Inspiring

Answered

LRc freezes and crashes on 15.2 when zooming into image

Forum|Forum|24 days ago
March 10, 2026
5 replies
169 views

Hi everyone!

I hope I didn’t miss any already existing bug / issue posts for this issue. Here’s the short version again:
After upgrading to Lightroom Classic 15.2, I experience an increase in repeatable and reproducable freezes with following crashes. These occur always when zooming into an image and are instantanous.

The resulting CrashLog from the error report tool is attatched as well as the Lightroom System Info sheet.

System spec overview: Windows Desktop PC (custom)
OS: Windows 11 25H2 Build 26200
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950x3D (+ integrated iGPU)
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070ti (12GB GDDR6 VRAM) [591.74 - Driver info see below]
RAM: 64GB DDR5 6000MTs CL30
DISK: LRc installed on M.2 Gen.4 SSD; Library on same drive; Media on 7200RPM HDD
VER.: Adobe Lightroom v15.2

First observations:
Since version 14.1, I have encountered random issues, from increased stuttering to freezing. When those issues persistet and occured more often, I finally got a “KNOWN ISSUE” warning prompt once, which led me to the Adobe Help page about disabling GPU acceleration. This didn’t fully fix the issue as some problems kept persisting - until I changed my graphics processor for LRc in the windows settings to my integrated AMD iGPU.
This led me to these observations for the 14.1 version:

Running LRc on the 4070ti + HW acceleration on resulted in stuttery performance of the UI, occasional freezes (without crashes) and flickering, especially when toggling before/after
Running LRc on the 4070ti without HW acceleration enabled in the settings stabilized a lot of flickering, completely removed flashing when toggling before/after and reduced program freeze occurances
Running LRc on the AMD iGPU + HW acceleration works fine without crashes and significant UI flickering but has the same flashing issue when toggling before/after
Running LRc on the AMD iGPU without HW acceleration removes all issues

It is to note though that the overall experience greatly sufferes in performance and speed, especially AI functionality, when the iGPU is in use instead. Which is to be expected.

When now updating to 15.2, these configuartions get worse. Running the program with NVIDIA at all, results in freezes with crashing at random times. But it always happens when simply zooming into an image (magnification). This happens regardless if I use 66% or 100% or any other value for the zoom. This also always happens, regardless of if HW acceleration is enabled or not as long as the RTX4070ti is assigned as the main graphics processor.

If I now choose the AMD iGPU, all these issues are voided in v15.2 of Lightroom classic, but performance tanks significantly.

What have I tried?
According to these findings, I have tried uninstalling (DDU) my graphics drivers and reinstalling them manually and also through the NVIDIA APP application. I tried a range of drivers, including the last 3 WHQL releases of each the Studio Drivers and Game Ready drivers. The most stable one is the current Game Ready driver 595.71. Neither resolved the issue.

I have also tried...:

...disabling my iGPU in the device manager in case of driver interference.
I reinstalled audio drivers since those are connected to NVIDIA drivers in some instances.
I have checked for recent windows updates and made sure I’m not on a preview version.
I have disabled HDR functionality of my display, Auto-HDR in windows and changed my display settings to less demanding values (FHD, 8bit, 60Hz, etc.).
I have installed multiple versions of Lightroom Classic (uninstalling others every time) and tested those for the same behavior.
I have optimized my catalog and adjusted my performance settings, clearing cache, rerendering previews and disabling “Enhanced RAW” in the sharpning TAB for photos in my current album. I tried adjusting what HW accelerations features were used, but since I always wanted HDR editing enabled, I had to at least check the first box “GPU for display” - but I also tried with everything off.

The only fix of those that consistently stopped Lightroom Classic v15.2 from freezing and then crashing upon zooming into an image was downgrading the Lightroom version OR switching fully to non-HW-accelerated iGPU usage. The last “stable” version is LRc v14.1, though it also experiences random crashes in a catalog that had been opened in v15.2.

