ok to delete a copy and I wont loose any files? Is there anything that can go wrong with that? My picture file on old pc 67000 files 55000 folders 220gb. There a lot of files/folders that can be deleted on the old pc then make a backup of that and migrate to Lr classic again.
 
A quick Google search reveals this:
  • Press Windows+I to open Settings.
  • Click Update & security.
  • Click Recovery on the left-hand side.
  • Under Go back to the previous version of Windows, click Get started.
 
A quick Google search reveals this:
  • Press Windows+I to open Settings.
  • Click Update & security.
  • Click Recovery on the left-hand side.
  • Under Go back to the previous version of Windows, click Get started.
Thanks for your reply. I didn't explain the situation properly because it was written BC ( before coffee). I am running two computers the old computer is win 10 with all my LR6 files that I want to migrate the Lightroom 6 files to the new Win 11 computer. I have LR classic on both I am switching between both. I copied the files from my external Hard Drive backup of LR6 Lightroom files and put them on the new Win 11 computer to D: drive successfully. Everything looked good on d drive. The problem started when I tried to copy those files to C: drive thats when onedrive on Win 11 highjacked the process, when onedrive filled up that stopped the migration to C. What did copy to C worked fine but only got part of the transfer. Took me a couple of days to find how to disable that cloud thing. But the file path remains: os:c>users>lek63>onedrive>pictures. Note the onedrive is still in the file path even though it is disabled. This is more of a win 11 problem than LR. Going back to previous version of windows is not an option because this is on a new computer that came installed with win11. I am wondering If anyone else has had this problem and how they got around it. This free trial of LR CLASSIC SO FAR HAS COST ME $2000 SO FAR PLUS A WEEKS WORTH OF HEADACHES.
 
CLASSIC SO FAR HAS COST ME $2000 SO FAR PLUS A WEEKS WORTH OF HEADACHES.
No, Microsoft has cost you $2,000 and a bottle of asprin for their insistance on forcing people to using OneDrive on new installations of Windows without asking and without explaining what it is and why you should or should not use it. They make this the default exactly for folks like you with the understanding that it will be short order before you get the "OneDrive out of space - click hear to give Microsoft more of your pay check each month" button. I'm a MS fan and user but this makes me angry.

I reccomend to my Windows Clients to completely turn off OneDrive and even to uninstall it where possible. Later, if you have the time or desire research what it does, and the options you have in using it and decide then if you want to get in bed with MS with that product. However, if you do decide to use it DO NOT PUT THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG UNDER ONEDRIVE unless you really understand how it works and how to set it up. Some people can make this work but for most it is a ticking time bomb.

In practice, products like OneDrive are useful and desireable as a system backup/recovery option but there are many other just as good or better tools on the market, many of which are less expensive than OneDrive once you understand how much storage is needed. Where OneDrive is a good option is for people who want multiple Windows computers to stay in sync with each other but as I said it takes understanding and discipline to not get into trouble with this if the Lightroom Catalog is involved.
 
I agree 1000% with Califdan re OneDrive.

I would be tempted, if possible, to fall back to a fresh install of the o/s. Then remove OneDrive until you decide you have a use for it. Then follow the Lightroom Queens instructions for transferring and upgrading Lr from one machine to another.

With a new machine, you have a once off opportunity to remove all legacy digital debris and make a conscious decision as to what apps and data you want to install. You still have the old machine, so you have plenty of time to decide on what to do with the legacy data.

I have been using Microsoft since before the launch of Windows for Workgroups, but I got into serious trouble when I bought a new Win laptop for travel, as I did not know at the time that Microsoft put the Pictures folder inside OneDrive and then Adobe put the Catalog into the pictures folder. It took me 3 weeks to untangle a massive mess. I am extremely critical of Microsoft’s aggressive entanglement of people with OneDrive and equally critical of Adobe for defaulting the catalog to the Pictures folder.

If you leave OneDrive in situ, make sure you do not put the the catalog into that folder or one of its subfolders.
 
No, Microsoft has cost you $2,000 and a bottle of asprin for their insistance on forcing people to using OneDrive on new installations of Windows without asking and without explaining what it is and why you should or should not use it. They make this the default exactly for folks like you with the understanding that it will be short order before you get the "OneDrive out of space - click hear to give Microsoft more of your pay check each month" button. I'm a MS fan and user but this makes me angry.

I reccomend to my Windows Clients to completely turn off OneDrive and even to uninstall it where possible. Later, if you have the time or desire research what it does, and the options you have in using it and decide then if you want to get in bed with MS with that product. However, if you do decide to use it DO NOT PUT THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG UNDER ONEDRIVE unless you really understand how it works and how to set it up. Some people can make this work but for most it is a ticking time bomb.

