Windows 11 is available – can I run Lightroom? Check compatibility here!
Windows 11 has been available for a few weeks now, but the more cautious among us like to wait to see which bugs are likely to cause trouble. As Mac users, we haven’t been watching the wider picture too carefully, but we can give you an update on the known issues that could affect your Lightroom use.
Officially, “There may be some performance issues when running these apps in Windows 11” and “All Windows 11 display features and UI elements may not be supported.”
Supported versions
- Lightroom version 4.x or later.
- Lightroom Classic version 10.x or later.
- Photoshop version 22.x or later.
Systems to run Windows 11
Of course, you’ll need to check if your computer can run Windows 11. Here’s the specifications to check.
Summary
Sounds like good news! But that doesn’t mean the upgrade will be completely smooth sailing, as there are interactions with drivers and changes in file permissions that can still cause a few hiccups. The main Lightroom-related issues we’ve heard of so far are:
Import – system seems to freeze while import and preview building is taking place.
We’ll update this blog when we get additional feedback.
Older versions of Lightroom are not officially tested, and of course are not supported.
If you run into any other problems, report them at the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
If you have the Photography Plan, then as well as Classic you have access to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem including the mobile apps and web interface. For more information on these apps, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
Just bought Samsung Pro4 and trying to access Lightroom photos. Keep getting “These are the files you recently deleted” or “Deleted files are removed everywhere “. No photos show up in my thumbnail. Any help out there for this?
This is a post about Windows 11, so for general help, I’d suggest clicking on the Forum link in the menubar. However it sounds like you’re in the Deleted view… tap Deleted at the top and change to All Photos instead.
I am running Lightroom 5.7 on my 2011 Mac mini on OSX 10.13 High Sierra. I am planning to upgrade the Mac but LR 5.7 will not run on the newer Mac Operating systems. Also as it would be a new ARM chip, then Parallels cannot run OSX 10.13 as a virtual machine on the ARM chips. If I switched LR 5.7 to the windows version, would that run on Windows running in Parallels ? Or would it run under crossover? Not sure which is the best option. Thanks
Some people are reporting that LR 5.7 will install on the new Mac’s, although they’re not without issues. LR6 doesn’t because the activation is 32-bit, whereas there was no activation on LR5.
As far as Parallels goes though, and I’m assuming Crossover too, it wouldn’t work when I tried on mine. I can’t even run the latest LR Classic in Parallels Windows on my M1 Mac as there isn’t a Windows ARM version available.
So, long story short… you could try 5.7 on your new machine to see if you can get it working well enough, but otherwise assume you’re likely to need to upgrade to a subscription to run Lightroom on an M1/2 Mac.
I need to upgrade to Windows 11 (from 7) and I would like to take my LR v5 with me. Can you recommend a new PC to match? It doesn’t need to be very high-spec, I keep photos on an external HD, but good graphics and a good screen would certainly be an improvement on my old Samsung. That and compatibility for a seamless transition are the main things. Thanks.
Hi Andrew
We’d suggest open a thread on our Forums, there’s a number of people there who are well-versed with Windows and PC’s. As you are likely aware, Lr5 was retired 7 years ago, so is unsupported.
Yes, it’s an acknowledged issue but it is still not fixed since it was acknowledged last November. I called Adobe tech support and they are “looking into it”. Meanwhile does anyone know of a work around in LR Classic having this problem in Windows 11 so I can sync LR Classic to my LR mobile app
A long shot, but can you right click to hide some of the modules you don’t use very often like Book, Slideshow, Print, Web? They’d still be accessible from the menus. Looking at the screenshots, it might be enough to work around the issue but I don’t have a low enough resolution screen to test it.
I am using LR Classic (the new subscription version) on Windows 11 and the module picker is cut off halfway through so that I can only access the last two or three modules by the work around of using the drop down menu for the modules or the short cuts. (This is apparently an acknowledged bug for a long time and still is not fixed) I was living with that but I just started to use LR Mobile and since the module picker is cut off I do not have access to the cloud icon that should be to the right of that to turn on sync and therefore cannot sync photos on my phone in the mobile app to my desktop LR classic. This was to be a big part of my workflow and I don’t know what to do!
This is an acknowledged issue:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-1280×1024-resolution-the-right-hand-module-picker-is-truncated/idi-p/12528784
We’d suggest add comments (and check the suggestions)
I just received a fix from Adobe which works: Lightroom > Edit > Preferences > Performance > Turn off Use Graphics processor
Great customer service from them
I changed my PC (old one Windows 10, new one Windows 11). I installed LR 6 (original purchase was a download copy). The only problem I noticed is that when changing the Aspect an annoying pink patterning appears intermittently on the bottom half of the screen while changing the border. Apart from that, everything worked fine. Today I upgraded to 6.14 after contacting Adobe and the same problem exists so I assume it is due to Windows 11 vers Windows 10.
