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KennyBrandon
KennyBrandon
Participant
Oct 2, 2013 5:13 PM UTC
Answered

"Lightroom encountered and error when reading from its preview cache and needs to quit"

I keep receiving this error every time I open LR, "Lightroom encountered and error when reading from its preview cache and needs to quit" and the app won't open. It said LR would try and fix this error next time I opened it but the error remains. I tried uninstalled and installing the app and the error remains.

Any Ideas here? Is there another app that may be telling it where to look for the cache and it no longer there? I was using a ramdisk for a bit but ditched it. Not sure if that has something to do with it but it seems suspect.

Your thoughts?

--Kenny Brandon Wilson

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    dj_paige
    dj_paigeCorrect answer
    Legend
    Oct 2, 2013 5:53 PM UTC

    You need to delete the Preview Cache.

    It is located in the same folder as the Lightroom Catalog. The preview cache name ends with Previews.LRDATA and should be deleted. Do not confuse this with *.LRCAT, which should not be deleted.

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    popsp3520164
    popsp3520164
    Participant
    Apr 26, 2016 10:38 PM UTC

    not working!!!!

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    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    Oct 27, 2016 7:16 PM UTC

    popsp3520164 wrote:

    not working!!!!

    Could you give us some details?

    Did you try the solutions that were already discussed in this thread?

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    LaurenKC
    Participant
    Apr 7, 2017 12:41 AM UTC

    Same here. I tried renaming the file to "Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefsOLD",however that didn't work. It actually created a second file with the same name and didn't resolve the problem.

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    adkcamper
    Participant
    Apr 1, 2016 2:27 PM UTC

    I too have struggled with this issue.  I had all my photos and my catalog on an external drive.  Deleting the preview cache did not fix the problem.  So this week I moved my Lightroom folder (lightroom catalog, previews, etc.) onto my laptop's hard drive.  Have not had a problem since. 

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    Frank-Linssen
    Participant
    Aug 29, 2015 7:58 PM UTC

    It is not a file but a folder of almost 13GB. Do I need to delete this complete folder ?

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    Michael___D
    Participant
    Jun 9, 2015 1:37 AM UTC

    Did it and it didn't correct my issue. Dam. I'll running windows 8 if that makes any deferent’s.

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    fototrance
    fototrance
    Participant
    Jun 7, 2015 6:03 PM UTC

    Thank you DJ_Paige!

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    sh4rkbyt31
    Participant
    May 12, 2015 2:36 AM UTC

    I am having the exact same issue.

    This started after I backed up my catalog to the same drive. I have changed the Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs to Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs OLD as was mentioned. Opened at least 10 times and still having the exact same issue.  I have gone round and round with your tech support before with a different issue related to your software and am not about to go through hours on end again.

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    Acute_Pixel
    Participant
    Mar 23, 2015 6:05 AM UTC

    Thank you ...fixed. After I tried to retrieve backup files all of the sudden this happen but I'm glad I found your post.  Thanks!

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    Anonymous
    Feb 8, 2015 7:06 PM UTC

    hi!

    where do i find the catalog folder?

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    NanoMyy
    NanoMyy
    Participant
    Nov 16, 2014 10:02 PM UTC

    Thanks a lot! Worked just fine and LR starts up again.

    LR5 on Win 8.1

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    esheato
    Participant
    Aug 23, 2014 7:43 PM UTC

    I'm having the same problem.

    Last week LR was working fine. Yesterday I come home from vacation, and LR won't launch, and displays this error before shutting down. I found this post and deleted the preview data and it launched. I did my import and development like normal and close the software. Next time I go to open it, same error.

    It's to the point that I have to delete the previews data EVERY SINGLE TIME prior to opening the software. This is ridiculous. Is there a long term fix available?

    Thanks,

    Ed

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      esheato
      Participant
      Aug 25, 2014 6:04 PM UTC

      Talked to Adobe support this morning, this is their response in case anyone else is looking for help. I'm running a Windows 7 box, LR 5.6.

        Gokul: Click on start and type %appdata%, then open roaming folder.

        Edward: ok

        Gokul: Open Adobe folder.

        Gokul: Open Lightroom folder.

        Gokul: Open Lightroom folder> Preferences.

        Edward: ok

        Gokul: Rename Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs file as Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefsOLD.

        Edward: OK

        Gokul: Please check if you can launch Lightroom without any error.

        Edward: it shows me a welcome screen and is asking me to select my country

        Edward: aka, register the software

        Gokul: You can skip and launch it.

        Edward: LR catalog not found

        Gokul: Please select the catalog.

        Edward: my original catalog?

        Gokul: Yes.

        Edward: testing integrity of catalog

        Edward: loaded just fine

        Gokul: Okay.

        Gokul: Please check if you can re-launch it again.

        Edward: yes, it worked!

        Gokul: Excellent!

        Gokul: Since your preferences were corrupted you were facing issue so we renamed the preferences file to reset it.

        Edward: aha....ok


      All of my import/export presets were intact along with develop user presets. I'm happy as a clam for my $10/month!

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        DivineG
        DivineG
        Participant
        Sep 21, 2014 6:22 PM UTC

        I'm having the same error and have tried every solution in this page with no luck.

        I am not finding the Preferences.agprefs file as discussed in the solution from support.
        Any suggestions?

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