Lightroom 5.7 crashes when trying to import (Windows 11)

[Acai06]

As the title suggests, I'm still using Lightroom Classic 5.7 on my Winwos 11 and suddenly today - LR started crashing when trying to import new images.

Does any one know how to fix this? Many thanks in advance.

[F. McLion]

Lightroom 5 is from 2013 and has been coded for the OS used back then.

IMHO, it was due to luck that it even worked on W11.

Anyhow, does it show any messages?

Any changes to the PC/OS?

[Acai06]

You are right. Maybe I should buy a new version.

No, no error message. Just LR closes down.

[dj_paige]

Does Lightroom crash, or does the entire PC crash?

Does it crash before even one photo is imported? Does it crash after a few photos are imported? Does it crash after dozens of photos have been imported?

[Acai06]

Just LR itself shuts down as soon as I hit import botton at the right bottom or from the menu. No photos imported.

[F. McLion]

Try if it helps to reset the preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

Scroll down to "Manually" and look for "Lightroom Classic, Lightroom 6 (or earlier)".

[Acai06]

Before trying this, the problem was suddenly gone today - I have no idea why.... but if it happens, I will try your method. Thanks for your time to advicing. I am happy to have an idea what to try next time.

[Acai06]

The problem just came back today, and I finally tried this method. Removing the file called "Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs", but Lightroom stil crashes when I try to import..

Is there other method or a trick to import photos?

[Acai06]

I noticed one more thing. The file "Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs" keeps coming back to the same location after trying to import.

Now LR asks me to choose the country, serial number (already filled in and grayed out), and hit "finish" to start the program.

Still, the import causes the crash. It's just now extra step only to log in...

[Acai06]

Now it even asks to format the sd card.. 

I hit cancel, and then I get this error:

This is not what I had before... I have no idea where this is going. Importing never works like it has always been. What should I do?

[Per Berntsen]

The file "Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs" keeps coming back to the same location after trying to import.

By @Acai06

This is normal, Lightroom cannot run without this file. The preferences file can become corrupted, and when you delete it, a new (uncorrupted) file will be created on the next launch.

Now it even asks to format the sd card.. 

By @Acai06

These messages are from Windows, not Lightroom, and might indicate that you have a corrupted camera card.

(But I wonder why the first message refers to drive E: and the second to drive F:)

Are you able to copy the images to your hard drive using the File Explorer?

Use a card reader if you have one rather than connecting the camera to the computer.

[Acai06]

Thank you for your reaction. Today, LR stopped crashing at least out of blue but it does not want to read the card anymore.

I don't think the card is broken as I treat with atmost care and has just working fine up to recent times.

This is what I see:

and when I go to F drive, this pops up:

Then I get this

Sorry about the confusion, I was trying to import the card from built-in card reader (F) and after that from an external card reader (E). The error messages I get are the same both ways.

Now I really have troubles not to loose the photos on the card.. I cannot read it and I don't want to format it ;-(

[dj_paige]

I don't think the card is broken as I treat with atmost care and has just working fine up to recent times.

This is not a reason to conclude that the card is fine. Hardware can malfunction at any time. Your symptoms indicate the card is the problem (although there could be other explanations)