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jan.erik
Participant
May 1, 2026
Question

Lightroom Classic Freeze / Hang on macOS (after closing & reopening)

  • May 1, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 91 views

I’m experiencing a recurring problem with Lightroom Classic (v15.3) on macOS, running on a MacBook M5 Max with approximately 2.5 TB of free disk space. I haven’t encountered this issue prior to version 15.3, although I’m not certain if it is directly related.

Symptoms

  • Lightroom opens the catalog, but:
    • spinning beachball appears frequently
    • images can sometimes be selected, but no zoom
    • previews remain blank or don’t load
  • UI is partially responsive, but core functionality is blocked
  • Replacing the catalog with a backup does not fix the issue
  • Deleting Previews.lrdata also no effect
  • Deleting .lock, .wal, .shm has no effect
  • Initially, a full system restart resolved the issue. However, the problem has now progressed to a point where even restarting macOS no longer fixes it. Lightroom still opens in the same unusable state (beachball, no zoom, missing previews).

When the issue occured:

  • No Lightroom process is visible anymore in Activity Monitor
  • However, Lightroom still behaves as if something is blocking access

Crash / Hang report (key data)

  • Event: hang
  • Duration: ~70 seconds unresponsive
  • Lightroom version: 15.3
  • macOS: 26.4.1 (Tahoe)
  • Architecture: Apple Silicon (arm64)
  • Main thread state during hang: in application termination phase

Has anyone else experienced similar behavior on recent macOS versions?
Are there any known fixes or workarounds? At this point, I’m running out of things to try.

      3 replies

      J
      Community Expert
      Jao vdLCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 6, 2026

      This is definitely not normal behavior.

      Try creating a new empty catalog first and import a few images into it. Does it happen there too? If it still happens there is a deeper issue with your computer and I would start checking hardware like disconnect external hard drives and other accessories, checking and repairing the internal hard drive, etc. just to exclude things. You might need to do a clean install of everything especially if you used any third party “clean up” tools on your Mac. Those do way more bad than good in general.

      If the new catalog does not have the issues, it is likely an issue with your catalog itself. Restart Lightroom while holding the alt/option key. This should give you a dialog where you can have Lightroom check the integrity of your catalog file. Let it run its course and see if it finds a problem. If it does, let it repair it. If it doesn’t find issues and goes into a hang up again and a fresh catalog does not have the issue, you might need to recreate the catalog file from scratch. 

        P
        PetriPuurunen
        Participating Frequently
        June 6, 2026

        Same here. After 15.3. updates its unusable. Adobe: do simple google-search “Lightroom 15.3. hangs” and you find lot of people with exact same problem.

        Sameer K
        Community Manager
        Sameer KCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        May 13, 2026

        Hey, @jan.erik. I'll need more info to help you figure this out. Please share the system info from Lightroom Classic from Help > System info > Copy and paste into a text document > Upload and attach here. 


        Where do you keep your Lightroom Classic catalog? Does this freeze & crash happen randomly, or after you've applied specific edits to the image, such as Lens Corrections, Denoise, and Masks? 

        As primary steps, try this:

        • Unplug additional displays & use only one by default.

        • Monitor the Task Manager > Performance Tab for any unexpected read and write operations. 

        • Lightroom Classic > Catalog Settings > Metadata > Uncheck 'Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.'

        • Check this detailed response from our Expert: https://adobe.ly/4g6Cb4j


        Let me know how it goes. Thanks!

        Sameer K

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