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A few days ago there was an error message when I tried to get onto LR. I can't remember what it said and it no longer comes up, but the options included "repair" so I clicked that. I was in the middle of doing several things and don't remember exactly what happened after I clicked repair. I think something may have been interfering with LR, and it wanted to reinstall. I never saw anything to indicate LR was removed or uninstalled, but at one point it said it was reinstalling. I walked away at 5% complete, and when I came back another message said the reinstall failed. Unfortunately I didn't get a copy of that message either - I don't know what the error code was.
Now when I open LR there is nothing at all in the catalog.
I need to get my photos back in the catalog, with my keywords, etc. I hope I can since this is cloud-based. I've been using LR for years, switched to subscription at least a year ago, and haven't had a problem like this before. I have Windows 10, plenty of memory. Getting desperate here, thanks for helping me out.
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It's unclear from your post if you're using LR Classic -- the desktop app, or LR mobile -- the online app.
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LR Classic, desktop.
On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 2:32 PM, Nancy OShea <forums_noreply@adobe.com>
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Have you tried opening your latest backup catalog?
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Discussion moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Lightroom Classic CC — The desktop-focused app
Note to Nancy: the subject is "LR Classic"
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You have most likely opened the wrong catalog, or a blank empty one.
Go to File->Open Recent in Lightroom and open each catalog shown there until you find the one you want.
If that doesn't work, then use your operating system's search feature to find all files whose name ends with .LRCAT, and then double-click on each one found until you find the one you want.
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Thank you. I found 2 catalogs, one was the one with 0 photos. I relaunched
the other one. It said it had to upgrade the catalog to use LR Classic CC.
I clicked upgrade, and now I have a catalog with only photos dated May 2015
- Oct 2015. That's less than a tenth of my normal catalog.
Bob S suggests opening the latest backup catalog, but I'm not sure how to
do that. I'm not sure where it would be. When I'm prompted to back up, I do
it, and that goes to an external hard drive. I just moved a few day ago
(this problem with LR started before that) and haven't connected the hard
drives yet. Maybe the next thing to try is connecting the hard drives -
then how do I find the latest backup catalog and open it?
Thanks for the help - I'm pretty adept at using LR filters modify photos,
but I'm in the dark when it comes to understanding how LR works overall.
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Are you using the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application to manage software updates and subscriptions?
That might shed light on the install/update failure if there was one.
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I'm sorry but I don't understand the question.
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I have noted other instances of where an Adobe CC update through the CC desktop app has not completed due to other issues.
"I walked away at 5% complete, and when I came back another message said the reinstall failed. Unfortunately I didn't get a copy of that message either - I don't know what the error code was."
I was wondering if that could have been part of your initial problem . . .?
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Bob S suggests opening the latest backup catalog, but I'm not sure how to
do that. I'm not sure where it would be. When I'm prompted to back up, I do
it, and that goes to an external hard drive. I just moved a few day ago
(this problem with LR started before that) and haven't connected the hard
drives yet. Maybe the next thing to try is connecting the hard drives -
then how do I find the latest backup catalog and open it
So point #1 ... you should ALWAYS know where your backups are stored. I have a folder on a different disk named "Lightroom Backups".
To open a Lightroom backup, in your operating system, you COPY (not MOVE) the backup to a newly created empty folder, and then you double-click on it.
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This is a learning experience, and like I said above, I am adept at using
Lightroom filters, etc. but I do NOT understand how it works, the big
picture, etc. I never took a LR or computer class, so frankly, I barely
know what a catalog is. Please bear with me.
Though I was backing up several times a week, I do not see anything that
looks like a catalog on the external hard drive. I see image files imported
on various dates, the latest is 7/6/18. I didn't back up after that because
I was packing for our move, which further complicates things. The initial
LR error that gave a choice to "quit" or "repair" happened one or two days
before we moved. I did nothing at the time, just closed LR. I was busy
packing. I didn't click on repair until after we moved and got the internet
hooked up. Then it said it was going to relaunch LR, and I wound up with
nothing. Someone told me about another catalog, which I found by clicking
on "File" in LR, but it only has a small fraction of my photos. The other
catalog that shows up has none.
Can you tell me what a catalog that's backed up looks like? What the file
might be called? Is it possible that it was only backing up photos, not the
catalog? Is there any version of my LR in the cloud, via adobe?
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A backup catalog, when you use your operating system (Windows Explorer or Mac Finder) will have a file name that ends with .LRCAT.ZIP
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Great - I found all the back up catalogs - on my computer, D drive I think.
Bob said: Have you tried opening your latest backup catalog? Then Tony
said: To open a Lightroom backup, in your operating system, you COPY (not
MOVE) the backup to a newly created empty folder, and then you double-click
on it.
What exactly am I doing with the back-up catalog? It doesn't sound like it
would be in LR if I just copied it and put that in a new empty folder. Will
I need to get it into LR somehow?
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I believe the correct instructions are:
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I had to do it a slightly different way, which (of course) I can't remember
or describe, but ultimately I checked under "File" in LR and noticed more
catalog files than the two that were there yesterday. One of them looked
like it might be the most recent one so I clicked on it. There was a
message to choose the upgraded one or the old one, I chose the upgraded
one, and now things look normal.
I'm holding my breath, hoping it will stay this way.
Thank you for your help, somehow it did get me there.