Installing Lightroom Classic on second computer

[johnip21]

I recently installed Lightroom Classic on a second Windows computer (a laptop). By looking in Edit/Predferences/Default Catalog I can see that it has used the location of my existing catalog (on Windows cloud system OneDrive) This was Lightroom's decision, I didn't direct it to this location (as far as I know).

When i clicked on  Import I could see all my existing folders and photos, which are also held on OneDrive. So that was fine. I then imported a few photos. But, when I went into Library, i found that the only folder and photos available were the ones i had imported. There was no sign of all the other folders which presumably means that they have not been added to that catalog. I find this difficult to understand as i am apparently using the same catalog location as that used by my first computer.

Can anyone offere any help on this 

[dj_paige]

Is your intent to use the exact same LrC catalog on the second computer as on the first computer?

Since you say it wasn't your decision to use the catalog file on OneDrive, where is the catalog you want to use? Where is the catalog file stored on the first computer? Is it really stored in a OneDrive folder or not?

Unfortunately, using OneDrive is not the way to accomplish this. Putting the catalog file on an external drive and moving the drive from computer to computer is the way to do this, so that each computer is using the catalog file on the external drive.

[johnip21]

Thanks for your reply dj. 

I should start by saying that I have now discovered that the information i gave was incorrect. It looked like the same catalog location but actually was different so that explains why only the newly imported photos were recognised by Lightroom. The original catalog is, in fact, not held on OneDrive, it is held on the hard drive. My apologies for such a silly mistake. But the photos are held on both hard drive and OneDrive so that is why Import showed all my folders and photos. 

That's a good point you made about using external drive rather than OneDrive since cloud storage would presumably make the operation rather inefficient.  I will think about doing this but maybe need to bear in mind that i will only be using the laptop in very exceptional circumstances. The PC is very much my main computer for lightroom purposes.

[dj_paige]

Please see this description of how to use Lightroom Classic when you travel with a laptop.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/classic-on-vacation/

[AxelMatt]

Here you'll find additional thoughts about using LR on multiple computers.

How do I use my Lightroom catalog on multiple computers? | The Lightroom Queen

[johnip21 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the information. The options are now much clearer