P: Icon does not appear in Windows Explorer associated with .lrcat files

... It's a nightmare when you realize that a billion-dollar company like Adobe has no quality control that would notice such a “small” change. Where does all the money go? Only a mischievous person would think the worst.Even worse, Adobe is silent... Adobe Cloud is updated three times a week, but here...

By @mxkemper 

You're right, but mistakes happen wherever people work. Unfortunately, some mistakes go undetected during an audit.

Adobe is informed and I hope this issue will be fixed in one of the next updates.

Competent answer, thank you. It's a nightmare when you realize that a billion-dollar company like Adobe has no quality control that would notice such a “small” change. Where does all the money go? Only a mischievous person would think the worst.Even worse, Adobe is silent... Adobe Cloud is updated three times a week, but here...

This was the best solution.

Thank you,  AxelMatt Community Expert , Jan 01, 2026

I've found a workaround for this issue. 

The problem is that the embedded icons in Lightroom.exe has been changed

from Screenshot 2026-01-01 155518.png to 2026-01-01 16_28_01-Anderes Symbol.png

But the appropriate Regristry key for the default icon for the .lrcat - file wasn't change.

AxelMatt_3-1767282902142.png

Workaround:

1. Open the Windows Run dialog by presssing the Windows key + R
2. In the "Open" box type "regit" ans press return.
3. In the Registry Editor goto to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AdobeLightroom7.lrcat\DefaultIcon" (1)AxelMatt_0-1767282193531.png
4. Make a double click on the "(Standard)" entry on the right side. (2)
5. In the dialog change in the "Value" (Wert) box the last sign into 1 and press OK.
   AxelMatt_1-1767282433430.png
6. Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

Then the .lrcat icon should show the correct icon again.

AxelMatt_2-1767282795452.png

(Some screenshots were taken from a German system)

@Rikk Flohr: Photography 

This is only a workaround and should be corrected by Adobe's developer team.

File with no icon ... here are some possible fixes

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-10-fix-blank-icons/

I see the same on my machine.

AxelMatt_0-1766822309646.png

The file icon is missung, but the assignment as Lghtroom catalog is correct. On a double click it will be opened in Lightroom Classic. I don't at what time this occurs.

@Aleke The reassignment of the file type association doesn't solve this issue. I've check it.

Hi @2246182_jaain, welcome to the community!
When you double-click the catalog, what happens, does it open the app? If not, you might need to re-establish the file type associations in your Windows settings so the correct icon shows up.
Alek