Lightroom CC doesn't load (Photoshop 2021 does...)

[Bad Wabbit]

Hi, I've been a Photography Plan user for many years although less frequent user. Earlier this month I decided to re-kindle my photography passion and so upgraded both Photoshop and Lightroom Classic for my Macbook 2015. The Creative Cloud shows these apps as being up to date. I have 50gb free on my disk. I can load Photoshop 2021 no problems. The difficulty I have is with Lightroom. I click the button to run it, and the welcome screen comes up, but then nothing. It's as if it has logged out again.  Not sure what to do?

I've searched this forum, tried deleting the lrlibrary files, and previous catalogue files, but nothing seems to work?  Any help would be massiely appreciated!

[Bad Wabbit]

PS I forgot to mention the version I'm trying to load/use is V10.2.  Previous versions have all worked. Should I uninstall and try a previous version?

[Ian Lyons]

10.2 is the latest version of Classic and addressed a number of very painful performance issues in earlier versions. Therefore, I would recommend that you don't downgrade to an earlier version. Instead, you should try resetting the preference file as described in Method 1 at https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/setting-preferences-lightroom.html Also, try logging out and back into your Adobe account using the Adobe Creative Cloud App, which can be found in your Application folder.

BTW, 50GB of spare space on you hard drive is likely to become insufficient very quickly. If I were you, I'd be looking to add an large external drive asap.

Also, note that minimim OS requirements from LrC10 and higher is macOS Mojave 10.14, but Catalina or Big Sur are recommended.

[Bad Wabbit]

Hi - thanks for getting back. I did attempt to downgrade and see if that worked but it didn't, so I'm going to re-install the latest version and then follow the steps you suggest. 

Re disk space, 50gb is relatively large as about 2 weeks ago I had just 5gb free!  I know its not enough but the SSD that comes with the 2015 Macbook is just 256gb and I use Dropbox (2TB) for cloud storage, - I'm only using about 10% of that so it's just a case of a workable solution for my macbook to be able to process photos. I guess a year's worth of photos is 20-30gb so I should have only 1 year's worth on the SSD and rest in the cloud?

Should I try and move everything onto the Dropbox cloud to give me enough headroom to install Big Sur, and then see if that makes things easier?

I also recently bought an ipad Air (to ultimately replace this somewhat vintage Macbook) but was disappointed that the LR version doesn't have the features of LR Classic.  So basically I'm in a quandry as to whether I should return my Ipad Air (+ pencil) and then spend EVEN more money to get the latest Macbook, but then that means I don't get the benefit of Air+Pencil. 

Thoughts?  I'm an amateur photographer with DSLR but also take plenty of iPhone XS snaps. 

[Bad Wabbit]

Hi - back again. I kept with the latest (10.2) version of Lightroom Classic.  

Did the steps you suggested - i.e. resetted the preference file, and then logged out and back into Creative Cloud account. Still no joy. 

What's weird is that Adobe is recognising my credentials because it is letting me load Photoshop 2021 but just not Lightroom. 

Any other thoughts?

[Bad Wabbit]

Morning all, I have now upgraded my OS to Big Sur - but LR still didn't load. I'm now uninstalling LR and re-installing it, post the OS upgrade.  If that doesn't work I don't know what else I can do?  To re-state, Photoshop 2021 works but LR just fails to load whatsoever! 

[ManiacJoe]

Which version of the Mac OS are you running?

[Bad Wabbit]

Thanks for replying - I'm on Catalina 10.15.4.  I've been unable to consume the Big Sur upgrade because it required a minimum disk capacity that my lil Macbook just doesn't have.  I have a Dropbox 2TB solution with <10% used so loathe to buy an external drive, unless that makes it easier to work with photos?

[DdeGannes]

See the system requirements for LrC 10, make sure your system meets the minimum requirements, or better the recommended requirements.

I also agree with Ian in his earlier post 50gb of free disk space is not going to be adequate. The Dropbox may cause some challenges, better to have an external drive to store your image files.

System Requirements

The system requirements have been updated:

The minimum Windows 10 supported is v1903 or later. Windows 7 and Windows 10 v1803 or v1809 are no longer supported.

The minimum macOS now supported is 10.14 (Mojave) – 10.13 (High Sierra) is no longer supported.

RAM has also increased to a minimum of 8GB, with a recommendation of 16GB.

[Bad Wabbit]

Hi, thanks for looking into this for me. 

I was able to install Big Sur so my Mac OS is 11.2.3, which exceeds the 10.14 minimum

RAM I've got 8gb which is the recommended minimum

What I've got is a predicament in that I was hoping to do some editing of photos using my 'vintage' Macbook whilst I moved to do most of my editing on a new ipad Air plus pencil. 

HOWEVER if my Macbook can't handle this and I face the prospect of having to buy additional HDD space then it would possibly be better to return the ipad and pencil and then just buy another Macbook i.e. the latest one, and ditch the concept of being able to use the pencil interface etc. 

I can't afford to have both!  Grateful for any advice on that as the 14 day return period is almost used up! 

[DdeGannes]

So if you have the Photography plan the you have LrC and Lr (cloud-centric) applications for your computer. The iPad will be using the Lr Mobile which has the same features as Lr.

You may wish to switch to Lr on your computer then your original files will be in Adobe Cloud storage. Next you will need to sort out you backup process of your original file either additional Cloud storage or external HDD.

See the attached article.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-cc-vs-classic-features/

[Bad Wabbit]

Hi - this is great, thank you for your help!

I am on the Photography Plan. I had previously used Photoshop but due to lack of relatively recent needs to do anything that sophisticated it's mainly been about post-production of iphone and DSLR images prior to sending to something like a Photobook. 

I had hoped that my 2015 Macbook I could use for Lightroom because it enables me to import photos but keep them in a Dropbox file facility, i.e. not inside Adobe's proprietary cloud (which I'd lose if I ever cancelled my subscription, as I needed a place to store non-photo documents etc hence Dropbox). 

Unless I'm mistaken, the only way that Lightroom CC would work for my iphone or ipad is that it would import only into the Creative Cloud? 

If that is the case then I will have to return my ipad, and pencil, and then contemplate whether I can go for the entry level Macbook Pro - although looking at the spec for that, it still only has 8gb RAM albeit that the processing must be much better.  Cost wise, ipad Air plus pencil = £917 so the Macbook is £999 (actually I prob need to add around £80 for Apple Care).  I feel sad that I won't be able to enjoy the pencil interface but it seems that if I want to retain the ability to store files outside the CC, then there's no choice, right??

[Bad Wabbit]

If I follow your logic correctly, then I can use Lightroom but only put 20gb in the Creative Cloud. I don't want to pay for a full 1TB of Adobe Cloud if I have 2TB of Drobox Cloud.  So can I periodially change what is inside and outside the Lightroom Cloud - e.g. I may most likely want to edit 2020 photos, but what if I want to go back to my 2018 photos (on Dropbox)?

Any articles on that would help - with Big Sur and latest Lightroom, it's still not loading here so I feel like I'm being forced down a Lightroom Mobile solution with ipad, so I need to work out how to access my photos from all previous years which are currently on Dropbox! 

[Ian Lyons]

If you haven't already done so, check the folder containing the Lightroom Classic catalog (.lrcat) to see if there is a file ending in '.lock'. If you find such a file, then delete it and retry launching the application.

[Bad Wabbit]

Ian - thanks for suggestion but there are no .lock files in my Mac - not actually any .lrcat files.