Skip to main content
Micke, Finland
Participating Frequently
May 7, 2021

P: LrC 12.2.1 fails to start/launch or is extremely slow launching.

  • May 7, 2021
  • 211 replies
  • 107307 views

Hi,

 

LRC 12.2.1 is not starting anymore, just launches as a background process using significant amounts of RAM and CPU, but the visible window never shows up. 

 

I have already:

- Tried the alt-shift-click thingie.

- Tried logging out and in from CC.

- Wiping all data files from the computer and letting LRC create a fresh Lightroom folder and catalog file (sometimes it does that, sometimes it hangs before the folder is created). 

- Wiping all Adobe products with the cleaner tool and reinstalling just LRC.

- I have even formatted and reisntalled the computer (becuase it was a good time to do that anyway).

 

But LRC still fails. What to do next?

 

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎17.‎03.‎2023
OS build 19045.2728
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

211 replies

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 28, 2023

The engineering team is looking for an example metrics.json file from a customer who experienced a failure to launch. Note: if you were just experiencing a delayed launch we don't need a copy of your file. 

 

If you have a failure to launch and can supply us with your metrics.json file and are willing to share it with the team, please respond to this post. 

 

Thanks for your patience. 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Participant
March 28, 2023

It is already closed.  That's my issue, I can't get it to open. 

-thanks

johnrellis
Legend
March 27, 2023

"I look for the Mac: /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/Adobe/Lightroom/metrics.json file to remove, but it is not on my computer."

Did you close LR before looking?  That's important.

Participant
March 27, 2023

Another Mac user here.  Mac OS and LrC are updated.  I lauch LrC and see the load window for a split second and it crashes. 
I look for the Mac: /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/Adobe/Lightroom/metrics.json file to remove, but it is not on my computer. Any other suggestions?  - Thanks

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 26, 2023

One of our Prerelease Testers has a bug logged for this and we've referenced this thread to that existing bug. 

 

Workaround:
The team has verified this workaround has no risks. Until we can release an update, please follow these steps:

Lightroom should now launch normally.

 

Thank you for your patience. 

 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Participant
May 7, 2021

Has any one had issues with their lightroom getting stuck on the load screen?

Participant
May 7, 2021

Same issue for me. LrC opens but after that it freezes. It was working fine before the last upgrade.

chrisseTC
Participating Frequently
March 26, 2023

Dear Coleagues, 

When in open LRC 12.2.1 it does not open. I have Windows 10 enterprise version 21H2.

I see a small blue wheel for a view second, same as when It would open correctly. But after a veiw seconds, the process it stops and LRC does not open any window. I am not sure if it has any relation to my change in language from english to german.

 

I have tried:

open from a backup catalog.

uninstall / install

deleted all lightroom files and again installed from crative cloud app...

 

What I am not able to is alt shift - stop preferences- can anybody explain that? 

 

What else can I try? 

Please...

thank you

chris

 

 

john beardsworth
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 26, 2023

With LR closed, try deleting the file metrics.json. It's in this folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Lightroom\Caches\metrics.json .

chrisseTC
Participating Frequently
March 26, 2023

Thank you very much! Deleting "metrics.json" did resolve my problem.

I can continue working LRC. 

🙂

Participant
March 24, 2023

I am having this exact problem as well on my Lenovo laptop with Windows 11.

johnrellis
Legend
March 25, 2023

@Colton29057400wkqz, try deleting the file "metrics.json" as described here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/lrc-12-2-1-fails-to-start-on-windows/m-p/13676909#M315779

 

Two Mac users have reported that fixes their problems starting LR.  Please let us know whether that fixes your issue (which may or may not be the same).

KathleenMartin
Participating Frequently
March 26, 2023

For anyone who was having this "LRC won't launch" issue and my fix worked, you should check out my latest update in the link John posted above. The bad news is that as of 3/26, my problem returned. The good news is that the fix still works. But there is a very weird twist to the situation.

Inspiring
March 23, 2023

This just hit me last night.  Tried Rikk's procedure (before I say it), plus tried uninstalling all Adobe products plus cloud app....no good.  Finally, uninstalled again plus made sure ALL 'user' (windows) data was removed to ensure clean install.  That finally fixed.  Now I need to get everything back to working order....

