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

[Micke, Finland]

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

[Sergey Arustamov]

It's 2022 and I'm having the exact same issue.

Lightroom Classic freezes on "Reading Preferences" splash screen.

Resetting preferences as described earlier didn't work for me as well.

Lightroom 5.1, MacOS Monterey 12.1.

Adobe, do thything please! It's very annnoying 😡

[Sergey Arustamov]

I forgot to mention that the problem dissapeares only on first lunch after the reboot. When I try to restart Lightroom again it freezes as before.

[Dominique5C24]

It is super annoying adobe. Can this already be fixed? 
How is this supposed to work? Never close lightroom again and just leave it open?

[Sergey Arustamov]

Finally I found the solution here.

Thanks, Tarun Saini 

[americaninventive]

Finally got it working again after updating to latest OS & Lightroom, permanently deleting any old Lightoom preferences, installers, etc., and started Lightroom with option-shift for new preferences and a new catalog. Things still weren't displaying properly, but after restarting the app it finally seems OK.

[BreylPhoto]

Yeah, same here...

After a while (and around the latest 11.2 update) the problem went away.

I hadn't done the preference deleting thing in a while, because I was experimenting with PhotoMechanic Plus and C1P. After the 11.2 update I gave LR Classic another shot and lo and beholt, it launches fine agiain.

Cheers,

Robin

[jaredk13890162]

Hello,

This morning I updated to LrC 12.2.1. I opened the updated version successfully and imported several photos. I then shut the app down to restart my PC, and when I went to reopen the app, it failed to launch. I am on Windows 10, I have an Nvidia GPU and AMD Ryzen CPU.

I tried:

1. Deleteing my preferences and relaunching the app (same behavior, app shows in Task Manager, but no splash screen or launch)

2. Opening a new catalog (app shows in Task Manager, but no splash screen or launch).

3. Uninstalling and reinstalling all Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Now when I launch any catalog, it hangs on the "Lightroom Classic Catalog Upgrade" dialog box that pops up (see screenshot) and eventually says "Not Responding".

I tried several prior versions of my catalog file and even a new catalog file, but the upgrade won't work, even on a fresh install of Lightroom.

I also tried other solutions I found on the forums like renaming SLCache and SLStore so that the program recreates them. This also did not help.

[dj_paige]

Your title talks about "catalog upgrade", but there is no catalog upgrade when you install 12.2.1 (unless you try to open old catalogs). The text below the title doesn't indicate you are upgrading a catalog at all. Could you clarify this? Could you provide your screen capture by clicking on the "Insert Photos" icon, instead of as a file attachment (which I cannot view)?

[jaredk13890162]

That makes sense. When I open my most recent catalog backup - nothing happens, no splash screen, no catalog upgrade dialog. Lightroom launches as a task in task manager, and uses CPU resources, but the application does not appear in the taskbar or load.

When I open an older catalog, or try to open a brand new catalog (using Alt + Left Click to open the application), I get the following:

[dj_paige]

When I open my most recent catalog backup - nothing happens, no splash screen, no catalog upgrade dialog.

By @jaredk13890162

Did you unzip the backup first before trying to open it? You are still talking about upgrading a catalog, but I don't understand ... unless this is an old catalog created by Lightroom Classic V11 or earlier, there is no upgrade catalog function. Could you please explain?

[jaredk13890162]

We can forget the upgrade - you helped me identify that that is not the issue.

However, I still cannot launch LrC.   I unzipped the backup which was created in V12 (I was using it earlier today before the 12.2.1 update). When I open the unzipped backup catalog, I get no dialog box - nothing about upgrading the catalog - instead LrC opens in the task manager, but does not show up on the taskbar or launch on the splash screen.

When I try to open a brand new catalog (just to launch the application) using Alt + Left Click - the screenshot above is what I see, an incomplete dialog box asking me to select the catalog, but I cannot interact with it, and eventually it says "Not Responding" in the title.

[GoldingD]

1. Deleteing my preferences and relaunching the app (same behavior, app shows in Task Manager, but no splash screen or launch)

Please verify how you reset the preferences file.

[jaredk13890162]

Thank you for helping. I followed the instructions here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

And used the "when starting" method - which appeared to work. I clicked "Yes" to reset all preferences, and then the app got stuck again.

[allentim1947]

Yesterday I closed Lr classic and it took 4 minutes to close without saving a backup cat. When I tried to reopen Lr classic it opened the banner and then would not go beyond it. I Forced Quit it. I opened Lr Classic again and let it run overnight. When I got up it had opened Lr Classic. I then restarted Lr Classic and it hung on the banner. I let it run for 2 hours and it forced a reboot of my Mac. I deleted the app and reinstalled it with an older version. That did not help. I then installed an older version of the catalog and that did not help. I know that Lr Classis was trying to open it because I watched my RAP go up and down. I'm running Mac OS Monterey 12.6.3 Please let me know what suggestions you have to fix this issue.

[GoldingD]

As you have forced closed LrC, I assume that you keep have you deleating the errant lock file

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/lightroom-error-catalog-cannot-be-opened-lrcat-lock.htm...

have you considered resetting the preference file?

