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Spiro5FAF
Participant
June 24, 2025
Answered

Is it possible to reverse a preference reset in lightroom?

  • June 24, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 221 views

Hi.  I am new to the community and am not sure of the protocols.  I have an issue.  I was advised to try a preferences reset on my lightroom classic as it was slowing down sporadically.  Unfortunately this has broken my external hard drives links to the photographs (all the folders show with question marks), as I did not connect the hard drive when I performed the reset.  Is there a simple way to reverse this or to reconnect the links.  My catalogue is roughly 16000 photos (raw and jpeg).  Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.  I am working on windows.

Correct answer Sameer K

Hey Sprio! Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out. 

Resetting Lightroom's preferences does not break the link between the original images and the Lightroom Catalog. Still, the reset can cause Lightroom to pick a catalog that may not be the most recent or the right one. 

 

You can list all the catalogs on your computer using Windows search, type in .lrcat, and arrange the results by modified date to find the recent catalog you worked on before the reset. 

 

If you're sure that you're in the right catalog & the images are still missing, you can follow the steps here to relink your images: https://adobe.ly/4k8VCLf

 

Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 
Sameer K

(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

3 replies

M
MazieBartell
Participating Frequently
June 26, 2025

Hi and welcome to the community! It’s completely understandable to feel unsure when you're just getting started—don’t worry, you're in the right place. Regarding your issue with Lightroom Classic, resetting preferences without the external hard drive connected can indeed cause Lightroom to lose track of your photo locations, which is why you're seeing question marks on your folders. The good news is this can be fixed quite easily.

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
June 24, 2025

Is the problem that Windows is now using a different drive letter than LrC was using? For example, before this happened LrC thought the photos were on the E: drive and everything works; now the same photos according to Windows are on the F: drive.

 

That's pretty easy to fix, just change (in Windows) F: back to E:

Sameer K
Community Manager
Sameer KCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
June 24, 2025

Hey Sprio! Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out. 

Resetting Lightroom's preferences does not break the link between the original images and the Lightroom Catalog. Still, the reset can cause Lightroom to pick a catalog that may not be the most recent or the right one. 

 

You can list all the catalogs on your computer using Windows search, type in .lrcat, and arrange the results by modified date to find the recent catalog you worked on before the reset. 

 

If you're sure that you're in the right catalog & the images are still missing, you can follow the steps here to relink your images: https://adobe.ly/4k8VCLf

 

Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 
Sameer K

(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

    S
    Spiro5FAFAuthor
    Participant
    June 26, 2025
    @mystic_soldier7700



    Thank you I managed to reset the catalogue, you pointed me in the right direction. The link you sent is also very handy. I ended up using the last backup to open the catalogue from the hard drive. Only lost an hour or so editing time (well I hope) 😊. This is the challenge of learning from tutorials, I have obviously not covered all the basics of how the program operates. Hope you get this message and thanks again.



    Kind Regards





    Brendan





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