In practice, products like OneDrive are useful and desireable as a system backup/recovery option but there are many other just as good or better tools on the market, many of which are less expensive than OneDrive once you understand how much storage is needed. Where OneDrive is a good option is for people who want multiple Windows computers to stay in sync with each other but as I said it takes understanding and discipline to not get into trouble with this if the Lightroom Catalog is involved.
This statred with actually Flikr they offered 3 month trial of lr classic. Took the trial and discovered it took 49 min. to denoise one photo and my computer is old like me. So on a whim got a new computer with win 11. Bring lawyers,guns and money and I will deal with it. This could be a rico case in the making they are all involved. I was able to un-link the cloud BS so that may no longer be a problem maybe.
 
I agree 1000% with Califdan re OneDrive.

I would be tempted, if possible, to fall back to a fresh install of the o/s. Then remove OneDrive until you decide you have a use for it. Then follow the Lightroom Queens instructions for transferring and upgrading Lr from one machine to another.

With a new machine, you have a once off opportunity to remove all legacy digital debris and make a conscious decision as to what apps and data you want to install. You still have the old machine, so you have plenty of time to decide on what to do with the legacy data.

I have been using Microsoft since before the launch of Windows for Workgroups, but I got into serious trouble when I bought a new Win laptop for travel, as I did not know at the time that Microsoft put the Pictures folder inside OneDrive and then Adobe put the Catalog into the pictures folder. It took me 3 weeks to untangle a massive mess. I am extremely critical of Microsoft’s aggressive entanglement of people with OneDrive and equally critical of Adobe for defaulting the catalog to the Pictures folder.

If you leave OneDrive in situ, make sure you do not put the the catalog into that folder or one of its subfolders.
I was able to unlink one drive, If i do a fresh install of os it will be back but now I know to take that step first. What you are telling me is the direction I am headed to now. Thanks
 
Very good.

Regardless of turning off OneDrive ( which I think you should), Lightroom will probably create its default Catalog in the pictures folder.

So, make sure you ignore this default catalog and create a new catalog, with a name that you will easily recognise in a new folder name you will recognise and outside of MyPics, Docs, Music, Downloads, etc..
 
Very good.

Regardless of turning off OneDrive ( which I think you should), Lightroom will probably create its default Catalog in the pictures folder.

So, make sure you ignore this default catalog and create a new catalog, with a name that you will easily recognise in a new folder name you will recognise and outside of MyPics, Docs, Music, Downloads, etc..

Once you have your new computer at the OneDrive free state that you want, please follow the “Moving Lightroom to a New Computer” instructions that I mentioned in post #4.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all your help. Looking at my old computer LR6 there are a lot of files and a messed up folder situation that I am starting to clean up going back to LR4 and possibly Lr2 and other photos dating back to 2008. Since then I have migrated many times to different computers and hard drives. Thus that is the mess I am now trying to clean up. The only photos showing up in LR 6 are from earliest date is 2011. The photos before 2011 are of no use to me now I had not seen them for 16 years, and will not be missed by me but, Lr includes the because it looks at the picture file where they are at? I see there are 2 maybe 3 picture files in explorer, that mayhave been created by win xp if my memory is correct.My question is if I delete photos in lr6 am i just deleting the link or the actual photo? Do I need to delete the i.cat 4 file also I don't see the i. cat 2 or 3 anywhere? And whats Lr classic that is installed now on both computers going to handle that once I clean up this mess? I will create a new backup on a external drive once I have the file system in a reasonable state. Sorry if this sounds confusing but its because of this 75 year old brain before my alotted intake of coffee. Or dementia has finally set in. Thinking about changing my name on here to pain in the ---.
 
Please disregard the above/last post there are other problems I have encountered like having 3 desktop folders with various different properties of picture folders. When lr classic was in stalled it picked # 2 desktop and installed a link to that one. my backup on external drive was from a different desktop #3 which only points to my most recent files. more investigation is ongoing. And more knowledge needs to acquired. This is concerning the old computer not the new one.
 
Some of those "Picture" folders may be "links" to a real a "Pictures" folder on your C drive under the folder for your user name. Some folders in windows have "special" names such as Temp, Documents, Pictures to name a few. Unfortunatly these are not "reserved" names meaning that those names can be also be used under other parent folders or on other drives and that can lead to all sorts of confusion. Not only confusion for people but of programs and applications that sometimes grab a wrong "picures" or "temp" folder. So, good idea to winnow those down to just the one "official" Pictures folder.
 
I agree 1000% with Califdan re OneDrive.

I would be tempted, if possible, to fall back to a fresh install of the o/s. Then remove OneDrive until you decide you have a use for it. Then follow the Lightroom Queens instructions for transferring and upgrading Lr from one machine to another.

