Problem transferring catalog to new PC

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
March 26, 2025
4 replies
654 views

I have a new PC running Windows 11 Pro 24H2. High end system (Core Ultra 9, RTX 5080, 64 GB RAM, etc.). Trying to transfer my Lr Classic from my old system (Windows 10 Pro 22H2).

Copied whole Lightroom folder and sub-folders but when I try and open the catalog, it says it's corrupted. Lr then disappears, doesn't even always show up in Task Manager. Tried several backups and ther same happens.

Can still run on my old PC without an issue. Did the whole copy again several times. I can start and run LrC with the default catalog, no problem but I have many 10,000s of edits in the old catalog and want them.

Going crazy trying to figure this out. Can anyone help?

Windows

Correct answer jtaylor333

I have solved the problem! It was that I had copied the old LrC files to a folder that LrC didn't have permissions for.

Why LrC didn't tell me that, I have no idea - it just said that the catalogs were corrupt, which they were not. I found out when I tried to Import from another catalog and it then told me I didn't have permission and I solved the problem in minutes.

GoldingD

Legend

How are you transferring the files?

AxelMatt

Community Expert

...

Copied whole Lightroom folder and sub-folders but when I try and open the catalog, it says it's corrupted.

...

By @jtaylor333

What happened if you copy only the catalog file to the new computer?

Here you'll find a good article with a lot of informations how easily move LR to a new computer:

How do I move Lightroom to a new computer? | The Lightroom Queen

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

Sameer K

Community Manager

Hey, @jtaylor333. Welcome to the Lightroom Community. I'll help you figure this out.

Where is the catalog stored? On the internal or external drive?

Try to clone the catalog & check if the issue crops up again. Follow these steps:

Press and hold the OPT key & launch Lightroom Classic with a new catalog > go to File > Import from catalog > target your current catalog. Proceed with merging the previous catalog into the newly made test catalog, an internal storage-based catalog & check if that helps. For more help via video-based steps, check here. See https://adobe.ly/3NTC9Rv

Let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Sameer K

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

J

jtaylor333Author

Inspiring

I have a new PC running Windows 11 Pro 24H2. High end system (Core Ultra 9, RTX 5080, 64 GB RAM, etc.). Trying to transfer my Lr Classic from my old system (Windows 10 Pro 22H2).

Copied whole Lightroom folder and sub-folders but when I try and open the catalog, it says it's corrupted. Lr then disappears, doesn't even always show up in Task Manager. Tried several backups and ther same happens.

Can still run on my old PC without an issue. Did the whole copy again several times. I can start and run LrC with the default catalog, no problem but I have many 10,000s of edites in the old catalog and want them.

Going crazy trying to figure this out. Can anyone help?