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🔎 Quick Tips: How to give Full Disk Access to Lightroom Classic on macOS

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 10, 2022
74 replies
280351 views

How to provide Full Disk Access on macOS

Since macOS 10.14 (Mojave), Apple introduced a new privacy structure to help ensure that all applications obtain user consent before accessing documents, downloads, desktop, iCloud Drive, and network volumes. This has been reinforced in newer versions of macOS. This change prevents unauthorized access to user files and folders.

When Full Disk access & Accessibility permissions are needed, users may be asked to or be required to change the setting in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy for Lightroom Classic manually.

While for the File & Folders access, the user is prompted to allow or deny when needed.

Why provide full disk access to Lightroom Classic?

Insufficient or broken permissions may restrict Lightroom Classic from functioning correctly and break your workflows. All tasks that require access to the computer's storage — importing/exporting images, cross-app workflows, reading/writing metadata, and more, behave unexpectedly. It may also lead to missing images, performance issues, unexpected sync issues, and random app crash on launch or while working on a file.

Watch this video for the steps:

Quick steps to enable full disk access and grant permissions to Lightroom Classic

Follow these steps to prevent the permissions issues from occurring:

❶ Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Click the Lock icon > Authorize via password > Unlock the lock to allow changes to system settings.

❷ Add Lightroom Classic by clicking on the (+) button & navigate to the Applications folder on macOS.

❸ Go to Full Disk Access and add Lightroom Classic by clicking on the (+) button & navigate to the Applications folder on macOS.
Note: Adding Lightroom Classic under Full Disk Access overrides Files and Folders settings.

❹ Click the Lock icon to save the changes. Restart your computer to see the applied changes.

Stay tuned for more tips to come.

Related links:

Lightroom Classic system requirements

Quick Tips: Optimize LrC preferences for better performance

Basic troubleshooting steps to fix issues in Lightroom Classic

Correct answer GoldingD

MAC OS security issue, see:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access-to-lightroom-classic-on-macos/td-p/12913413

Show previous replies

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Dale24462030k1he

Participant

Hello Everyone,

I have been using lightroom Classic for years and I have an issue that I have been trouble shooting with no avail so I'm looking to you smart people for help. My folder and images are already imported in lightroom, and are in the same folder on my external hard drive (I didn't move any images). I signed out from one adobe account to another account and now my presets aren't showing up and the images says that "The file could not be found. Lightroom is not allowing me to import more presets because it says that the presets are already loaded.

I have already tried resetting my Lightroom preferences, restarting the computer, signing in and out of my account, unplugged and plugged back in the external hard drive. There wasn't an option to find missing images.

Lightroom Classic 11.3.1

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

In preferences, Store Presets with Catalog; if you toggle this on (or on then off), any difference?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

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ulft1963

Participant

Hello folks. I have an external hard drive to which I import my photos from Lightroom. The folders has suddenly been read-only when I import new photos, without me having done anything to indicate that this has happened. However, I can save to disk in other ways than from Lightroom, such as moving files from local disk via Finder to the external disk. But moving files in Lightroom from a folder on local disk to a folder on the external disk is not possible. Can't figure this out. Anyone have any tips?

D

dj_paige

Legend

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access-to-lightroom-classic-on-macos/td-p/12913413

D

daved54980649

Participant

Hi All,

I'm in the process of migrating LrC to a Mac Studio from a 2015 iMac. The image files and catalog are stored on an external drive. Intially it seemed that all had gone well linking the Catalog and image files in Lightroom but I'm have two issues:

1. When I try to open an image from Lightroom > Photoshop I'm getting an error: "Lightroom Unable to Prepare the Selected File".

2. Some of the images also have an exclamation point in the upper right "There was an unknown error while writing the metadata to this photo"

Any help on resolving will be much appreciated. Thank you

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Maybe it's this: Apple changed the security requirements in MacOS Monterey 12.3.1. Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic and/or Photoshop if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

D

daved54980649

Participant

Thanks for the advice, Johan. I made the changes you suggested and now I can open unprocessed raw files in Photoshop but getting a new error: This version of Lightroom may require Photoshop Camera Raw plugin 14.3 for full compatability. I just downloaded LrC and Ps yesterday and the Camera Raw plugin is up to date. Still having the same error when trying to open any processed files in Ps. Seems like some sort of compatability issue...

S

Stjepan B

Known Participant

Hi!

Uppdated to Monterey and now the develop modual can't finde my files. Any suggestions?

S

Stjepan B

Known Participant

Problem solved. Had to grant acces for lightroom in monterey to manage my files on my harddrive.

johnrellis

Legend

Glad you solved it. For reference by future readers, see this post for how to grant Full Disk Access to Mac LR:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access-to-lightroom-classic-on-macos/m-p/12913413

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lsp1482

Inspiring

I just updated my iMac to Monterey OS. Now i'm trying to copy my Sony A1 files into my lightroom catalog from my camera card. When I try to copy them into Lightroom i'm getting the following error message:

could not copy a file to the destination folder bercause it is not writable or there is not enough free space (1)

When I copy the files onto the internal hard drive of my iMac, it works perfect. It only happens when I copy them onto my external Photos hard drive.