I thus strongly suspect the newest LRc v15.2 to be incompatible or problematic with the current NVIDIA graphics drivers and there to be driver level issues. However, older LRc versions seem to not have these issues despite the same drivers and setup, suggesting additional issues introduced in LRc v15.2 itself.

I hope this extensive list of observations and the attatched files can help nail down what the potential issue could be and how or where a fix needs to be implemented.

Best regards
Linealo

PS
Small edit:
As of writing this, Nvidia has JUST NOW released a new Studio Driver (595.79). I have installed it, restarted and so far LRc v15.2 does behave better UI wise and in regards to speed. But the freezing crash upon zooming in persists - though now only if “RAW-Details” is applied to an image? I’ll need to investigate further as it is inconsistent and still seems to happen even without.

LRc_CrashLog.txt

LightroomSysInfo.txt

Correct answer Linealo

Hi once again!
I think I finally managed to nail down the issue and it’s a new NVIDIA driver setting combination with Windows it seems! (And have reported the latest crash as you described above.)

The setting in question, leading to an early crash, is the “Smooth Motion” setting in the NVIDIA control panel, which was enabled by default for all programs. Essentially, DLSS for every program, to make the experience “smoother”. It is NOT supposed to be enabled by default.
The reason it still was still enabled by default? Nvidia pulling it’s configuration not from my C drive but my backup drive where I have a C drive clone! This shouldn’t have happened and is the only explanaition I have for it as to why it restored some settings even after multiple controlled wipes as you described (+ me using DDU on top).

I will do some more testing, but it looks like this is it. Together with Windows own “Hardware GPU scheduling” it can consistently crash Lightroom for me, even without an error report window popping up after the crash.

That said, after the complete uninstall of the Adobe Suite via the uninstaller and reimporting my catalog and everything, the consistency with which LRc crashes also has gone down - even when the NVIDIA setting is enabled. It sometimes takes multiple times zooming in and out of the image now to trigger the crash. This does make me wonder if this is really all there is to it or if there’S more, but currently it feels and behaves much more stable after I disabled the smooth motion setting again.

In any way, I have send multiple error reports now, and will see if I can replicate it and send more from both devices this evening. Something that keeps puzzling me though is why Lightroom v14.1 (and v14.1.1) seems to be completely unaffected by this… anyways.

Thanks so much again for your time and help! It was / is much appriciated and I hope this actually is it. Shame on Nvidia for this broken setting if true and definetly worth investigating for me why the driver seemingly installs to my backup drive instead of my actual C drive...

johnrellis

Legend

Also, these lines from both crash reports are curious:

<stackStatement index="3" address="0x00000000267A62E1" symbolname="AgRedeye_load"/>

By any chance, do the photos provoking the crash always have Red Eye settings applied to them? Do photos that don’t have Red Eye applied also cause crashes?

If Red Eye is a triggering factor, then select one of the photos, do Metadata > Save Metadata To File, and attach both the photo and it’s .xmp sidecar (if it’s raw) to your reply here.

I’m guessing that the appearance of “AgRedeye_load” in the crash reports means something else, but it’s good to check.

johnrellis

Legend

Make sure that when the Adobe crash-report window appears, you submit the report to Adobe using the email address associated with your Adobe ID. Then Adobe employee @Rikk Flohr_Photography or another Adobe employee can associate that report with all the details you’ve provided here.

LinealoAuthorCorrect answer

Inspiring

Hi once again!
I think I finally managed to nail down the issue and it’s a new NVIDIA driver setting combination with Windows it seems! (And have reported the latest crash as you described above.)

The setting in question, leading to an early crash, is the “Smooth Motion” setting in the NVIDIA control panel, which was enabled by default for all programs. Essentially, DLSS for every program, to make the experience “smoother”. It is NOT supposed to be enabled by default.
The reason it still was still enabled by default? Nvidia pulling it’s configuration not from my C drive but my backup drive where I have a C drive clone! This shouldn’t have happened and is the only explanaition I have for it as to why it restored some settings even after multiple controlled wipes as you described (+ me using DDU on top).

