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justina94388989
Participant
August 28, 2024
Question

Lightroom Classic catalog won't open

  • August 28, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 2128 views

My Lightroom Classic catalog won't open. lrcat-shm and lrcat-wal files appear and disappear continuously with the loading screen stuck. I've tried deleting the lrcat.lock file and reset my preferences as those were some suggestions I saw but neither works. The lrcat.lock file just reappers along with shm and wal before those two disappear.

 

I'm using LrC 13.5 and MacOS 13.6.9

 

Thanks!

 

[Moved from ‘Bugs’ to ‘Discussions’ by moderator, according to forum rules. A ‘bug’ is not just another word for any problem with software!]

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1 reply

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 28, 2024

Those files need to reappear. Lightroom creates them on startup and deletes them on quit.  They have nothing to do with your problem. Your catalog may be corrupted. Try what happens if you force Lightroom to create a new catalog (move your current catalog to another folders Lightroom can't find it). Or try if Lightroom works correctly with a backup copy of your catalog.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
    J
    justina94388989Author
    Participant
    August 29, 2024

    Lightroom is able to create another catalog just fine when I try. I also have another catalog that I use and that is able to boot up as well.

     

    I don't have a backup copy of the catalog that's giving me issues so I'm not able to try that.

    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    DdeGannesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 29, 2024

    I tried that - has no effect. The lrcat-shm and lrcat-wal files get stuck in this loop where they appear and disappear continuously. 


    @justina94388989 , ok try the following, go to the folder where your Catalog file is located with the .lrcat (LRCAT) extension if there is a .lock, .shm and  .wal files present delete all of them. Next double click on the Catalog file with the extension .lrcat (.LRCAT) file to launch LrC and open the Catalog. If that does not work it is likely the Catalog is the pproblem.

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
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