29 Replies Latest reply: Oct 8, 2014 2:26 PM by gegjr RSS

    Lightroom 5 hangs on import

    krowlaw Community Member

      Since installing Lightroom 5, the program hangs during the import process. I never had this issue with Lightroom 4, but recently had a system crash and lost my former catalog. There are about 140,000 images to be imported from a 3TB hard drive.

       

      I'm running a PC with 24 GB of RAM, a 128 GB SSD boot drive and a dedicated 128 GB SSD dirve for Photoshop/Bridge/Lightroom cache.

       

      Has anyone else experienced similar problems?

       

      Bryan

        • 1. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
          ssprengel Community Member

          Which step exactly does it hang on, and how are you initiating the Import, and what do you do when LR has hug, use end-task or are you able to use Cancel or X’s to stop things?

          • 2. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
            paulc63 Community Member

            Hi,

            I am getting the same error.

            I have just installed 5.2 of lightroom, but each time I try to import the program crashes with "Adobe Photoshop 64-bet has stopped working" I can then close the program through the windows error box - it seeks a solution , but never finds one and it closes the program.

            Have you had any responses to this?

            In response to the other reply. A;; I do is press the import button and the error appears immediately.

            Thanks

            Paul

            • 3. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
              gegjr Community Member

              Yes, I am having the same issue. LR5 stops responding the moment I try to select an import location. This happens no matter what catalog I'm using. I have to shut the  program down. I am simply not allowed to import anything.

              • 4. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                Dennis Smith Community Member

                What devices do you have plugged into you computer? e.g. USB devices.

                 

                Some such devices can appear to LR as disk drives, but don't respond as expected -- LR freezes/hangs.

                 

                My Android phone cannot be plugged in for me to import -- one example.

                • 5. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                  gegjr Community Member

                  The same devices I've always had plugged in. WD external HD which contains my images, 2 network drives, and a ClickFree C6 Backup drive. These drives have been plugged into my system forever. The network drives are not plugged directly into desktop but are plugged into the router so I can access them no matter whether  the desktop is on or not.

                   

                  Now all of sudden LR5.5 is not updating metadata changes or at least quickly. This includes keywording, date changes, filenames, etc. Before you ask I do not have a virus. I keep my antivirus on and updated at all times. I even run separate anti-spyware and malware programs periodically.

                   

                  Thanks in advance for your help.

                   

                  Regards,

                  George

                  • 6. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                    rain1844 Community Member

                    Man I am having the very same problem!! Never had this issue before and lightroom is all I use to import images. Lightroom 5 loads but when I click on the import button lightroom and all I get is lighroom is not responding. I have goole the problem and I come across a lot of people having the same issue but no imput on how to fix. I am running windows 7- 8 gigs of memory and a 2TB harddrive that is not a quarter full. I have uninstalled and reinstall lightroom. Same problems.

                    • 7. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                      gegjr Community Member

                      Hi rain1844,

                       

                      What I to fix the issue or at least stop it from happening is when it stops responding just wait, wait, wait, wait, and wait some more until it starts responding again. Then, change the top location where files are being imported and make sure it is a location that always available like you photos folder on your hard drive. Apparently LR doesn't understand that the drive you imported from last time may not be connected or available so it keeps trying to find it and times out. I can't understand why Adobe doesn't respond to this issue. Also, when I opened LR5.5 today there is a new version 5.6 which may have fixed the issue. Will let you know. When I tried to do the automatic download from inside the program I was taken to 5.5 instead. I had to actually login to adobe and search for 5.6.

                       

                      Adobe is really slipping. I think they have too many balls in the air!

                      • 8. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                        Dennis Smith Community Member

                        What I would try is ...

                        1. remove any devices which are not critical to running LR - USB connected, Firewire, ...
                        2. reboot
                        3. try again

                         

                        One of the issues with import is that it tries to find and scan any disk-like device, which can include things like smart-phones, which

                        create real problems -- so its reading many types of devices, and some don't respond well to this kind of thing.

                        • 9. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                          gegjr Community Member

                          Mr. Smith,

                          card reader is that LR looks at that location to find a card but if it doesn't find it or if the last import was from a connected usb drive and the drive is either not there or the drive letter has changed instead of stop looking immediately continues to look. This makes no sense to me.

                           

                          I cannot understand why I can't Adobe to respond. This is what I hate about Adobe. If you don't have a support contract you cannot get Adobe to assist you even by sending them an email. It is very frustrating.

                          • 10. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                            gegjr Community Member

                            Mr. Smith I don't know what happened to the beginning of my previous reply. But is should have started "my desktop has usb drives (sometimes not connected) or network drives (always connected) and I have permanently installed multi-card reader. If the last import was from the ..."

                            • 11. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                              Dennis Smith Community Member

                              If the last import device is not there now, AND if this is Windows -- AND if it does come back and let you import from other locations, then this is a Windows problem that I have seen before.