I will do some more testing, but it looks like this is it. Together with Windows own “Hardware GPU scheduling” it can consistently crash Lightroom for me, even without an error report window popping up after the crash.

That said, after the complete uninstall of the Adobe Suite via the uninstaller and reimporting my catalog and everything, the consistency with which LRc crashes also has gone down - even when the NVIDIA setting is enabled. It sometimes takes multiple times zooming in and out of the image now to trigger the crash. This does make me wonder if this is really all there is to it or if there’S more, but currently it feels and behaves much more stable after I disabled the smooth motion setting again.

In any way, I have send multiple error reports now, and will see if I can replicate it and send more from both devices this evening. Something that keeps puzzling me though is why Lightroom v14.1 (and v14.1.1) seems to be completely unaffected by this… anyways.

Thanks so much again for your time and help! It was / is much appriciated and I hope this actually is it. Shame on Nvidia for this broken setting if true and definetly worth investigating for me why the driver seemingly installs to my backup drive instead of my actual C drive...

LinealoAuthor

Inspiring

PS: Funfact so far - This also helped with my crashes when using Vulkan in Blender. So I do smell some connection here...

johnrellis

Legend

#1) As previously stated, I have tried to disable the AMD iGPU completely before via device manager

I missed that, sorry.

#2) This [clean install of graphics drivers] has been done multiple times, as stated in the original post.

You wrote “clean reinstalls had no effect”, but did you follow Nvidia’s Clean Installation instructions?

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-th/000190215/installing-nvidia-video-drivers-with-the-clean-installation-option

The phrase “clean install” is often ambiguous and can mean simply manually deleting all the files you can find.

#3) I’m currently in the process of doing exactly that - a fresh clean install of everything Adobe.

Just to doublecheck, make sure you use the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool for that.

LinealoAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks again for your answer! As I’m still in the process of re-importing my catalog, I will wait on further actions. But I can still answer to this if it helps:

#2) I used DDU (DisplayDriverUninstaller) which is genereally recommended online and also fully removes the settings stored mentioned in your guide. Still, I’m confident I checked that box simply out of the intent of what it states: A clean install. If the issue isn’t resolved, I will try this yet again, just to make sure.

#3) I have used the tool provided by Adobe. Though I have to admit, I am not sure I have the right version as it behaved a bit weird. The executable file deleted itself after it ran successfully. If that’s expected behavior, then I have nothing to add for now and will just have to wait out to try again once my catalog finished importing.

In the meantime I’m stresstesting Vulkan applications and have went into the NVIDIA control panel to set manual settings for Lightroom, such as excluding it from G-Sync, limiting it to 60FPS and moving its Vulkan mode to DXGI Swapchain preference as I use it mostly windowed while Windows 11 HDR is turned on.

I will report back once I can use the program again. Just answering to this in case this brings up any new ideas.

PS: I also want to add that I did not use any other AV software or “enhancement” tools during the first occurance. I did now install MSI Afterburner to monitor the GPU for temperature and other issues as well as potentially try an undervolt and also raised power limit in case this ends up having any effect.
I also have thrown out my DisplayCAL for now in case the calibration software interfered with it in any way.

johnrellis

Legend

[View this post in your web browser. It contains formatting and images that don't appear in email.]

The Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti is a commonly used GPU, and if there were a general problem between that GPU (and its recent Studio drivers) and LR 15.2, we’d have seen many more reports here by now. That indicates that the issue is much more likely something specific to your configuration.

The crash log you posted shows the crash occured in the Nvidia Vulkan driver:

<stackStatement index="0" address="0x00007FF9556A4F68" symbolname="NVP_Init_Vulkan"/>

You’ve already tried rolling back several Studio releases, which suggests the problem is not a recently introduced driver bug.

