error message: unexpected error opening catalog

[laxwings]

I am getting this message when trying to open Lightroom 4.  I have had no problems ever before.  Any solutions?

[RonD43]

I had the same problem on Windows 10. I was able to solve the issue by running Lightroom as an administrator and my catalog opened.

[TechByter]

This is a really old question, but I faced a similar issue today and here's the process I went through:

1. Moved what appeared to be the problem catalog to a new folder for safekeeping.
2. Extracted the most recent backup catalog in place of the previous catalog. (Same error.)
3. Restored a catalog from the external backup drive. (Same error.)
4. Ran Lightroom as Administrator. (Same error.)
5. Created a NEW catalog. (Same error message.)
6. Uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom. (While this was happening, I looked in the directory where the new catalog should have been, but none had been created. Gigantic clue!) Checking the attributed for the catalog directory, I found that it had been set to read only. Arrrrgh!
7. Removed read only attributes from the directory and all files.
8. Copied the  "problem" catalog back from the other directory, confirmed that read only attribute was not set.
9. Lightroom now operates normally.

So if you encounter this issue, checking the attributes is a good idea.

[francealot]

I've tried changing the attributes, but it hasn't helped the problem.  I changed attributes on the Lightroom folder and on the Pictures folder.  Is that what you did?

[TechByter]

No, I changed the attributes on the catalog folder. On my system, the images are in a directory on the D drive and the catalog is on the E drive. Find your catalog file and check that. I think Adobe defaults to placing that in the Pictures directory, which is under your account directory on the C drive.

Note that I also uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom CC at the same time. It's a bad practice to make 2 changes simultaneously, but that's what I did. One change or the other fixed the problem, so if changing the catalog directory's attributes doesn't do it, uninstall/reinstall might work. MOST (but not all) of my settings were preserved.

[Hannah_Hardaway]

I had a similar issue and was getting the same error message on my main catalog and all my backups. I went in and changed permissions on the catalog file and then had to RESTART my computer for it to work.

I just had to have my operating system reinstalled as well (and had to reinstall ALL of my applications!!!) so guessing that the permissions issue had to due with that. When I got my computer back from Simply Mac my user password also wasn't working so I had to go into recovery mode and reset so it makes sense that it was a permissions issue. The weird part was that I reinstalled Lightroom and was working from my catalog fine and then it quit on me due to an "unexpected error" and then I was getting the same unexpected error trying to reopen the catalog and all of my backups.

THANK you to everyone who has chimed in here with helpful hints and things to try. SO, SO, APPRECIATED!!!

[Brian Hook]

Got this error message on one of my catalogs, all other catalogs were working fine. I think it was caused by removing hard drive while the catalog was open.

FIX:

1. Hold Option and click on Lightroom.
2. Dialog box with your catalog list opens.
3. First tick the check box in the bottom right "Test integrity of this catalog"
4. Then find the troublesome catalog from the list and open it.
5. The catalog should open but this does not fix the issue.
6. To stop this issue for the catalog you will have to export the entire catalog out as a new catalog.
7. Once complete, delete the old troublesome one.

Will take a long time if you have an enormous catalog!

[lucentfilms]

does not work it saya to choose a different catalog

[flashtastic1500]

Had the same issue today (for the first time). I had my back-up programme backing up LR at the time so paused the back-up and then LR opened normally. Hope that helps.

[natab77894757]

I have the same problem - "Unexpected error opening catalog". I don't have any problems with the hard drive. The system (Windows 7) is in small SSD C:, all data is in disk D:. One day Lightroom stopped opening the catalog, and that's all! My clients are waiting for the result, and I cannot answer them "My Lightroom is broken", Disgusting situation. And no any decisions by Adobe

[Refpoman]

I'm having the same VERY frustrating issue!  "Unexpected error opening catalog"  Can someone please walk me through the process so I can once again PROCESS some very timely photos so I can keep my job! LOL

I appreciate any and all help at this point!

Thanks guys!

[FamilyG]

This one saved me:

Windows Defender Security Center

Virus & threat protection

Virus & threat protection settings

Controlled folder access: TURN OFF

[Seibertron]

last post helped me with the same problem after I locked down some settings a few months back with Windows Defender. Rather than turning off virus and threat protection, I enabled Lightroom to get through instead.

• Go to Windows Defender Security Center
• Then go to Virus & threat protection settings
• Then select "Allow an app through Controlled folder access" under "Controlled folder access" section
• Then select "plus sign" next to "Add an allowed app"
• Then locate your Lightroom EXE file. Mine was located at the following path, but it may differ on your computer. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom\lightroom.exe . After you've selected the file, double click on it, highlight it and click enter, or hit open with the filename highlighted.

Once I did that, I was finally able to successfully open Lightroom once again. What is a real shame is that Windows Defender allows us to lock down our computers (which is fantastic), but doesn't provide proper errors when programs encounter errors because of this lockdown. That's really unfortunate because I've encountered similar errors with other programs. It can be really frustrating because I really want my computer to go back to how it used to be without these problems (especially as more time passes since I set up Defender to better protect my computer from intrusions), however I know it is better to have it setup this way. Just wish Defender provided better errors when programs encountered the new rule I setup with Windows Defender.

Hope this helps someone else after I messed around with all of this for the past half hour just so I could edit 20 photos completely unrelated to any library from earlier this year!

[patcharap72430734]

thats really help me. thankyou so much

[vonelgg]

YES! THIS WORKED! I have tried literally everything else. The weird thing is that controlled folder access was set to OFF already, but then when I turned it ON and allowed LR through as described above, the catalogue opened. Hope this helps someone!

[Sarvesh0D45]

Running the app as admin may not solve the problem for everyone. I found a solution in my case. If you wish, read ahead to know my situation and how I diagnosed it or just skip to the highlighted solution part.

I installed LR and on the first attempt (while my internet was down and windows defender was disabled) it opened the catalog without any issues. Then I had work on the internet so I turned on both my antivirus and my internet and after that Lightroom crashed saying it ran into some problem and needed to close. When I reopened, it would not open my catalog. I could create a new one and it would work fine but my original catalog had over 4 years of work in it. I just couldn't give up. So I noticed what triggered the event. 2 possibilities. 1. Catalog got corrupt. 2. Windows Defender. Since I had made over 43 backups of my catalog in various different places included 4-5 cloud storages, I tried about 7 of them and all of them failed to open. So the only issue left was Windows Defender. I tried to turn everything off in Windows Defender and reopen my LR but it didn't work. Finally I recalled same thing happening with FIFA19. It would just crash on opening. So I applied the same solution I used in FIFA19 over here.

Solution:
Go to Settings app > Update and Security > Windows Security > Virus and Threat Protection > under virus and threat protection settings click on manage settings > scroll down and you will see 'controlled folder access'. Click on 'manage controlled folder access' under it > allow an app through controlled folder access > click on add an allowed app. Browse to Lightroom Installation folder (Generally: C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Lightroom (or just Lightroom)). Now close any open apps and launch lightroom. It should read your catalog fine. Lemme know if this method helps. This is an annoying little feature from windows that blocks access to certain folders for all apps for security's sake.