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Participant
September 4, 2026
Question

lightroom classic will not open

  • September 4, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 32 views

I select Lighroom Classic and get no errors but a spinning icon like the computer is thinking about it but nothing happens. Task Manager suggests Lightroom Classic is open yet it isn’t.

    2 replies

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    September 25, 2026

    Hi ​@defaultve6jj5u50727,

    Just checking in to see whether you were able to get Lightroom Classic opening again after trying the suggestions above.

    If the issue is still occurring, please try these two checks:

    1. Hold Alt while launching Lightroom Classic and create a temporary new catalog. If Lightroom opens normally with the new catalog, that would point us toward an issue associated with the existing catalog.
    2. Close Lightroom Classic from the Task Manager, then locate Lightroom.exe in the Lightroom Classic installation folder, right-click it, and select Run as administrator.

    Please let us know what happens with each test. If Lightroom still remains in Task Manager without displaying a window, we can investigate further from there.

    Best,
    Anshul Saini

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2026

    There are two things to check. First, check that you catalog isn’t corrupted. To do this, move your catalog folder to another location, so Lightroom Classic can’t find it. If you get a dialog that it can’t find the catalog, then do not point it to the new location, but create a new catalog to see if Lightroom Classic opens correctly with that catalog.

    If that does not work either, then the preferences file could be corrupted. The best option would be the same procedure: move the preferences file to another location, so Lightroom Classic will build a new one. Read this: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

     

    BTW; you posted this in the Lightroom ecosystem forum. Lightroom Classic issues should be posted in the Lightroom Classic forum, so expect a moderator to move this thread.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga