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M
Michael Bolbotchan
Participant
December 10, 2025
Question

Masking tools are simply not usable anymore

  • December 10, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 446 views

I have a recurent issue in LRC now and it worries me a lot since I don't find anything about that on here.

The masking tools are not working properly for some times now. Or I am just not able to create them meaning that when I click for instance on linear mask nothing happens (nothing happens no matter the mask I choose). Or , when I manage to create them, they disappears as soon as I update the ai assisted tools...which is required.

I really don't know what to do and I would love to see an update for LRC to fix this because this is not usable for my work and when you have a full wedding to edit and deliver, this can be verry frustrating.

    3 replies

    M
    Michael BolbotchanAuthor
    Participant
    December 13, 2025

    Little update here, ANYTHING I do on photos that imply AI (noise reduction - masks - object removal) does not stay on the photo no matter how many times I will update de AI settings. I apply the change, then 5 minutes later or so that change is gone and when I update the ai settings it gives me someting completely off instead but who cares since it disappears 5 minutes (or so) later again. 

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    December 12, 2025

    "when I manage to create them, they disappears as soon as I update the ai assisted tools...which is required."

     

    To test my understanding, after you've applied a mask, the AI Edit Status button in the upper-right corner turns yellow. When you click on it and do Update, the mask disappears.

     

    These symptoms can occur when LR can't write the catalog's .lrcat-data file for some reason, either because LR has corrupted it or there is a permissions issue. The .lrcat-data file stores AI settings computed for masks, remove, denoise, raw details, super resolution, and lens blur. (The main catalog database is in a different file, the .lrcat file.)

    Also, some previous versions of the Imagen AI service permanently corrupted the .lrcat-data file (this has apparently been fixed).

    Try these steps for rebuilding the .lrcat-data file without losing your edits; these steps have helped many but not all:

    1. Do the menu command Help > System Info. If you're not on the latest version (currently 14.4), do Help > Updates.

    2. Post the entire contents of Help > System Info here, to help narrow down possible causes.

    3. In LR, do Catalog Settings > General > Show. That will open Windows File Explorer / Mac Finder on the current catalog folder.

    4. Exit LR.

    5. Move the file <catalog>.lrcat-data to the Desktop.

    6. Start LR.

    7. In Library Grid view (not Loupe view), select all photos and do Photo > Develop Settings > Update AI Settings. That will recompute all the AI settings, which could take a while.

    Important to note: Recomputing AI settings for Generatived AI Remove will generate new variations for removes, which you may need to then adjust to your satisfaction.

      M
      Michael BolbotchanAuthor
      Participant
      December 13, 2025

      I did all that, I moved the catalog AND all the photos from this wedding on my desktop. So nothing is on my external ssd anymore. I checked everything as it should and it still don't work. Everytime I update AI Settings it stays good for 5 minutes or so and then I need to update them again because everything disappeared. Even if I save the metadata with cmd+s right after it does not work. I swear I am gonna snap! I am working on a full wedding, the deadline is past and I just can't work the photos as I should be able to. 

      here are the system info (again):

      Version Lightroom Classic: 15.0.1 [ 202511041508-dddee541 ]
      Licence: Creative Cloud
      Paramètre de langue: fr-BE
      Système d'exploitation : Mac OS 26
      Version : 26.1.0 [25B78]
      Architecture de l'application : arm64
      Nombre de processeurs logiques: 12
      Vitesse du processeur : NA
      Version SQLite: 3.36.0
      Adobe GSDK Version: 1.4.0.171

      Source d’alimentation: Batterie, 56%
      Mémoire intégrée : 36 864,0 Mo
      Mémoire GPU dédiée utilisée par Lightroom: 6 521,8Mo / 28 753,9Mo (22%)
      Mémoire réelle disponible pour Lightroom : 36 864,0 Mo
      Mémoire réelle utilisée par Lightroom : 9 754,1 Mo (26,4%)
      Mémoire virtuelle utilisée par Lightroom : 435 995,3 Mo
      Taille de la mémoire cache : 190,2Mo
      Version interne de Camera Raw: 18.0 [ 2389 ]
      Nombre maximal de liens utilisé par Camera Raw : 5
      Optimisation SIMD de Camera Raw : SSE2
      Mémoire virtuelle de Camera Raw: 2997Mo / 18431Mo (16%)
      Mémoire réelle de Camera Raw: 3276Mo / 36864Mo (8%)

      Cache1:
      Final1- RAM:318,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, DSCF7126carte4.RAF
      Final2- RAM:324,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, DSCF1801carte5.RAF
      NT- RAM:642,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, Combined:642,0MB

      Cache2:
      m:190,2Mo, n:635,0Mo

      U-main: 139,0Mo

      Taille d’aperçu standard: 3024 pixels
      Affichages : 1) 3024x1964

      Informations relatives au processeur graphique :
      Metal: Apple M3 Pro
      État initial: GPU pour l'exportation pris en charge par défaut
      Préférence utilisateur: GPU pour exportation activé
      Activer la HDR dans Bibliothèque: Désactiver
      Processeur graphique pour la génération d’aperçu :Activé (S5_28)

