Inspiring

Answered

Lightroom Classic crashing on start (tried re-installing, renaming preferences file)

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 7, 2023
5 replies
1691 views

My LR Classic shows the splash screen for about 2 seconds, then crashes.

I have uninstalled and re-installed using Creative Cloud. No luck. Tried renaming the preferences file (com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist), no luck.

I am on a macOS Monterey (12.6, 21G115)

Any ideas?

P.S. Does Adobe offer chat support? If yes, they hide it well. Can anyone direct me to the route to get there? (I am UK based)

macOS

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer javoza

The reason I asked Lightroom needs access to your original image files so if you use Dropbox store image files you need to ensure that copies are retained on your computer and not just in Cloud Storage. Also not a good idea to have the Lightroom Classic Catalog and related data support files in Dropbox.

Dropbox Backup (their backup service) is NOT supposed to delete ANYTHING from your computer. Well, it turns out it had been. I've lost images as well as important files that Lightroom clearly relies on. Will be deleting Dropbox (Both 'Backup' and the standard service) and stopping the $12 monthly payment they've been taking from me for the last 5 years. Utterly infuriating.

I resolved the issue: Set up a new user that does not have Dropbox's mangled file system enabled, and Lightroom opens and works like a charm.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

Try logging into another user account (you may need to make one), still crashing?
Try starting up in Safe mode (hold down Shift Key when booting), still crashing?
You might want to try running a free utility like Onyx: still crashing?
https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html
Also view:
https://www.macworld.com/article/352902/onyx-review-macos.html
https://www.macworld.com/article/224955/how-to-reset-a-macs-nvram-pram-and-smc.html
From Adobe:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/basic-troubleshooting.html

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

I have seen this exact reply to other posts, and have followed these instructions. They don't resolve the issue unfortunately.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

It 'magically reappeared' when Lightroom was re-installed on a user account that didn't have Dropbox *Backup's* messed up filing system, where folders that have been selected to be backed up are in fact aliases (but the folder icon is edited to look like it's not an alias... until Dropbox is deleted).

Have I said something that upset you? Are you being paid by Dropbox?

When the Adobe support person realised how Dropbox *Backup* actually worked and how it messes with Apple's filing system, she came to the same conclusion, and she had the solution 10 minutes later. This was after 3 hours of trying. Her name is Sugeeta, and she was excellent.

I've had to explain to you twice how Dropbox *Backup* works. But, as it appears you're, for some reason, very upset that I would dare to suggest that Dropbox *Backup* (not normal Dropbox, that's fine) might be deleting files that it's not supposed to, I will no longer be replying to these unfortunate messages. I have better things to do with my time.

No I'm not upset. No I don't work for Dropbox. I'm looking for clarity should others come to this forum I volunteer to support with (as often as possible) correct solutions.

Do you know what files were deleted? If you don't fine, just tell us you don't.

BTW, not much difference between free Dropbox and paid Dropbox Backup and how/why it affected you is unclear:

“The Dropbox Backup plan is a paid subscription that provides all the space you need to back up one computer and one external hard drive to Dropbox Backup. Details on what types of devices are covered under your Dropbox Backup Plan are provided below.

The Dropbox Backup plan includes all the features of the Dropbox Basicplan, plus additional storage space, access to Dropbox Rewind, and no device sign-in limit.”

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Rikk Flohr_Photography

We’ve reviewed the email address you use with this forum and find no crash reports in our system.

Did you see a crash dialog?

Do you use a different email address when filling out the crash report?

Was the crash dialog Adobe’s? Apple’s?

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

Lightroom does not load (get gets to the splash screen for about 1 second then dies), so there's no crash report.

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

Completely uninstalling Dropbox (including using the 'sudo' commands here: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall), restarting, uninstalling Lightroom from within Creative Cloud, restarting, installing the latest version of Lightroom Classic, restarting...

Has not resolved the issue.

DdeGannes

Community Expert

@javoza , what role does Dropbox have to play in your workflow with Lightroom Classic?

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.

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

It's significant. You've given me an idea. I'll try adding a user to my Mac that doesn't have Dropbox installed, and see if that allows Lightroom to load.

Dropbox has been extremely buggy lately.

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for your reply, Axel.

As you can see, there is no 'useAutoBahn' line in the *.plist file (search = 0):

The problem started with Lightroom 12.1, but I downgraded to 12.01 in the hope it would be resolved — the problem still persists with this older version.

I get 0 error messages, it doesn't have a chance to get to that point.

LR was working absolutely fine until I was forced to uninstall and re-install Dropbox. I will fully uninstall it again and see if this helps...

AxelMatt

Community Expert

Scroll down to the end of the preference file.

Here a screenshot of my file. These lines are at the end of the file.

Change the line "useAutoBahn = true," into "useAutoBahn = false," and the try again.

If there's no entry useAutoBahn you can insert the line manually.

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo

javozaAuthor

Inspiring

There's no entry, so added it. It did not resolve the issue.

AxelMatt

Community Expert

Please try is to switch off the GPU support from the Lightroom preferences and check if that helps to fix the issue.

Go to Lightroom > Preferences > Performance tab > Uncheck "Use Graphics Processor" > Restart Lightroom.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-gpu.html

If Lightroom doesn't start correctly the please see "Solution 2" in the document behind the link below.

Troubleshoot GPU issues | Lightroom Classic (adobe.com)

If this doesn't help we need more informations about your environment.

Which version of Lightroom do you use?

Please post the exact version and not only phrases as "recent", "latest" and so on.

Do you get an error message? If yes, please post the exact message or an screenshot. 

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo

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