LR Classic 14.1 doesn't automatically save XMP metadata

Question

I'm using LIghtroom Classic 14.1.1 on Windows 11. A few months ago, I had to reinstall Windows. My Lightroom photos and catalogs are on a 4TB NVME stick [EDIT: internal 4TB NVME Crucial P3 SSD] as my F drive. Ever since I reinstalled Windows, Lightroom no longer no longer automatically writes metadata into XMP despite having "Automatically write changes into XMP" set under "Catalog Settings -> Metadata".

When I add a keyword or color tag to a photo, the Metadata conflict symbol appears, and I can press Ctrl+S to save the metadata. It used to do this automatically. I've toggled the setting and restarted Lightroom several times before/after toggling the setting to no avail.

The photo metadata is being saved in the catalog but not the separate XMP files for my Nikon NEF RAW files, nor Apple iPhone HEIC files, or even JPG files so the metadata conflict tag is accurate.

As I said, I did reinstall Windows around the time that it stopped working, and I reset all the file permissions to my new login account. I don't think it's a file permissions problem since I can press Ctrl+S and force a metadata save -- I verified the save took place by comparing before and after XMP files, and the metadata conflict symbol also disappears but reappears if I make any other changes.

Any suggestions as to how I can get automatic saving of metadata turned back on? I'm wondering if Lightroom is somehow confused and sometimes thinks the files are not writable -- although newly imported NEF/XMP files have the same behavior, and Ctrl+S works.

ZimFromIRK · Accepted Answer

Hi John: thanks for the suggestion and very clear description of the procedure. I did what you suggested: exported several days of a recent trip to my desktop on my C: drive: a new catalog containing copies of 176 images using the "Export as Catalog function" . This included both HEIC files and Nikon RAW NEF files, with their sidecar XMP files.

After making the copy, in the catalog/images copy, after I enabled "automatically write changes to XMP" and quit and restarted Lightroom, it's now is now immediately updating XMP when I change an image like the color label or add a keyword. I verified this by examining the XMP with a text editor.

I then repeated the above steps and made a new catalog on my F: drive, where the catalog and images live. Again, after enabling "automatically write changes to XMP", saving metadata worked perfectly.

I then reloaded my original catalog and verified that "automatically write changes to XMP" is checked, and the problem still exists. If I edit the XMP externally, like change the Label from Blue to Green, Lightroom detects the image is changed and offers to re-load it. If I change the color label in Lightroom, the three lines + downarrow immediately appear, the metadata status is "has been changed", and pressing Ctrl+S on the image updates the XMP and clears the status.

I ran "optimize catalog" to no avail. I think it does this on every backup anyway.

It sure looks like the "automatically write changes to XMP" catalog setting is simply being ignored in my main catalog. Is there a procedure to validate or repair the catalog? My catalog for 144,421 photos is 2.21GB in size, if that matters.

johnrellis · Answer

To narrow down the problem, try creating as test catalog: In your main catalog, select 100 photos, and do File > Export As Catalog with just the options Export Selected Photos Only and Export Negative files. Put the test catalog on your desktop.

Does the problem occur with the test catalog?

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