Is there no definitive answer for Windows 11 from Adobe? I have not found anything that simply says: Windows 11 and Adobe Lightroom Classic (the one I use) are compatible (and how that is done). I want to update my PC and it WILL take Windows 11 it is very powerful and somewhat new – August 2020
This is an old post, it is officially tested and supported on Windows 11 now. Some people still have odd issues, but that’s true of all operating system versions.
I have actually reverted to Windows10 (at great effort).
LR Classic doesn’t support graphics acceleration using the Nvidia 3060 mobile (Dell XPS) – so all the expected performance issues with using the Intel graphics (editing large raws is painful and difficult).
It also fails to get to 100% CPU utilisation on a bunch of tasks, export to JPG/preview generation being the two notable examples.
The application also becomes unusable when exporting any images.
No such problems on W10.
Specs/versions:
Spec is Dell XPS 9710/11800H/64GB RAM/2TB SSD (library on SSD + current batch of pics on SSD)/RTX 3060.
The graphics card has all the latest (“for creative”) drivers, updates etc. and should be supported by Adobe, it is a more capable than the 1080s that they support.
This is on the latest LR as of August 2022.
I tried to get rid of (de-register) my copy of LR6 on my Windows 7 PC, but cannot do it because of repeated messages that the PC is not connected to the internet, even though it is. I had given the software to my wife and it was installed on her computer. (I got her the boxed version.) She logged into her account which indicates that the software is not registered on any devices, so she cannot de-register anything. When I try to install it on my W11 PC, using the SN, the message is that the software is running on 2 machines already.
No matter what I try I run into a brick wall.
From what I read it looks as if I may be out of luck.
I don’t use LR6 much and certainly never want to buy a subscription.
There’s a member of staff helping out on this thread: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-activation-or-deactivation-versions-of-lightroom-6/m-p/12358851 That’s your best bet.
Lightroom CC is unstable for windows 11. Using a full speced out ultrabook DELL XPS 7390 with a 10th Gen i7-1065G7, 32 GB RAM, and 1TB NVME. Overall…..it was a nightmare when using it during a press release, i had to submit some photos for the press at a given time, but lightroom was barely moving and super super slow even after the preview was built and all. Never encounter such issue before windows 11.
Highly do not recommend using Lightroom CC on your Windows 11 laptop as of now. It almost “killed me” for an official event with a strict dateline.
Sorry to hear that. There is no version called Lightroom CC anymore, so what’s the version number you’re using?
Lightroom then…..not the classic edition. The cloud base lightroom.
Latest from Adobe version V5.1 & and now 5.2, same issue.
I may have solve the issue.
Lightroom by default selects AUTO graphic accelaration for your laptop, BUT it is seriously lagging with that option, thus when i custom and select FULL acceleration, it solves the lagging / sluggish issue.
Been using lightroom for years…..and somehow i find tablet are faster than windows counterpart. Food for thought.
Cheers
Great! If you find it unstable, you may need to switch it back, but if it’s running well on full, that’s perfect.
Hi, i’ve tried and with latest updates from lightroom. i can share base on my experience with windows 11 and also comparing it with lightroom classic (the desktop version type aka old one).
With the same laptop specs I7-1065G7 intel iris.
32 GB RAM DDR4
1TB NVME 2,000 Read / Write speed.
Dell XPS 13 and 4k screen topped specs laptop in 2020.
I can say LIGHTROOM is NOT ready for windows 11, I’ve even tested it against LIGHTROOM CLASSIC and it’s performance is far superior than lightroom. Hence sync and cloud will be another issue if you intend to use multiple lightroom classic catalogs. Overall, I find it rather surprising that adobe has not rectified this issue for months now.
It’s been a sloppy downhill everytime I use lightroom on my laptop. Takes 3 times longer to load photos and editing on it versus lightroom classic.
Graphic performance set to AUTO, custom full power is also somewhat same now after update. Overall, it’s an unpleasant experience very often.
Photoshop / lightroom classic on the other hand works well, no issue.
Are all of the photos synced and the originals stored locally? If not, you’re comparing apples and oranges. They’re very different beasts. It’s difficult to troubleshoot by blog comment, especially without knowing your full workflow, but feel free to create a thread on the forum and we can help investigate.
I keep having Lightroom classic crash during tether shooting. Using a Dell XPS 15 with 64 gb of ram and a Canon 5D Mark VI. The program just freezes up. Adobe has been less than helpful with this problem.
Is it freezing or is it crashing? They can have quite different causes. My first thought is that the camera is going to sleep or there’s a problem with the cable, but feel free to post on the forum (link in menu) to troubleshoot further.
LR6 and WIN11: All the discussions above support my mindset not to change over to WIN11 for the next years – as long WIN10 is still supported. I do not miss any of the new features of WIN11 – but I love my LR6 working perfect…
I own LR classic (6.14) and upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. No Good.
LR opens and I cannot see the images at all. I have tried creating a new catalog, same issue. What I get is a grey tile (thumbnail “Library” view), and a black unrendered image when in “Devlop”…
Thank GOD I backed up the PC beforehand. BTW – I used Symantec’s GHOST v11.5.1, works like a champ (word of caution – only backup the “C” partition, do not attempt to backup the entire drive)
I am restoring the PC as I write this.
