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Inspiring
October 29, 2025
Question

Lightroom classic v15 corrupted catalog

  • October 29, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 385 views

I first noticed an upgrade on the Lightroom mobile v11. So upgarded on phone and tablet. Did a few edits on a few photos testing the enhance snow and blemishes new feature. All my photos in mobile (ie Cloud) are sync with smart collection to actual photos in the LrC which I keep running 24x7.
Upgraded the LrC the following day to v15. It upgraded the v14.4 catalog but says the catalog it just upgraded to be corrupted.  On relaunch it tried to repair and upon repiared and relaunch again it still report the same problem ie need to repair.

I reverted to LrC 14.4 and 14.4 catalog launches without problem but reported newer version of metadata. I was able to stop the sync and can use the LrC 14.4 without problems. 

I optimise the v14.4 catalog and reinstall v15, however same problem persists.

Need help to get V15 running. 
Either Adobe update the v15 to cater for this use case or provide instructions to remove all the new edits using the new features I did with Lightroom mobile V11.
Preferably the option for V15 to recognise new metadata (to the new features) and perform an upgrade without corrupting the catalog it upgraded. 

The later option is also ok if does not require me to remember which photos I use to test the new features which I did a fair number.
LrC is Windows. LrMobile is Android.

2 replies

dj_paige
Legend
October 29, 2025

Please try the method stated by @10528320 here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/problem-with-quot-back-up-quot-in-lightroom/m-p/15567854#M416576

 

OOOPS: This is exactly what @Sameer K suggested

Sameer K
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 29, 2025

Hey, @CS Chua. Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out. 

Where do you keep your Lightroom Classic catalog from v14.4? This may be a common catalog corruption. We'll duplicate the catalog when it works and upgrade the duplicated copy. 

 

While in Lightroom Classic v14.4, go to File > New Catalog > create a new catalog (B) on the internal drive & open it in Lightroom Classic.

 

In the new catalog, go to File > Import from Catalog > point to your primary catalog (A) and complete the process. Now, Catalog B is an exact duplicate of Catalog A.

 

Now, upgrade Lightroom Classic to v15.0 and don't launch it yet. You can head to where Catalog B is stored and double-click on it to launch it directly in Lightroom Classic, prompting an upgrade for Catalog B to work with Lightroom Classic v15. 

You'll be able to continue from there as usual. 

 

Let me know how it goes. Thanks!

Sameer K
(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

CS ChuaAuthor
Inspiring
October 29, 2025

@Sameer K  
Thanks for the tip. Importing now. Will take a while. I have over 100 thousands photos in one catalog. 
Do I need to copy the lrcat-data folder just before I launch LrC v15? I understand this folder contains AI data of photos with AI masks etc.

Sameer K
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 29, 2025

Awesome! Thanks for the update. There's no need to move anything manually; Lightroom will take care of that. 

 

Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 

Sameer K
(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)