With a new machine, you have a once off opportunity to remove all legacy digital debris and make a conscious decision as to what apps and data you want to install. You still have the old machine, so you have plenty of time to decide on what to do with the legacy data.

I have been using Microsoft since before the launch of Windows for Workgroups, but I got into serious trouble when I bought a new Win laptop for travel, as I did not know at the time that Microsoft put the Pictures folder inside OneDrive and then Adobe put the Catalog into the pictures folder. It took me 3 weeks to untangle a massive mess. I am extremely critical of Microsoft’s aggressive entanglement of people with OneDrive and equally critical of Adobe for defaulting the catalog to the Pictures folder.

If you leave OneDrive in situ, make sure you do not put the the catalog into that folder or one of its subfolders.
Here I am week 2 of the problem I was going to try and beat your 3 week un tanglement mess in week two but I am going backwards to the point I can no longer discribe what is wrong. I went to Adobe help 3 times two chat sessions and a phone call. All three ended the session before it was completed.
The phone call she hung up before I had the chance to explain what was going on. I didn't even swear, cuss, or tell her what I thought of Adobe, I have no idea what triggers that other than it is more of a problem that they can handle.
right now if I try to make new backup of my refreshed picture folder all I get are the lcat zipped files, not my actual picture files. I did try to extract them but still didn't see any photos.
 
Each Lrcat zip file will contain the catalog and related files. The zip files will never contain images, only the catalog database backups. The Lightroom catalog never contains the images... it just stores lots of info about the images, including the location of the image.

The catalog file itself, if extracted and stored say in a special test folder and opened by double clicking on the .lrcat file will prompt Lightroom to open that catalog database. The catalog itself will contain the individual url / disk address (ie folder, subfolder and filename combos). That will give you a clue to where your images were stored. It is likely that when opened, it may not be able to find the files, because they may have been moved, renamed, or not copied onto the computer you are now using. There are lots of other scenarios. [ It may be worth running a missing report on such a catalog. It may report that all or most of your files are missing or you might be surprised with what is found.

When I was untangling my mess ... I took copies of the One Drive Folders which existed on 3 different systems (my main Win Pc, my old Win laptop and my new MacAir)... because.... I was never sure, in my attempts to untangle, if I was deleting my original images.

While I suspect I got mostly back to base camp, I will never be sure if I got back to my status quo before I introduced a new MacAir into the One Drive triangle .

That is why I react and post a comment when I see people who have issues with OneDrive, in the hope others do not suffer the same pain.

You may be familiar with this already ... I am just responding to this comment ....

"right now if I try to make new backup of my refreshed picture folder all I get are the lcat zipped files".
 
Last edited:
Send Lawyers, guns and money. That's not a threat it is words in a song.
 
I would start by trying to understand where your images might be.

I would use a utility such as TreeSize (there are others) to analyse all your disks to establish what image files are on what drives.... and then dig a bit deeper to try and make sense of what you find.

Here is an analysis of my W Drive. I use this drive to store this years images and data .

No. 1 shows the drive in focus.
No. 2 shows the different file types ... I expanded the Graphics file category as that is what you will be interested in.
No. 3 Shows the count of these files ... so I can see there are 23,017 graphic files ... 4484 sony raw files (.arw), etc,

Treesize allows you to drill down into successive levels of subfolders.


1709242415638.png

This view is available when I click on the Extensions button. The normal view is to look at Details....

It defaults to showing the largest numbers or size first, depending on context.
1709242709208.png
 
A final example. I have all my recent (2024 and 2023 ) images on a fast M2 ssd (W) drive. All my other images... going back many many years are on a spinning internal drive, all under a master folder called .... '1_MattsPhotos'.

Using TreeSize, here is an analysis of my 1_MattsPhotos folder.



1709243285560.png


This shows the size and count of files in each sub folder, which in this case is the master folder for each year.

With TreeSize... I could drill down into the each year to see the subfolders (projects, trips, events, etc).

My opinion... if you are missing images, you need to analyse, forensically, the disks you have to determine what and where the images that are actually on your disk.

Finally, you can log into One Drive using a web browser and you can check there what images might still be stored by Microsoft in their OneDrive cloud storage. Maybe most or a lot of your images might be there.
 
After repeated attempts (6) with 5 hang ups , or discontinued chat or phone calls. I have had it with Adobe. After being hung up on 5 times I got the message adobe wants nothing to do with me. I AM DONE WITH ADOBE. I will be investigating Luminar Neo for my future editing. Or some other program. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOU HELP.
 
I thoroughly agree with CalifDan about the sudden surprise you are out of space and hey, for Can$13 a month you can continue. How can I completely get rid of OneDrive and not have it screw up the relation with my images now on Onedrive and my catlog fortunately not on OneDrive?
 
