I have not used Lightroom Classic on 5+ years. How do I install my catalog?

Forum|Forum|1 day ago
February 3, 2026
3 replies
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I have not used Lightroom Classic for many years. I recently got a new desktop computer and I want to use LRC again. My photo library is still intact on an external hard drive.

I installed LRC on the new PC. My old catalogs were backed up at E\Lightroom Backups. What is the proper way to import all these photos (1.5T) and reinstall the catalog? I don’t want to lose all of the work I did in the past. Added this sentence just for fun.

Thanks!

Correct answer JohanElzenga

You don’t have to ‘reinstall’ your catalog. All you have to do is use ‘File - Open Catalog’ in Lightroom Classic, and select your old catalog. Lightroom will ask you to upgrade it. Let it do so and you’re done.

LtFdrebbinAuthor

Participant

This worked. Thank you both!

D

dj_paige

Legend

What is the proper way to import all these photos (1.5T) and reinstall the catalog?

Importing the photos is 100% the wrong thing to do. Find the most recent backup copy which is likely in a .zip file, unzip the files from the zip archive wherever you want them to be, preferably in a brand new empty folder; and then double-click on the .LRCAT file to open it. Make sure this new folder is not synced with OneDrive.

JohanElzenga

Correct answer

Community Expert

You don’t have to ‘reinstall’ your catalog. All you have to do is use ‘File - Open Catalog’ in Lightroom Classic, and select your old catalog. Lightroom will ask you to upgrade it. Let it do so and you’re done.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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