                               

                              Re Adobe response -- if you have a legitimate licenses to LR, I would expect Adobe to respond reasonably -- you need to go to Adobe support, not this forum, this forum is just lots of users of adobe, and from time to time adobe employees may respond -- but support is from their support site.

                               

                              Personally I have not had a problem with Adobe support -- although I will say that I get much of my support from various user forum, along with being an IT person myself.

                              • 12. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                KR Seals Community Member

                                This import hang happened to me for the first time today with LR 5.6. It turned out to be a SD card that was not fully inserted into the Lexar USB 3.0 reader.

                                Win 7 Pro, 32 GB, etc.

                                • 13. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                  gegjr Community Member

                                  Mr. Smith,

                                  First it is Windows 7 pro. Secondly, I have been using LR since version 3 and have been using Adobe products back to before some of them were owned by Adobe, but I digress. I have tried to contact Adobe support directly from within my account page but every time I try I am diverted back to the community forums. Believe me I tried going through the new support protocol but I've been thwarted every time. It used to be easy to chat with a rep or setup a callback but for some reason it's not working. Since you seem to know Adobe so well what am I doing wrong? Better yet, why don't you ask them to respond to this post.

                                  • 14. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                    gegjr Community Member

                                    Oh yeah my license is legit. Why would you even go there?

                                    • 15. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                      GWSHARK101 Community Member

                                      I am experiencing the same problem.  Running Lightroom 5.6, Mac 10.9.4.  Import and sync hangs at end.  Nothing will import.  My photo business depends on Lightroom and the problem just keeps getting worse.  Currently I've been trying for 30 minutes to get it import photos that are on my internal hard drive.  WTF Adobe?  Not even a response?

                                       

                                      • 16. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                        GWSHARK101 Community Member

                                        To be clear, I am just trying to SYNC a folder on my internal drive that has new images not in my library.  I've also tried importing (just adding files, not moving),  Lightroom SEES the new images, but I keep getting same error no matter what I try.   Lightroom finds the new images, it shows "Importing files...." and the progress bar is all the way at the end, but nothing happens, even if I wait an hour for 20 images to import.   Right now, Lightroom 5.6 is completely useless to me, I have a deadline to edit these images by tomorrow morning, and I'm going to have to find some other way to do it outside of Lightroom.  Looks like I may have to try another software company.    Sad because Adobe is based in my home town.  At least Photoshop is working, right? 

                                        • 17. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                          Geoff the kiwi CommunityMVP

                                          Try removing the Preference File: http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/preference-file-locations-lightroom-41.html

                                          Otherwise it could well be a permissions issue. OSX is not what it used to be. If the above does not work check the permissions for all the Folders and Files relevant.

                                          • 18. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                            gegjr Community Member

                                            Curious if you solved problem?

                                            • 19. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                              GWSHARK101 Community Member

                                              No.  Restarted in Safe Mode, and it worked enough to get the images into

                                              Lightroom.  Not in Safe Mode anymore and it's still working... but I'm

                                              not confident that it won't come back.

                                               

                                              Will keep you posted.

                                               

                                               

                                              gegjr <mailto:forums_noreply@adobe.com>

                                              August 15, 2014 at 4:24 PM

                                               

                                              >

                                                    Lightroom 5 hangs on import

                                               

                                              created by gegjr <https://forums.adobe.com/people/gegjr> in /Photoshop

                                              Lightroom/ - View the full discussion

                                              <https://forums.adobe.com/message/6644933#6644933>

                                               

                                              • 20. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                gegjr Community Member

                                                I have on occasion he'd that happen too. Just to be sure, you right clicked, or whatever is Mac equivalent, and selected synchronize?

                                                 

                                                I have recently also had issues with LR5.6 corrupting files.

                                                 

                                                There seems to be major issues with v5 but Adobe has made it impossible to get tech support.

                                                • 21. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                  Geoff the kiwi CommunityMVP

                                                  gegjr wrote:

                                                   

                                                  I have on occasion he'd that happen too. Just to be sure, you right clicked, or whatever is Mac equivalent, and selected synchronize?

                                                   

                                                  I have recently also had issues with LR5.6 corrupting files.

                                                   

                                                  There seems to be major issues with v5 but Adobe has made it impossible to get tech support.

                                                  Have you posted on Photoshop.com at all?? That is the official troubleshooting site, this is the user forum.

                                                  Tell me how Lightroom corrupts files for you? In 8 years of supporting people with Lightroom I have never seen Lightroom corrupt images, you may have a bigger problem that needs tracking down.

                                                  Just remember that we are all users here like you and ranting at Adobe here doesn't help you or us one bit.

                                                  • 22. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                    GWSHARK101 Community Member

                                                    Yes.  Synchronize, and just import- new files -add to library.   They do the same thing.

