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Nathan REP
Known Participant
August 15, 2026
Question

Lr "Open as layers in Photoshop" stalls indefinitely when opening multiple RAW files

  • August 15, 2026
  • 7 replies
  • 41 views

Using Lightroom version 9.5, Photoshop version 27.9.1, Windows 11, when trying to open more than a couple RAW files as layers in Photoshop from Lightroom, the “Opening in Photoshop” progress bar on the top left reaches about 10% and then stops. CPU fans initially wind up but stop as well, as though the process stopped. No layers open in Photoshop. Waiting for 10 minutes nothing changes. Stopping the process by clicking on the “x” on the progress bar (top left) and retrying with 2, sometimes 3, or sometimes 4 raw files works, although that seems to relate to the compression set in Preferences; for instance, in “Preferences::Edit in Photoshop” (for SDR) using Zip compression causes the failure when trying to open more then 2 raw files as layers in Photoshop. Using “None” compression can open 3, sometimes 4 raw files as layers in Photoshop. Each RAW file is from a Nikon Z5 with file sizes 27MB to 30 MB each. Clearing cache and restarting Lightroom made no difference. Restarting the computer made no difference. Uninstalling and reinstalling Lightroom made no difference. Turning “Use graphics processor” to off made no difference. Using Lightroom Classic or Bridge I can open numerous raw files as layers in Photoshop with no problem and no limit (10 or more RAW files, no problem).

    7 replies

    N
    Nathan REPAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 19, 2026

    Hi Anshul,

    This happens no matter what method was used to open as layers in Photoshop.

    When Lr stalls, memory usage goes down and CPU fans wind down.

    Drive is SSD, internal.

    Number of photos is inconsistent, sometimes 3, or 4, or 5.

    Here is a dump of lrcc_console.log:

    Lightroom Console Wed Aug 19 13:16:11 2026

    Lightroom version: 9.5 [ 20260728-0500-db8bf00 ] (Jul 27 2026)
    (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_InstrumentationState.Initialize( m_EscapeCodes, clientData.Windows.KmdInstrumentationEnabled ) (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_Kernel.Initialize( m_ClientData ) (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_Mapped 

     

    Nathan

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 21, 2026

    Thanks for the additional details, ​@Nathan REP. This helps confirm that the behavior appears separate from the other Open as Layers in Photoshop issue you reported, since the stall occurs regardless of whether you invoke the command from the File menu or the right-click menu.

    Before I consolidate this for the product team, could you please help with a few final isolation tests?
     

    1. Test these Edit in Photoshop configurations with the same Nikon Z5 RAW files:

    • TIFF, 8-bit, no compression

    • PSD, 16-bit (Preferences > Edit in Photoshop > File Format > PSD)

    Please let me know approximately how many files you can successfully open as layers with each configuration, or whether they stall in the same way.
     

    2. Please go to Help > System Info > Copy in Lightroom and paste the contents here.
     

    3. Do you currently have more than one Photoshop version installed? For example, Photoshop 27.9.1 together with Photoshop Beta or an older Photoshop release. If so, please list the installed versions.

    Also, there have been instances where installing/uninstalling different Photoshop versions can affect Lightroom-to-Photoshop interoperability, so I’d like to rule that out as well. If we do eventually need to perform a clean reinstall to rule out the application handoff, I would use this order:

    Uninstall Lightroom and Photoshop > restart Windows > install Photoshop first > launch Photoshop once > install Lightroom > launch Lightroom, and test.
     

    4. Please share five Nikon Z5 RAW files that reproduce the stall. You can upload them to Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer, or a similar service and send me the link via DM if the images are private.
     

    I’ve also noted the lrcc_console.log output you provided. I’ll include it with the other information, although I don’t want to assume those particular log entries are responsible until the team reviews them.
     

    If we ultimately need to rule out the application installation/handoff itself, we can then try a clean reinstall in a controlled order. For now, please hold off on reinstalling anything until we have the results above.
     

    Thanks again for the detailed testing. Once I have these remaining results, I’ll consolidate everything and follow up with the Lightroom product team.
     

    Best,
    Anshul Saini

    N
    Nathan REPAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 22, 2026

    ​Hi Anshul,

     

    1. These made no difference. The same problem occurs no matter if TIFF, PSD, or 8-bit or 16-bit.

     

    2. Here is the system info:

    Lightroom version: 9.5 x64 [ 20260728-0500-db8bf00 ] (Jul 27 2026)
    NGL Version: 1.43.0.5
    WF Version: 8.5 20b9f90
    VF Version: 1.0.164
    HIL Version: 40501
    CAI Version: adobe_api/1.66.1
    PH Version: 6.1.1
    Adobe GSDK Version: 1.4.0.213
    CR Version: 29.0.0.202506270808_710830c
    Catalog ID: 3c895bba540a44d9996ad846f88005ab

    Operating system: Windows 11
    OS Version: Windows 11 Pro (2009)
    Application architecture: x64
    System architecture: x64
    Computer model: Dell Inc. XPS 8930 / Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900 CPU @ 3.10GHz
    Logical processor count: 16
    Processor speed: 3.0 GHz
    Real memory available to Lightroom: 32572.9 MB
    Real memory used by Lightroom: 2387.3 MB (7.3%)
    Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 5160.4 MB
    Memory cache size: 3334.0 MB

