Lightroom Preferences options inaccessible or empty

[MarkDS]

Using Lightroom Classic 12.3 on a MacStudio Ultra with Monterey OS. Lightroom Classic>Preferences doesn't open access to the Preferences panels most of the time. When it does, all but the General tab are empty.

[GoldingD]

Have you considered resetting the preference file?

[JohanElzenga]

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

[GoldingD]

Followup

I see that you posted your issue back in March. Or a similar issue. And that members advised you to reset your preference file, and apparently you may have chosen not to do that.

Am I wrong?

From your posting history, it appears you are mostly a PS user. So, about the LrC preference file. It can get corrupted, leading to all sorts of buggy behavior. Actually PS can have a similar problem, but PS is more stable, and rarely has a preference file issue. Some might see resetting the LrC preference file as a magic bullet, like a reboot, but time and time again, resetting it solves such issues. Be aware that some preference settings may revert to defaults, but then yours appear to be all fouled up anyhow.

[MarkDS]

Thank you for your interest in responding. No, I am mostly a Lightroom user. I only use PS for the odd thing I may need that Lr can't do. And no, my settings are not "all fouled up" - actually everything is working just fine. I wanted to go in there to check something. I have no need to change anything. Now, about resetting preferences: I don't "shoot in the dark" by implementing proposals without knowing the cause of the problem and whether said solution is likely to work, because such solutions may have unwanted side-effects and may not work, leaving me potentially worse off. In coming to a Forum like this I am trying to minimize risk by learning whether any others have experienced the same issue, whether/how they resolved it, and did the solution generate other problems. So for the time being, the least-risk option for me is to not reset Preferences. If there are people reading this thread who have experienced and satisfactorily resolved this issue I would be interested to know what you did and how it worked out. Best regards, Mark.

[JohanElzenga]

I disagree with your assessment. It is pretty obvious from what you report that your preferences file is corrupted. That happens from time to time. Resetting it, or better still deleting it, will force Lightroom to create a new file. That is by far your best chance of solving the problem. You can also move it out of its location rather than deleting it. Then, if this did not work, you can simply move it back and replace the newly created preference file with it, so nothing has changed.

[MarkDS]

Thanks for pitching in Johan. Could you please advise which specific file you recommend deleting, where it sits, and what side-effects this causes? What do I lose through this operation? Does it have any impact on plug-ins - I'm thinking specifically of Negative Lab Pro?

[JohanElzenga]

The link I already gave you should give that information. Look under 'Manually'. All this does is create a brand new preference file, with the default settings like when you started with Lightroom for the first time. Plugins should not be affected by resetting the preferences, although I don't know each and every plugin and how it may be different from most plugins.

[MarkDS]

Ah yes, thanks. I had read that, I shall have a second-look.