I have 1 TB of space on that hard drive so the space isn't an issue.
OS = 12.3.1
iMac Pro 2017
Lightroom is up to date 11.3.1

thanks for any help.

L

lsp1482

Inspiring

also just realized Lightroom isn't letting me create new folders inside my catalog. Sounds like it's a permission's issue but I'm not sure how to change that.

Earth Oliver

Legend

Why does this need to be done manually? Is there not a way for Lr to do this during the install or update? Not having this pref set can result in data loss and i seriously doubt that most Lr users will ever see this post...

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

"Is there not a way for Lr to do this during the install or update?"

No, it can't be done automatically; it's part of the new(er) OS security. I know of no Mac software that does this until the user does so manually at least once. Thereafter, it's fine.

https://support.avast.com/en-us/article/Allow-Mac-full-disk-access/

Full Disk Access permission is a privacy feature introduced in macOS Mojave (10.14) that prevents some applications from accessing your important data, such as Mail, Messages, TimeMachine, and Safari files. This means you need to manually grant permission for certain applications to access these protected areas of your Mac.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

simsharala

Participating Frequently

If it's impossible to do it automatically, you should get a message directly from LR telling you what to do. I've lost many hours trying to fix it and thinking I've lost my catalog.

C

chelini&oeffling

Inspiring

I am trying to Edit in Photoshop and get no response or popup messages. If I switch over to Develop, I can now see the message "File not Found." Library > Find all missing photos reports "No missing photos. All photos in this catalog are available." There are no exclamation points in the grid to indicate missing photos. I do not see the histogram for any of my photos.

I believe this is a bug because I have not moved or changed settings or files in any way. I have not moved or renamed any photos from the connected hard drive. I can see the hard drive is active, and I can find the file using my Finder on the Mac.

Can you help?

macOS Monterey, 12.3.1
Lightroom Classic 11.3.1 release

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I think Adobe should add this as a ‘sticky’ message at the top of this forum, because it is by far the most frequently asked and answered question. Apple changed the security requirements in MacOS Monterey. Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic and/or Photoshop if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

johnrellis

Legend

"I think Adobe should add this as a ‘sticky’ message at the top of this forum"

Fully agree. I made that suggestion on Adobe employee Sameer K's Quick Tips post about Full Disk Access:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access-to-lightroom-classic-on-macos/m-p/12914205#M272684

but of course didn't get any reply.

E

emmyg81160221

Participant

Lightroom has all of a sudden stopped being able to access photos from one of my hard drives.

When I try to export the photos it looks like it does but then the folder is empty after exporting.

I try to open them up in photoshop and it gives me this message "

Lightroom was unable to prepare the selected file at /Volumes/Backups 3.0/Celebrate Again/Elopements/Cannon Beach Elopement 2020 | Blanca & Billie | Nov 1, 2020/Raw/Cannon-beach-elopement-2020-5640.NEF for editing.

It will not be opened."

However it will not label the photo as "file is missing"

I've clicked on creating a virtual copy and it says "

The file could not be found."

But then I click on "show in finder" and it shows me exactly where it is in the hard drive.

I have had to move photos from the old hard drive reupload, and then re edit them or apply the saved catalog if I have one.

I have no idea what to do since the photos aren't showing up as missing for me to reconnect them.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

E

emmyg81160221

Participant

THank you thank you!!! This fixed it! You're a gem!

philippev94032394

Participating Frequently

Bonjour, Depuis quelques jours mon LRc ne reconnais plus mon disque dur externe; impossible de lire mes photos. Dans l'import il ne voie pas non plus le DD Externe

Avez vous eu ce problème et comment le résoudre. Merci pour vos réponses et aides

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

philippev94032394

Participating Frequently

Thank you very much, now it's ok

J

John24271552tiyc

Participating Frequently

Lightroom Classic version 5.2
Mac OS 12.3.1

Since upgrading my macOS to 12.3.1,

I am unable to import from my camera card (attached to my computer with usb)
message: “The following files were not imported because they could not be read”

I am unable to import from my internal hard drive to my external hard drive
message: “Could not copy file to requested location”

I am unable to work with images stored on my external hard drive in Develop module
message: “The file could not be opened”

I am able to import from a folder on my internal hard drive to another folder on my internal hard drive

In Develop module, I am able to work with images stored on my internal hard drive

I am able to save Pages documents to my external hard drive

GoldingD

Legend

Looks like a buggy day, previous reply disappeared upon posting. On the MACOS, in the Apple Menu, choose System Preferences, choose Security and Privacy, choose Privacy, scroll down to Files and Folders, make sure Removable Volumes is checked for Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Now, probably overkill, but lately some members with new MACOS and new versions of LrC also need to allow LrC to have Full Disk Access. So scroll up to Full Disk Access and add Adobe Lightroom Classic. See:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access-to-lightroom-classic-on-macos/m-p/12913413

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