Final comments – Windows 11 looks cool and seems to be a great replacement over Windows 10. However (a BIG however) I am trying to hold on to Lightroom 6.14 (classic) as long as I can. I do not want to give Adobe money on a per month basis, as I can’t deal with the ultilitarian aspect of the cloud in that way…
Having said that, LR classic “wins” and Windows 11 “loses.” It’s more important to me to be able to operate LR vs. get a new operating system.
Maybe if someone in this forum figures out how to get LR classic to run under Windows 11 I will try again, but until then…
No pictures visible even in Develop would make me think graphics card driver or monitor profile is the problem, so if you ever decide to try again, those are the places I’d look. For clarity, Lightroom 6 is still called Lightroom 6, Lightroom Classic is the newer subscription version.
Bought a new laptop with Windows 11 and technician trashed my old drive while transferring programs and data files. Installed Lightroom 6 from my DVD and it started fine. Spent two days importing photos from my various directories and last night Lightroom locked up in the middle of an import. No recovery so shut down Lightroom. Lightroom would not restart. Rebooted the computer, Lightroom would still not start. Any suggestions? Of course Adobe is not help as they no longer support v6.
That’s uncharted territory I’m afraid. Do you get an error message or anything like that?
No, I get a few seconds of a spinning circle, the circle then goes away, and then nothing.
An update. Used the DVD to reinstall Lightroom v6. Got error message that Lightroom was running and had to be closed. Used Windows End Task and found about 20 instances of the Lightroom program still running. Closed each. Installed. Ran program. Photos and catalog were all still there. Shut down program to make sure it would restart. It did. Have not added additional photos yet. That is next.
Great, thanks for the update.
Just my twopenn’orth – upgraded to Win11 a month ago, but when I launched LR6.14 today MS Store proceeded to download the latest Lightroom subscription offering (1 TB, for £8.39/mo with a seven day free trial, I’m in the UK) and asked me to login with my Adobe details beforehand (didn’t accept my password so had to reset , which is no bad thing IMHO).
I restarted my laptop PC and lo-and-behold LR6.14 was still in my full apps list and launched as expected earlier and seems to be functioning as normal (I could import pictures from the Cloud and they are in the correct sub-folders for cataloguing). Needless to say I’ve just uninstalled the unnecessary LR subscription app.
Has anyone else has this – a bit naughty on Adobe/MS Store methinks….?
I’ve loved your site for years, been a great source of info – please keep it up!
Kind regards
DocD
Hi
It isn’t something we’ve heard of at all. Generally feedback on Win 11 has been good. Perhaps there is something with the MS Store, but this is the first we heard.
Thank you for posting though, it helps others to know how to revert! And thank you for the lovely comments on the site too!
I’m running Lightroom 6 on Windows 11 without any problems.
Good to know, thanks for sharing.
Me too. Runs great.
Others will appreciate your reassurance, thank you!
Hi, LR new version support now more “smoothly” work with Windows 11 ?
We’ve not got enough people using Win 11 and Lightroom 11 yet to be able to tell, but there have been significant improvements in performance generally, that include scrolling issues.
I run Win 11 and LrC 11 and it will not upload any previews at all, completely dead. I wonder why?
Hi Peter
Can you explain what you mean by ‘upload any previews’?
If I click on a folder LR will normally show a set of preview pictures of the contents in that folder, but after upgrading to win 11 Im not able to see any pictures. LR is locked and there is just a ring and a wait message. I ran it for hours without any success. Ive updated all Win and PS software to the latest and greatest.
Funny I’ve been having that kind of trouble importing with Lightroom Classic 10 and macOS 11 Big Sur — first only some photos get imported, then importing stops, then Lightroom freezes. In the end either Lightroom Classic claims no new photos to import or importing freezes. I’ve tried debugging this a month occasionally and finally found a workaround:
Make a new Catalog, import photos there and then import that new Catalog to the actual main catalog.
Seems like a bug with my catalog, and I’ve tried Optimizing Catalog, trashing Lightroom Preferences and uninstalling Lightroom Classic and all plugins and re-installing. No solution.
I’m hoping new Lightroom 11 would solve this issue with importing.
When the catalog is next updated (as they usually are with a major release like 11) it works by copying the catalog and updating. That may solve it, but it does sound like a catalog issue (not something others are reporting).
We has that problem too with the first version of MacOS 11 Big Sur and as we could not import new pictures we already feared that we had to leave Lightroom 6 behind. But after the first update of Big Sur, Lightroom 6 worked flawlessly again. It seemed that Apple noticed and solved the problem.
That’s good news, thanks for sharing tonson. Let us know if you update to Monterey with Lightroom 6, we’ve got a separate blog post for that.
So I guess users of Lightroom 6.14 license version is out of luck?
It could run but if it does, it not supported, so try at your own risk and do backup before doing anything
I agree with Daniel. It may, I haven’t heard of it being tried, and of course Lightroom 6 hasn’t been supported for 4 years now.
Backup before proceeding sounds very good advice!