Exit Catalog

John, I had the same issue today after being asked to create a new catalog in imagen ai because according to the app my LR files were not in LRcat format. 
How did you resolve the issue. Did you get your previously edited files back?

Thanks to everyone for helping with this.

Cheers.

John

I think you confuse the Lightroom Classic catalog (which -as others said- Lightroom Classic always uses) and certain views in that catalog. You can view an individual folder, or collections like the last import, or all images by selecting that in the left panel. There is a sub-panel called 'Catalog' with some of these standard collections, and so I think that is what confuses you. To view all your photos click on the 'All Photographs' collection. This collection is always in the 'Catalog' sub-panel, never in your folder panel. To view a particular folder, click on the name of that folder in the folder panel.

BTW, Lightroom Classic should not default to the 'All Photographs' collection. It should come back to where you were when you last quit Lightroom Classic.

You cannot work with Lightroom in this way. Lightroom requires you to bring specific photos into the catalog by importing them, and its fundamental role as a digital asset management tool is designed into the program. 

If you just want to browse folders randomly, you might be better off using Bridge and Camera Raw (or one of the competing products that doesn't manage photos). 

In Lightroom Classic, you are always using the catalog, you cannot do anything without using the catalog.

I just want to be able to exit the catalog and just work in lightroom with access to all folders.

Do you mean the Folder panel on the left of the Library Module? Otherwise, I really don't understand this, can you show us a screen capture of what it looks like when you "work in lightroom [sic] with access to all folders"? Please use the "Insert Photos" icon to include your screen capture in your reply.