 

BTW....I think a possible cause, on my end, might have been an update to Nvidia studio driver that hung up...not sure.  However, soon after I started having extremely slow start up....which I initially thought was not starting at all until I finally let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Participant
March 23, 2023

Hey. I'm a Mac user,. Been using LrC without any issues since 2018. Upgraded to 12.1.1 and then Ventura. Today, it ,ocked up first thing. Having reset the preferences and unzipped the backup I made a couple of days ago (when I last used it) I managed to get LrC open again. I've saved and backed up a couple of times since. I have this weird "folders with ?" on the left but my pictures seem to be ther and I can edit them. 

  

Participating Frequently
March 22, 2023

[See here for the complete list of steps for working around this issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-lrc-12-2-1-fails-to-start-launch-or-is-extremely-slow-launching/idc-p/13695275#M41952 ]

 

"Ed" in the Lightroom Queen forum discovered that deleting this file on Mac cured his LR hanging on startup:

 

/Users/<username>/Library/Caches/Adobe/Lightroom/metrics.json

 

That file appears to record usage data that gets sent back to Adobe. So you might try exiting LR, deleting that file, and restarting LR:

 

Mac: /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/Adobe/Lightroom/metrics.json

Win: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Lightroom\Caches\metrics.json 

 

If that avoids the problem, then consider disabling the Desktop App Usage option: Do the LR menu item Help > Manage My Account, then go to Edit Profile > Privacy And Personal Data, and disable the option Desktop App Usage > Share Information On How I Use Adobe Desktop Apps.

 

For a day or so, my LR had been very slow to start, and deleting that file seemed to cure it (though there were other things changing at the same time, so that may be correlation and not cause).


Hi everybody, 

My latest version of LR CC 12.2.1 just started to crash out of nowhere this evening. I can't lauch it anymore, it will either crash by itself or I have to force quit it. Weirdly, older versions are still working on my Mac (Ventura, 13.2.1). So far, I tried to:

 

-just restart my Macbook

-delete LR CC and reinstall it

-deleted every catalogue, preset and .plist file

-tried to reset my preferences (option, shift, delete while open LR)

-logged in with a different creative cloud account and downloaded LR CC again

-basically deleted every file associated with LR CC

 

Everytime LR CC just crashes...Is there any other solution to this? I am pretty desperate since I need LR for my Job.

 

Thanks for any suggestions 🙂

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 23, 2023

The team is evaluating the threads for commonality and failure mode. 


To date, we've been unable to reproduce this failure in house and, so far no one has provided us with reproduction instructions. 

I pulled up six separate threads to show the team (there is a lot of overlap between the thread participants) and found 2 of the threads are marked fixed by the original posters. 

If you are afflicted with the slow launch prudent steps to take, in this order are to:

  • Restart your computer
  • Perform a clean reinstall of Lightroom Classic (instructions below)
  •  Perform a preference file reset (instructions below and needs to be done after step 2)
  •  Restart in Safe Mode - Launch Lightroom - Close - restart in normal mode
  •  Create a test Windows User Account  with Admin premissions - Launch Lightroom -  Close - restart with original WUA.

    You should perform each test and then attempt to launch Lightroom Classic. If none of these address the issue, then we will need to await engineering's response. 

    FWIW, I have three Windows machines in my office and they all behave normally. Lack of reproducible cases is driving the delay. 

    As promised above: 

    Clean Lightroom Install Procedure
  • Close Lightroom
  • Restart the computer
  • Use the Adobe Creative Cloud App to uninstall Lightroom
  • Restart the computer
  • Install Lightroom via the Creative Cloud App without launching any other programs.
  • Restart the computer
  • Launch Lightroom
  • Wait 5 minutes

 

Preference File:

This procedure works for both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop.

If you are using Lightroom Desktop it can change the location of your local storage. Please review this setting after resetting preferences. 

 

Reset Procedure:

1. Close Lightroom.

2. Hold down [Alt/Opt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.

3. Overwrite the Preferences when prompted by the dialog.

4. Close Lightroom.

5. Restart Lightroom.

Please report back when you've completed the tests if you are not working normally yet. 

Thank you for your patience!

 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Wurstkrapfen
Inspiring
March 23, 2023

My slow start-up fixed itself after 2 days magically as it appeared.

But after that, my sync stopped working (it worked during the slow start issue), I could provide sync logs if anyone could make anything of those?

sredline
Participating Frequently
March 23, 2023

Several threads going on this and I have yet to see Adobe say anything, tried all the fixes and nothing works.  Had support on 3 different times spending at least 2 hours each, stripping down everything and rebuilding.  First they blamed MS One Drive which I dont use then they said something do do with user account so I started operating off a different user which initially worked, spent hours rebuilidng my catalog and now back to the same issue.  They just keep making the product worse.!!!!