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

[allentim1947]

Unfortunately, your suggestions did not resolve the problem. Lr Classic is still hanging on the banner.

There does not seem to be a "lock" file in my Lr Classic menu. I've included a screenshot of the Pictures files.

I did change the file name for the Adobe preferences.

I'd sure welcome some additional help.

[allentim1947]

Thank you for your suggestions. I tried an older catalog and a default catalog.  I tried an earlier version 12.0 and it still takes Lr Classic 82 minutes to load. Once it loads, it works fine. I checked other programs including Photoshop and they load at their previous speed. Something is causing Lr Classic to load slowly. Any other suggestions? If not, I may have to live with the slow load rate or take my computer to a repair shop.

[GoldingD]

Please post your System Information as Lightroom Classic (LrC) reports it. In LrC click on Help, then System Info, then Copy. Paste that information into a reply. Please present all information from first line down to and including Plug-in Info. Info after Plug-in info can be cut as that is just so much dead space to us non-Techs.

mostly interested in CPU, RAM, GPU (and driver version), library location (as LrC reports it) and Plug-ins

Ok, your screenshot show the library in your main hard drive, and not some sort of share.. Still interested in the remainder. 

[GoldingD]

You might also want to try launching LrC while logged into your MAC as another user, typically by using the Admin account. This could point to user account and/or rights issues.

[GoldingD]

That screen capture if the volume your catalog is in, some oddities noticed, some of these are just user preferences, some are "what the heck, am I reading that wrong. 

• Looking at your catalog catalog, library previews, etc, modified today, but with added date that makes no sense. Is your computers clock correct? What date/time is it showing? Or is that a MACOS thing.
• Catalog is on your main hard drive.  How much free space in percent (that is % not Gb) remains? Looking for at least 20%
• Do you have additional hard drives?
• Looks like you keep backups on the same hard drive as the source. Bad. Hard drive dies, originals and copy's die.
• It appears that you store presets with catalog (or did at one time), This would have nothing to do with the problem. Do you have others edit the catalog? Typically a pro cooperative as in a business?  Ok, just being argumentative, never mind that one.

[Torsten28833205he7a]

Hallo zusammen,

ich habe seit einigen Tagen das Problem, dass ich Lightroom auf meinem MacBook M2 Pro nicht mehr starten kann. Wenn ich das Symbol anklicke erscheint zwar das Startbild mit dem Hinweis, dass die Voreinstellungen geladen werden. Ansonsten passiert jetzt gar nichts mehr. Beim Blick in die Aktivitätsanzeige, sieht man dann dass Lightroom mit einem extrem hohen Bedarf der CPU und des Arbeitsspeicher arbeitet.

Das Programm kann dann nur noch mit "Sofort beenden" geschlossen werden.

Ich habe die Lightroom Classic Version 12.2.1 installiert und das MacBook läuft unter OS 13.2.1.

Die CreativCloud habe ich schon inkl. aller Anwendungen gelöscht (mit Voreinstellungen) und erneut installiert. Aber das Problem tritt immer noch auf.

Einen Verdacht habe ich, woran es liegen könnte. Ich weis aber nicht ob es das ist und wie man es beheben kann. Und zwar habe ich zuletzt versucht die Syncronisation mit der iCloud zu hinterlegen. Das funktionierte aber nicht wirklich, weshalb ich mir darum erstmal keine weiteren Gedanken gemacht habe. Das war jedoch das letzte was ich verändert habe.

Gibt es Tipps / Hinweise wie ich mein Lightroom Classic wieder zum Laufen bekomme? Alle anderen Anwendung (Photoshop) laufen problemlos.

[allentim1947]

I did create a new user account and logged in using it. I signed into the Creative Cloud and launched LrC. It launched very quickly. It appears to point to a user account and/or rights issues. This may be outside of your area but I need to correct these issues since all my files are connected to my current user. What would you suggest that I do? Thank you.

[allentim1947]

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Yes, the Date and Time are correct.

2. I have a 2T drive on my iMac. There is about 320g left.

3. I have 8 additional drives to store my photographs and LcC backups. They are connected to my iMac. I also have a larger drive where I have my Time Machine Backup updated every hour.

4. My backups are kept on a separate drive, one of the eight. I also use BackBlaze for backup for all of my drives less the Time Machine Backup.

I believe this answers your questions. Thank you.

[GoldingD]

Account/user rights issue indicated by logging on as other user

See:

Troubleshoot unexpected behavior in specific user account | Adobe

and

Basic troubleshooting steps to fix issues in Lightroom Classic | Adobe

/followup/

Apparently solution was in first link, For MACOS Solution #4 ( Delete account-specific Adobe cache files.)   and specifically involved Library CACHE

[Victor M Rodriguez]

Hi!

I had the literal exact issue and followed almost exactly same troubleshooting you did.

The only thing that worked for me was to follow step 4 for MacOs on one of the links posted above by GoldingD. Basically, to delete the cache folders. I deleted the folders "Adobe", "Adobe Camera Raw 2", "com.adobe.lightroomCC", and "com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7" under ".../USERNAME/Library/Caches/". I then clicked on the LrC icon and it booted in literally 1 second, albeit with no catalog loaded. I then chose my latest catalog, restarted the app and all is good now.