There are some magic spells you haven’t tried:

1. Adobe recommends having only one GPU enabled at a time. Try disabling the AMD integrated GPU following steps 4-6 of Solution 4:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-gpu.html#solution-4

2. Do a clean uninstall and update to the latest version of your graphics driver by following these instructions precisely:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-gpu.html#solution-4

3. Do a clean uninstall/reinstall of all Creative Cloud apps (not just LR) using the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool:

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/apps/troubleshoot/diagnostics-repair-tools/run-creative-cloud-cleaner-tool.html

LinealoAuthor

Inspiring

Hi!
Thanks for the answer and the hint towards Vulkan (which does perform weaker on my GPU using FurMark and also causes issues of freezing and crashing when enabled in Blender instead of their OpenGL setting). This leads me to believe it might be common issue across the board with Vulkan applications that affects me - I will test this more.

As for your tips:

#1) As previously stated, I have tried to disable the AMD iGPU completely before via device manager and uninstalled all its drivers. Ironically this changed nothing an as presented, the same issues do not persist when running Lightroom on the iGPU instead. Prior versions (v14.1) e.g. also do not face this issue - neither on AMD nor NVIDIA nor when both are having installed drivers at the same time. This was no problem up until this newest version.

#2) This has been done multiple times, as stated in the original post. DDU was used and multiple drivers versions have been checked, up to the (by now) 4 last versions available that have WHQL certification. Driver changes and clean reinstalls had no effect on the issue whatsoever outside of general performance behavior.

#3) I’m currently in the process of doing exactly that - a fresh clean install of everything Adobe. As of now, I’m reimporting my prior catalogue, which has taken quite some time and still is far from finished. I will then have to reimport my presets and profiles. I decided to not simply load the same catalog but instead import it into a newly created one in case of file corruption in the old one’s chache or similar.
I will report back regarding this.

Other than that, thank you still for your effort and time. I’ll take the hint toward Vulkan seemingly causing issues and investigate further as it seems to be an emerging pattern at least between Lightroom and Blender.

LinealoAuthor

Inspiring

Update regarding the newest driver from 10. March 2026 [595.79]:
The issue persists, though less consistent. The software now also freezes and never finally crashes - so I cannot share a CrashLog for this instance.

The issue of the freeze now consistently happens after applying a new AI adjustment (e.g. AI denoise) and then zooming in. The cursor becomes the grabby hand icon and from there on the program freezes. Neither the program itself nor the windows menu bar (minimize, window, close) react anymore. The freeze also occurs after repeated zoom in and outs, e.g. during spot removal or when simply trying to view a magnified area. The program then closes without a crash report window after around 13 minutes of being frozen! (Tried with new NVIDIA Driver and “automatic” HW acceleration setting)

Additional trouble shooting attempts:
I have run FurMark and found no issues with my GPU. Performance is as expected and other programs (Blender, Resolve, Games) also run fine stability and performance wise. CPU and RAM issues can pretty much be ruled out.
I have also run a chkdsk on all my drives and checked the SMART information and found no issues.
I have run Prime95 and encountered no crash or overheating or throttling under load of 10min+.
I have opened a new catalog and imported fresh images (RAW files) and the issue persists even on a “clean” instance of LRc v15.2. (RAW files are 33MP Sony ARW files).

G

Giovanni Stoto

Known Participant

Maybe related, maybe not, but after upgrading to Studio Driver 595.79 in LrC 15.2 the full GPU acceleration is disabled and cannot be enabled. Another user here is having a similar problem. I went back to previous driver 591.74 and full GPU acceleration is working again

LinealoAuthor

Inspiring

Hi!

Thank you for your observations! For me it ended up being this (link to solution above) - a setting inside the Nvidia graphics panel + some instability circumstances of the driver and Lightrooms version. As of LrC 15.2.1 and Studio Driver 595.79 this particular issue is also resolved for me, although I am encountering new issues now related to color labels, metadata reading and on-screen information display.

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