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halebarn
Participant
June 7, 2026
Answered

Lightroom Classic runs in the background only - I can't get it to open to work in

  • June 7, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 30 views

Last week (when LR was working perfectly) I decided to move my catalog from my PHD to my laptop (windows 11)  hard drive. I folllowed all the instructions, but when trying to open LR - well it just wouldn’t open, but I could see it running in the background.

To cut a long story short - I tried everything suggested and finally contacted support, who spent 2 hours  on my issue. I have been told I have a corrupt image/s that is causing this issue. I have been told to add a new catalog and import my files from the previous catalog. Which I did and it didn’t help. Then I was told to create a new catalog and import my files in batches to try and determine where the corrupt image/s are. I have over 900 files and over 180000 images. This is going to be a long, long process, which I am happy to do if I get a good result. I have 2 questions.

  1. Is there any other way I can check my images/files to find the corrupt one/s?
  2. If I add a new catalog - and then import all 180000+ images into the new catalog, will the same issue happen. (yes I know I will lose all my processing settings but I am at a complete loss as what to do).

FYI - i have masses of backups, from when it was all running smoothly, but when I go to use one of the backups, LR just runs in the background again.

I have managed to partially do a Metadata check on some images and removed those that have metadata conflicts, but that hasn’t really helped either.

Any suggestions? PLEASE.

Thank you

    Correct answer Sameer K

    Hey, @halebarn. Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out. I've checked the support case in your account.


    You're already in the process of reimporting and correcting metadata conflicts. A backup should work. Where do you keep your catalog backups? Please move one of the catalog backups to the internal drive, and make sure you unzip it.


    Before launching the backup catalog, manually reset Lightroom by following the steps here: https://adobe.ly/4e0gQeo


    After reset, go to the location of the unzipped backup and launch the <backup-name>.lrcat. This'll prevent Lightroom from looking for any other catalog.


    Let me know how it goes.
    Thanks!
    Sameer K
    (Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

    1 reply

    Sameer K
    Community Manager
    Sameer KCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    June 9, 2026

    Hey, @halebarn. Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out. I've checked the support case in your account.


    You're already in the process of reimporting and correcting metadata conflicts. A backup should work. Where do you keep your catalog backups? Please move one of the catalog backups to the internal drive, and make sure you unzip it.


    Before launching the backup catalog, manually reset Lightroom by following the steps here: https://adobe.ly/4e0gQeo


    After reset, go to the location of the unzipped backup and launch the <backup-name>.lrcat. This'll prevent Lightroom from looking for any other catalog.


    Let me know how it goes.
    Thanks!
    Sameer K
    (Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

    H
    halebarnAuthor
    Participant
    June 10, 2026

    Hi Sameer,

    Well, I reset the preferences using option 1, moved an untouched good backup from my PHD to my Pictures folder on my hard drive.  After unzipping the file the catalog opened - it looked fine, I spent an hour in it working within it, I then did a back up and exited. However when I went to open it, it just did the same old thing - it was only opening in the background again. I then unzipped the backup I did from that file, and unfortunately it would only work in the background again.

    I am currently setting up new catalogs for each year of images to try and isolate the corrupt files. I have one catalog for 2026 which has been working fine for the last 5 days, and another catalogue for 2025 which has also been working fine. But when I try and import the 2025 images from the 2025 catalog into the 2026 catalog - the same issue happens. I don’t understand why they work independently but not as combined.

    Thanks for trying to help

     

    Susi 

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