Problem transferring catalog to new PC

[jtaylor333]

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?

[Sameer K]

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)

[AxelMatt]

...

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

[GoldingD]

How are you transferring the files?

[jtaylor333]

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?

[dj_paige]

The first thing that comes to mind is that the transfer is causing the corruption. Can you do the transfer using different hardware, different USB cables, different USB ports?

[GoldingD]

Moderator, I noticed two post in discussions with slightly different subjects but same content by the author

see:

• https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/problem-transferring-catalog-to-new-pc/...

[jtaylor333]

Sorry, my bad.  Didn't realize that you should only post in one of them

[jtaylor333 · Accepted solution]

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.