This link may be of interest.
https://www.techspot.com/news/102214-microsoft-users-can-uninstall-onedrive-windows-good.html

My instinct would be to create a folder on say an external drive (so it is not part of any special operating system folder) and copy the entire contents of your existing OneDrive folder to the newly created folder.

I would then follow the Microsoft instructions to remove OneDrive feature from your machine. You may need to do nothing further at this stage, as I expect all images / files to be still resident in the OneDrive folder, but you will have a backup of your images from OneDrive if anything goes wrong.

You should be able to log into OneDrive , with a browser, using your Microsoft credentials, and decide what you want to do with files left within the OneDrive cloud space.
 
This link may be of interest.
https://www.techspot.com/news/102214-microsoft-users-can-uninstall-onedrive-windows-good.html

My instinct would be to create a folder on say an external drive (so it is not part of any special operating system folder) and copy the entire contents of your existing OneDrive folder to the newly created folder.

I would then follow the Microsoft instructions to remove OneDrive feature from your machine. You may need to do nothing further at this stage, as I expect all images / files to be still resident in the OneDrive folder, but you will have a backup of your images from OneDrive if anything goes wrong.

You should be able to log into OneDrive , with a browser, using your Microsoft credentials, and decide what you want to do with files left within the OneDrive cloud space.
This link may be of interest.
https://www.techspot.com/news/102214-microsoft-users-can-uninstall-onedrive-windows-good.html

My instinct would be to create a folder on say an external drive (so it is not part of any special operating system folder) and copy the entire contents of your existing OneDrive folder to the newly created folder.

I would then follow the Microsoft instructions to remove OneDrive feature from your machine. You may need to do nothing further at this stage, as I expect all images / files to be still resident in the OneDrive folder, but you will have a backup of your images from OneDrive if anything goes wrong.

You should be able to log into OneDrive , with a browser, using your Microsoft credentials, and decide what you want to do with files left within the OneDrive cloud space.
That's my instinct as well, but I don't know how to link up my LRcat to the pictures on the new folder. I feel completely hijacked by Microsoft as I signed up for the subscription just to maintain access. I have an older version of Office (2010) which amply serves my purpose and I paid for that. So I don't want anything to do with OneDrive or a subscription to it. If that means losing whatever is in the cloud storage I don't care at this point, as long as I have my files on my own drive and LR recognizes me there. Thank you for your reply!
 
1. Copy the contents of the OneDrive to a newly created folder, say MyCopyOfOneDrive, preserving the OneDrive subfolder contents. Safest to copy to a temp external drive….. just to make sure it is outside any of the special o/s folders, such as MyDocs, MyPics,MyMusic, etc.

[Check and confirm that all OneDrive files / folders are stored locally first].

2. Remove OneDrive as a feature using instructions via link above.
3. Rename your existing OneDrive…. to say OneDriveRenamed17Mar2024. This should break the link between your images in OneDrive and the catalog.
4. Using Lr library module, you should see that the OneDrive folder is no longer available. Use Lr standard feature to relink to OneDrive folder on your temp external file. You can now be assured your images are not controlled by the Microsoft OneDrive cloud service. Reorganise and move these files / folders as you wish to your preferred location for these folders / images.

Step 3 and 4 should not be necessary as the OneDrive folder should contain its original contents, without OneDrive feature o/s strings attached… at which the safety backup of step 1 is no longer required.

Others may have a better or more efficient sequence.
 
1. Copy the contents of the OneDrive to a newly created folder, say MyCopyOfOneDrive, preserving the OneDrive subfolder contents. Safest to copy to a temp external drive….. just to make sure it is outside any of the special o/s folders, such as MyDocs, MyPics,MyMusic, etc.

[Check and confirm that all OneDrive files / folders are stored locally first].

2. Remove OneDrive as a feature using instructions via link above.
3. Rename your existing OneDrive…. to say OneDriveRenamed17Mar2024. This should break the link between your images in OneDrive and the catalog.
4. Using Lr library module, you should see that the OneDrive folder is no longer available. Use Lr standard feature to relink to OneDrive folder on your temp external file. You can now be assured your images are not controlled by the Microsoft OneDrive cloud service. Reorganise and move these files / folders as you wish to your preferred location for these folders / images.

Step 3 and 4 should not be necessary as the OneDrive folder should contain its original contents, without OneDrive feature o/s strings attached… at which the safety backup of step 1 is no longer required.

Others may have a better or more efficient sequence.
Thank you for this, I still have to purchase the ext drive, and I am looking into what would be the best option for me. But you have given me great steps to follow and I will let you know shortly on my progress.
 
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