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magpie5
Inspiring
February 19, 2026
Answered

lightroom v15.1.1 backup not working, now needs permissions,

  • February 19, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 6 views

Hi! so i realised my backup was on the same hard drive as the original file. (i have 2 internal harddrives, one just for photography) so i tried to do the right thing and set the backup up on the other hard drive. Oh man, its been a nightmare! I have googled and read til my eyes bleed! I get the permissions thing. more googling, and some guy says set up and everybody and give full access, in desperation i tried it but my pc did not like it!! I have read about it here too, but my system doesnt match! I’m not sure im understanding, is it permissions to my hard drives? or within lightroom? I am using windows 10, waiting for the 11 upgrade! all the threads i bring up are so old, that the stream of commands are not on my pc! where do i find these permissions please? for now i have simply copied the LRCAT file to my backup hard drive, but doing that every day is a pain!  I have tried to set up a  new catalogue as some seem to get that to work, but even though i know exactly where the catalogue is, it doesnt come up when i try to import it! I have tried the push alt as you start lightroom, i dont get the new catalogue screen! i tried alt and shift, and that didnt work either! If you wouldnt mind can you absolutley dumb this down for me please? I tried to revert to the backup in the old place but im getting the permissions message again. thankyou in advance to any kind soul that helps me out! cheers, jo 

    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    This is a known issue, that has been reported here several times. It is caused by catalog corruption. What you could try is this: Create a brand new catalog (‘File - New Catalog’) and then choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. In the import dialog choose to import all photos, but do not move them. This will create an exact copy of your old catalog, but usually without the corruption. The only thing that won't come across is any publishing services you may have. You will have to recreate those. If you synced your catalog then you will have to enable sync for the new catalog. There are some reports that this could cause a problem. Here’s how to solve that: https://www.danhartfordphoto.com/blog/2025/1/lr026-fixing-sync-problems-caused-by-switching-the-sync-catalog

    4 replies

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 19, 2026

    This is a known issue, that has been reported here several times. It is caused by catalog corruption. What you could try is this: Create a brand new catalog (‘File - New Catalog’) and then choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. In the import dialog choose to import all photos, but do not move them. This will create an exact copy of your old catalog, but usually without the corruption. The only thing that won't come across is any publishing services you may have. You will have to recreate those. If you synced your catalog then you will have to enable sync for the new catalog. There are some reports that this could cause a problem. Here’s how to solve that: https://www.danhartfordphoto.com/blog/2025/1/lr026-fixing-sync-problems-caused-by-switching-the-sync-catalog

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      M
      magpie5Author
      Inspiring
      February 19, 2026

      i actually saw those posts and tried to do this 3 times today, not sure what i was doing wrong, but i could not find the cat file even though i knew the exact location! well i just tried again, and its there! i dont know, maybe because i changed some permission!! so as we speak i am transferring the catalog! fingers crossed, and thankyou!!! i will report back shortly! cheers

      M
      magpie5Author
      Inspiring
      February 19, 2026

      woohoooo!! it worked thankyou so much, now i have the file on one hard drive and the backup on another, and another backup on a seperate hard drive! thankyou so very much, 

       

      to all of you!!!!

      M
      magpie5Author
      Inspiring
      February 19, 2026

      firstly, thankyou for the replies,

      this is what i get. i have changed permissions to the adobe file in programs, is that where i need to do it?

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      February 19, 2026

      I get the permissions thing

       

      Please be specific. What words do you see on your screen, exactly, verbatim, word-for-word.

      AxelMatt
      Community Expert
      AxelMattCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 19, 2026

      Which steps you’ve done to configure the backup to the new location?

      Which error message do you get if you tried to do a backup? Please post the error message word-by-word.

      Check if you have Full Access right to the appropriate location on the hard drive.These are rights for the user account you are logged in with and use to work with Lightroom. There are no rights in Lightroom available.

      See here. How to Change Folder Permissions on Windows | V2 Cloud 

      On this site you’ll find all appropriate informations about managing access rights.

       

      See also here:

      Backups 

      How to back up catalogs in Lightroom Classic

       

      There are also a lot of informations about Backup in Lightroom.

       

      My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
      M
      magpie5Author
      Inspiring
      February 19, 2026

      hi, thankyou for replying

      I have followed the back up instructions, trying to switch it back to backing up in photos, since the actual file is on my D drive, along with my photos, ( my son in law built my pc woth 2 hard drives, one just for pics, for some idiot reason i moved the backups to the other drive too, its trying to put them back to default that isnt working!!) thankyou

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