      Dossier de l'application : /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
      Chemin d'accès à la bibliothèque : /Users/michaelbolbotchan/Desktop/PRO_2025/PRO_2025.lrcat
      Dossier des paramètres : /Users/michaelbolbotchan/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

      Modules installés :
      1) Adobe Stock
      2) FUJIFILM Tether App
      3) Module externe d'importateur Aperture/iPhoto

      Marqueurs Config.lua:

       

       

       

      A
      Community Expert
      AxelMattCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 10, 2025

      Unfortunately you haven't given us any information about your system. Therefore, all proposed solutions are a look into the crystal ball

       

      Is your system up-to-date? Do you have installed all recent updates and patches for the operating system and the device drivers, especially the graphic driver. If you have a NVidia graphic card installed, make sure that you are using the recent Studio version of the driver, not the Game Ready version.

       

      Please provide a copy of your 'System Info'. This can be get from the LrC Help > System Info menu item. There's a copy button in the System Info dialog. Press this button and paste the info into your next forum post.

       

      In the menatime you can try to do a reset of the preferences of Lightroom Classic to the defualt settings:  How to reset Lightroom Classic preferences (adobe.com)

      It's recommended to backup your preferences before you reset the preferences to the default settings: 

      https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/preference-file-and-other-file-locations.html

       

      Another try is to switch off the GPU support from the Lightroom preferences and check if that helps to fix the issue. Go to Lightroom > Preferences > Performance tab > Uncheck "Use Graphics Processor" > Restart Lightroom.

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

       

      If it's help see here Troubleshoot GPU issues | Lightroom Classic (adobe.com) and check the different steps.

       

      My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
      M
      Michael BolbotchanAuthor
      Participant
      December 10, 2025

      Hello, thank you for your answer. My message was not so about getting a solution right away but more about checking if I was the only one with that king of issue and if an update was in the making...

      I am sorry I was not clear.

       

      But I can tell you that my system is up to date...I think. And here is the information about it:

      Version Lightroom Classic: 15.0.1 [ 202511041508-dddee541 ]
      Licence: Creative Cloud
      Paramètre de langue: fr-BE
      Système d'exploitation : Mac OS 26
      Version : 26.1.0 [25B78]
      Architecture de l'application : arm64
      Nombre de processeurs logiques: 12
      Vitesse du processeur : NA
      Version SQLite: 3.36.0
      Adobe GSDK Version: 1.4.0.171

      Source d’alimentation: Batterie, 48%
      Mémoire intégrée : 36 864,0 Mo
      Mémoire GPU dédiée utilisée par Lightroom: 3 748,0Mo / 28 753,9Mo (13%)
      Mémoire réelle disponible pour Lightroom : 36 864,0 Mo
      Mémoire réelle utilisée par Lightroom : 7 006,2 Mo (19,0%)
      Mémoire virtuelle utilisée par Lightroom : 431 525,9 Mo
      Taille de la mémoire cache : 652,1Mo
      Version interne de Camera Raw: 18.0 [ 2389 ]
      Nombre maximal de liens utilisé par Camera Raw : 5
      Optimisation SIMD de Camera Raw : SSE2
      Mémoire virtuelle de Camera Raw: 1523Mo / 18431Mo (8%)
      Mémoire réelle de Camera Raw: 2294Mo / 36864Mo (6%)

      Cache1:
      Final1- RAM:319,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, DSCF5543carte2.RAF
      Final2- RAM:358,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, DSCF9643carte1.RAF
      Final3- RAM:320,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, DSCF5558carte2.RAF
      NT- RAM:997,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, Combined:997,0MB

      Cache2:
      m:652,1Mo, n:952,6Mo

      U-main: 170,0Mo

      Taille d’aperçu standard: 3024 pixels
      Affichages : 1) 3024x1964

      Informations relatives au processeur graphique :
      Metal: Apple M3 Pro
      État initial: GPU pour l'exportation pris en charge par défaut
      Préférence utilisateur: Auto
      Activer la HDR dans Bibliothèque: Désactiver
      Processeur graphique pour la génération d’aperçu :Auto (S5_28)

      Dossier de l'application : /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
      Chemin d'accès à la bibliothèque : /Volumes/PRO/LR Catalog/PRO_2025/PRO_2025.lrcat
      Dossier des paramètres : /Users/michaelbolbotchan/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

      Modules installés :
      1) Adobe Stock
      2) DxO PureRAW 5
      3) DxO PureRAW 5 Importer
      4) Flickr
      5) FUJIFILM Tether App
      6) Impossible Things
      7) Impossible Things Help
      😎 Module externe d'importateur Aperture/iPhoto

      Marqueurs Config.lua:

       

      I will check the solution about reseting the preferences. Thank you

      A
      Community Expert
      AxelMattCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 11, 2025
      quote

      Hello, thank you for your answer. My message was not so about getting a solution right away but more about checking if I was the only one with that king of issue and if an update was in the making...


      By @Michael Bolbotchan

       

      Ok. I don't see such behavior on my machine. But it's Windows and it can be different on MacOS.

      Perhaps users with Lr on a MacOS machine here can say more.

       

      My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
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