repairing or recovering old jpgs

[joelh33703351]

I am using Lr classic running (unfortunately) Windows 11. Here is the problem. Years ago I stored a lot of jpgs on my dell laptop and as a back up on at ext hard drive including all my wedding photos from two thousand and five. Now I find I cannot open them. I thought it was windows 11 because they have gotten rid of the photo editor With each evolution they remove some vital functionality. So I tried another photo editor PHoto 123 and made it the default editor,, Didn't work. Did the same with Windows 10 AND imported the files into Lr classic but that wouldn't open them either, I ncver did anything to those files and since they are oganic material they can not have degraded over time. I think it is extremely sinister for Windows to leave these unsupported and wonder how many others fear they have lost irreplacable photos, but for the time being I want to learn how I can restore/repair or access them, Any ideas?

[Conrad_C]

No one has dropped JPEG support, so if they really are JPEG format, it should be possible to open them even if they are from 2005. (I can still view JPEG photos taken with a camera I used in 1998.)

What is the error message you see when trying to open them, and does the message change when you try different applications on the same old JPEG photo?

[joelh33703351]

Thank you Conrad C. I was very concerned that I lost this personal archive. Have attached an image as per your request. Joel

[John Waller]

Probably best if you upload a typical image so we can see if we can open it on our systems.

We can report success or any issues we encounter.

Similar to @Conrad_C's experience, I can also open any JPG from the 1990s or early 2000s on my Windows 10 and 11.

[joelh33703351]

This is good news since I was very concerned that I lost this huge personal archive. Love to see what you think is going on. Best, Joel

[Jim Wilde]

Yes, but we need to see the error message, or better still upload a copy of one of the files. Note that you cannot attach images if posting via email, you must be accessing the thread via the Adobe web-site.