Preferences file corrupted

[DistantPlaces]

After the last LR update, the Preferences menu does no longer open. LR does not crash, it simply opens without showing the Preferences window. Because it thinks the window is open, it does not let me click anywhere else but I can 'close' the imaginery preferences by pressing ESC. Every other menu seems to work.

I tried de and reinstalling LR but to no avail. Then I read about resetting the preferences (hold ALT+Shift on LR Startup). This solves the initial problem, but now my whole library has lost the color coding (and probably more, I didn't check any further). Luckily I still have the old 'Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs' file. If I replace the new with the old, I get my colors back but then again the preferences menu is no longer accessible.

I opened the .agprefs file in a texteditor and compared new vs. old in the hope I could just copy over the important part from my old file, but the file is huge and the relevant information seems to be all over the place.

Is there anything else I can do? Just resetting the preferences is not really an option as I would lose way too much work. I am looking for a way to find which part in the old file is wrong and just correct it.

Unfortunately the forum does not allow to attach *.agprefs file types, I have put both files (_new and original) on this link:

LR preferences issue

Hopefully someone with more knowledge can have a look and give some advice.

Windows 11,  Lightroom classic 13.4

[Rikk Flohr: Photography · Accepted solution]

After resetting a preference file, you must reestablish your Library: Metadata>Color Label Set from Default to the Value you were using before. That should solve the problem of your missing color labels after a reset. 

I would not recommend trying to parse different Preference files and combine bits and pieces.  That is a recipe for trouble. 

Use your reset preference file and reset your color labels to your previous value. 

Moving to Discussions. 

[DistantPlaces]

Thanks a lot, that solved it for me! It had the original palette, but in a different language (originally some years back I was using my local language and not English for the first few months). Is there anything else that might be affected by the reset that would be hard-earned user data? I just did a quick visual check and everything else like keywords, stars etc. seem to be unaffected by the preferences reset.