Problem importing from user's Pictures folder in Windows 10

[alec.dann-verizon]

Lightroom Version Number

Current

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Today I was working with a student helping him import photos he had saved to his Pictures folder in Windows 10.

In the Import dialogue, we were able to see the C drive and see the Users folder within that, but the only user visible was one called Owner (C:\Users\Owner). There is a Pictures folder inside ..\Owner but there were no photos or subfolders in it.

When I navigated to the student's Pictures folder using File Explorer, however, I checked properties and saw that it was it C:\Users\kspec (the students name).

Although I worked with Windows machines for many years, not owned a Windows 10 machine and don't understand the difference in navigation or why Lightroom Classic is unable to display the correct User folder.

I've attached screen shots to illustrate the problem.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Alec

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That one's out of my league too, I've spent too many years away from Windows.

Any of our Windows guys have any ideas?

 

[Jim Wilde]

No, I don't understand that either. Have you tried running LrC as an administrator, just in case it's a permissions problem.

 

[Replytoken]

I am using Windows 10 and am able to get to my Pictures folder under Users when I callup LR Classic's Import Dialog box. What is showing when you open the C: drive and then the Users Folder? This may appear differently than the screen shot where you opened up Pictures (from the top level in File Explorer) and its properties dialog box. I know they should be the same, but I am curious to see what it shows if you dive through the directory rather than just use the "shortcut" that Windows provides in File Explorer at the top level.

--Ken

 

[alec.dann-verizon]

@Replytoken Thanks very much for taking a shot at an answer.

I was able to solve this in another session with my student this morning. It turns out that the student’s user directory was hidden for some reason. This in spite of the fact that the user Pictures directory was visible in My PC.

I worked in Windows every day for 20 years before moving to a Mac) and for several months managed an IT team supporting 70 Windows users. I never saw this problem before. There's always something new in computing technology though.

How I solved the problem.

When viewing the Properties of the student's Pictures directory, it was clearly located in C:\Users but when expanding the Directory tree for C: in My PC, the student's user folder wasn't there. It occurred to me that it might be hidden (Windows has a default setting to hide some files and directories).

I found the directory by first changing the option to show Hidden files (in the View menu). I could now see the student's user folder in C:\Users\.

Then I opened the Properties of the previously hidden user directory and unchecked the “Hidden” checkbox in the lower half of the dialogue window.

Since the purpose of hiding files is to keep the user from accidentally deleting important files, I changed “Show Hidden files…” option back to its previous state. The previously hidden directory remained visible in File Explorer and now was visible in the Lightroom Classic Import dialogue.

All's well that ends well.

Alec

 

[Replytoken]

@Replytoken Thanks very much for taking a shot at an answer.

I was able to solve this in another session with my student this morning. It turns out that the student’s user directory was hidden for some reason. This in spite of the fact that the user Pictures directory was visible in My PC.

I worked in Windows every day for 20 years before moving to a Mac) and for several months managed an IT team supporting 70 Windows users. I never saw this problem before. There's always something new in computing technology though.

How I solved the problem.

When viewing the Properties of the student's Pictures directory, it was clearly located in C:\Users but when expanding the Directory tree for C: in My PC, the student's user folder wasn't there. It occurred to me that it might be hidden (Windows has a default setting to hide some files and directories).

I found the directory by first changing the option to show Hidden files (in the View menu). I could now see the student's user folder in C:\Users\.

Then I opened the Properties of the previously hidden user directory and unchecked the “Hidden” checkbox in the lower half of the dialogue window.

Since the purpose of hiding files is to keep the user from accidentally deleting important files, I changed “Show Hidden files…” option back to its previous state. The previously hidden directory remained visible in File Explorer and now was visible in the Lightroom Classic Import dialogue.

All's well that ends well.

Alec

Well, to paraphrase you, there is always something new in computing technology. And today I learned a bit more about hidden directories that I previously knew. Glad you were able to solve this issue.

--Ken