    Internal Camera Raw version: 18.5 [ 2673 ]
    Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 9
    Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2,AVX,AVX2
    Camera Raw virtual memory: 646MB / 14238MB (4%)
    Camera Raw real memory: 647MB / 32572MB (1%)

    Display: 2560x1440
    System DPI setting: 96 DPI
    Dark Mode: No
    Desktop composition enabled: Yes
    Input types: Multitouch: No, Integrated touch: No, Integrated pen: No, External touch: No, External pen: No, Keyboard: No

    Graphics Processor Info: DirectX: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (32.0.15.9595) - 6 GB
    Graphics Processor Detail: loaded: Yes, supported: Yes, compute: Yes, init: I4_GPU3, hard: success, soft: success, al: Yes, dl: No
    OS Media Capability: true

    3. No other versions of Photoshop have been installed on this machine. Also, I have uninstalled Lr and reinstalled previously before reporting this bug and that didn't help.

     

    4. I shared the RAW files with you in a DM

     

     

    N
    Nathan REPAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 19, 2026

    Hi Anshul,

    This occurs no matter what method is used to open as layers in Photoshop. It seems independent of the other bug I noted.

    To your other questions:

    The task manager shows memory and CPU going down, not rising; hence, the CPU fans winding down too.

    The drive is SSD, internal.

    The number of photos threshold is inconsistent, sometimes 3, or 4 or 5 raw files.

    Here is a dump of lrcc_console.log:

    Lightroom Console Wed Aug 19 13:16:11 2026

    Lightroom version: 9.5 [ 20260728-0500-db8bf00 ] (Jul 27 2026)
    (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_InstrumentationState.Initialize( m_EscapeCodes, clientData.Windows.KmdInstrumentationEnabled ) (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_Kernel.Initialize( m_ClientData ) (A0):E:[ML]   : Invalid condition                                                 m_Mapped 

    Nathan

     

    N
    Nathan REPAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 19, 2026

    Reposted this in Bug Reports, accidentally posted this as a question.

    N
    Nathan REPAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 19, 2026

    Using Lightroom version 9.5, Photoshop version 27.9.1, Windows 11, when trying to open more than a couple RAW files as layers in Photoshop from Lightroom, the “Opening in Photoshop” progress bar on the top left reaches about 10% and then stops. CPU fans initially wind up but stop as well, as though the process stopped. No layers open in Photoshop. Waiting for 10 minutes nothing changes. Stopping the process by clicking on the “x” on the progress bar (top left) and retrying with 2, sometimes 3, or sometimes 4 raw files works, although that seems to relate to the compression set in Preferences; for instance, in “Preferences::Edit in Photoshop” (for SDR) using Zip compression causes the failure when trying to open more then 2 raw files as layers in Photoshop. Using “None” compression can open 3, sometimes 4 raw files as layers in Photoshop. Each RAW file is from a Nikon Z5 with file sizes 27MB to 30 MB each. Clearing cache and restarting Lightroom made no difference. Restarting the computer made no difference. Uninstalling and reinstalling Lightroom made no difference. Turning “Use graphics processor” to off made no difference. Using Lightroom Classic or Bridge I can open numerous raw files as layers in Photoshop with no problem and no limit (10 or more RAW files, no problem).

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 19, 2026

    Hi ​@Nathan REP,

    Thank you for reaching out again. I noticed you’ve also reported another issue with Open as Layers in Photoshop, but the behavior here appears somewhat different.

    Could you confirm whether this stall occurs regardless of how you invoke Open as Layers in Photoshop:

    • File > Edit in Photoshop > Open as Layers in Photoshop

    • Or by right-clicking the selected images > Edit in Photoshop > Open as Layers in Photoshop?

    Also, does it make any difference whether you’re working from Edit view, Grid/Photos view, or Local?
     

    Some troubleshooting steps to try:

    • Change the "Edit in Photoshop" bit depth to 8-bit temporarily in Preferences > Edit in Photoshop (ProPhoto RGB). With your 27–30 MB Nikon Z5 RAWs, 16-bit + Zip compression creates extremely large intermediate TIFFs. This can overwhelm Lightroom's transfer queue. If 8-bit works with more files, the issue is related to memory/buffer limits in the transfer pipeline for large intermediates.

    • Try PSD format instead of TIFF in Preferences > Edit in Photoshop. PSD uses a different compression path and may not hit the same pipeline bottleneck with multiple files.

     

    A few more questions to dig deeper:

    • When the progress stalls at ~10%, does Lightroom's memory usage (in Task Manager) continue to climb, or does it flatline at that same moment?

    • What drive type is your Lightroom cache/temp location on (SSD vs HDD)? Is it local or external?

    • If you try with exactly 5 files + "None" compression, does it always fail at 5, or is the threshold inconsistent?

    • Share Lightroom's console log after & during the stall. Lightroom Desktop writes a continuous log file at:

      Open File Explorer and navigate to: C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom CC\lrcc_console.log

     

    Looking forward to your response.

     

    Best,

    Anshul Saini

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