lightroom catalog could not be opened due to an unexpected error

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

I've had the above error once before, and back then I solved it by replacing the catalog with the latest backup.

I got this error again yesterday and tried again with the latest backup.

This time, I got it partially to work. It opened up fine, but all data was very weird. The edits I've made over the past years up until recently didn't seem to match and some of my newer photos were even missing in the catalog.

This morning I tried the second newst backup and now for some reason Lightroom won't even start.

I've tried installing a later update version and even uninstalled and reinstalled, but it just doesn't want to start up. It show up in task manager like normal, but nothing happens.

I'm on wnidows 10 and the catalog and all files are stored locally.

I am at a total loss, does anyone got an idea what to do?

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

Oh and ofcourse I've looked at the many other threads with this type of error, but none of them seem to have the same specific issue 😞

Youtube/google has brought me nowhere as well.

[F. McLion]

Try to start LrC while holding down the Ctrl key.

This should give you the option to check the integrity of the catalog.

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

I tried that as well, still won't start up

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

I've just uninstalled all Adobe programs and reinstalled, but still no change.

I get a message saying "opening catalog: xxx" at the top of my screen, but then nothing happens.

And now I can't even open while holding CTRL.

Photoshop works just fine btw 😞

[dj_paige]

I've just uninstalled all Adobe programs and reinstalled, but still no change.

I get a message saying "opening catalog: xxx" at the top of my screen, but then nothing happens.

And now I can't even open while holding CTRL.

Photoshop works just fine btw 😞

By @default99yghdsvtjkl

Photoshop is irrelevant here. Uninstalling/re-installing LrC is irrelevant. The problem is the catalog file itself. Please try my suggestion in my other message.

[dj_paige]

Unzip a recent backup, put it on a different disk than the original catalog is located, and it should open. There is something wrong with your primary hard disk where the original catalog is located, and you need to run diagnostics on it.

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

It is in the "photos" folder on C:\ drive, so I would certainly hope not :-S But anyway, I'll give it a try and see if anything's up.

But for now, after much fiddling around, I seem to have gotten it to work and startup using the latest backup, but now I have to physicaly look at all the images in the librarys grid view for Lr to load my edits (over 7.000 photos), meaning I look at the photos with the smallest thumbnails, wait for Lr to preview the edits, scroll down to the next couple hundred photos, rinse and repeat. Does that make sense?

Sorry for being a rambling mess, it's just a pretty terrifying experience 😮 I seem to have lost a bit of work, even though it should be all up to date from the latest backup, but oh well, I'm sure I can recover that.

Thank you so much for the help and effort, it's very much appreciated 🙂

[dj_paige]

Yes, that makes sense if you put the unzipped latest backup into a different folder than the original catalog was in (you didn't say if that's what you did). The previews of your photos have to be generated.

You still need to run diagnostics on the hard drive with your original catalog.

[default99yghdsvtjkl]

And now it started again not wanting to open...

I ran a diagnostic on the drive, and found no issues.

When I try and open the catalog direclty from the catalog file, 2 files keep appearing and disappearing

"[catalog name].lrcat-shm" and "[catalog name].lrcat-wal".

Repeats until I force close Lr from task manager.

If i then drop the latest backup onto my desktop (still the same drive) it opens fine. But as soon as I try the same thing in the original folder it goes bonkers again.

I then put the backup files in a new folder inside the original and it opens fine. for now.

Still a lot of edits are missing even though it's the very latest backup, february 27.

And I haven't touched the folder with the original photos, if that has anything to do with anything.