                                                     

                                                    www.gregwhitephoto.com

                                                    • 23. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                      metriognome Community Member

                                                      Just downloaded trial version of LR5.6 and started importing photos from my "pictures" folder - everything on the same HD on my MacBook Pro (OSX 10.8.5) - and it got to 1100 of a bit over 5000 pics and stopped in the middle of a folder. Folder had similar content to 4 previous folders that came in OK: a folder of .jpgs within a folder holding a month of .nefs; brought in all the .nefs and stopped after 19 of 36 .jpegs. Have tried to restart importing at the next folder in line, it says it's 'importing files ...' but just sits there doing nothing. Grrr.

                                                      • 24. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                        metriognome Community Member

                                                        Have had a couple more goes, uninstalling and reinstalling the program in between (which seems to be the only way to get it to do anything at all).

                                                        First time I avoided a few files from an odd source that I thought might be a problem: got to 1083.

                                                        Second time avoided these and a few more related files: got to 1000 still stuck in the middle of the same folder, so thought there might be some sort of limit at or around 1000 (nice round number) so ...

                                                        Third time tried importing each month separately: got 5 months OK (this included the one where I'd got stuck halfway through before) = 1063 files, tried June and ... nothing. Sitting there telling me it's 'importing files ...', but with 0 imported.

                                                        There is no Adobe support for trial versions, so ... not a great confidence builder if they are expecting me to dish out $186 on the off-chance that the paid version might work!

                                                        • 25. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                          metriognome Community Member

                                                          Tried in safe mode: still can't import any more files. 1063 seems to be it.

                                                          • 26. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                            metriognome Community Member

                                                            Have skipped June, and July and August both worked OK. Gone back to June, tried renaming the folder, tried moving it from my Time Machine backup instead of just importing to current location (or whatever the terminology is) but it is still resolutely telling me that it's "Importing files ..." but doing nothing. WTF?

                                                            • 27. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                              metriognome Community Member

                                                              UPDATE: Have gone back to June and broken the folder up into fragments with ever decreasing numbers of files, and eventually got all but 21 to Import and move back into the folder where I wanted them in the first place. Of the 21 recalcitrant files I've got 20 of them to go by opening them individually in Nikon's Capture NX2 (wherein they were previously edited), doing a minuscule alteration then resaving them. Then they've Imported without any problem. The last one works fine in Capture NX2, but just doesn't want to play the LR game as a .nef, so I've saved it as a .tif and that Imports OK.

                                                              While I was sleeping on this problem I set my archive of old photos that sits on an external HD going (with both Standard and Smart Preview set - was a bit beyond caring at this stage, so thought "what the hell, I'll go for broke") overnight and woke to find it just creating the last 12 previews: all 4000 or so Imported without a hitch, except for one corrupted file that I'd forgotten about and which LR documented efficiently.

                                                              So, it looks like a file corruption issue and blame can perhaps be laid at the feet of Nikon (or conceivably Apple) rather than Adobe.

                                                              Hope somebody finds this saga interesting and/or useful.

                                                              Cheers.

                                                              • 28. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                                gegjr Community Member

                                                                Ok, thought I'd let anyone following this post that I finally got a call from Adobe about 3 days ago. The Rep changed the name of my LR prefs file with .old as the extension. Then of course opened LR selected the catalog and selected optimize and test integrity check boxes. Once he did that I was able to import again without LR getting hung up on trying to find an import location that no longer exists. I have no idea what caused the problem. The rep also went online and find some text that defines each of the date fields in LR database. Now I understand better what LR is supposed to do when a file is imported, exported, edited in an external program, etc. However, I am still convinced that LR has changed the "Date Taken" for some of my files. I was not able to get LR to do this while the Rep was on the line so I am going to watch diligently to see if I can get evidence of the "Date Taken" being changed by LR and not by me.

                                                                Note: Adobe Rep had to go back and reclaim the old prefs file so I could get back my identity plate and metadata setting.

                                                                • 29. Re: Lightroom 5 hangs on import
                                                                  gegjr Community Member

                                                                  Lightroom_stops_responding.PNGOk, I have to take it back. Lightroom still hangs and stops responding when I click "Import". But, I think I found the issue. I have several external hard drives. One is C6 backup drive. For some reason Lightroom is fixated on the drive even though I have never, I repeat never imported a darn thing from that drive. It is strictly a backup drive.

                                                                   

                                                                  I have found 2 work around.

                                                                  1. Turn off or unplug the drive so Lightroom doesn't see it. Because since it's a backup drive it is impossible to open it and find files. All the files are compressed.
                                                                  2. Just keep waiting ( I had to wait almost 10 minutes for Lightroom to become exhausted trying to find something on the drive) until Lightroom decides it can't open the drive and starts responding and then you can choose another source.

                                                                  Unfortunately, Lightroom doesn't remember you changed the source and goes right back to drive. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Lightroom doesn't allow you to clear out all recent sources or at least start import in a null state.

                                                                   

                                                                  Here's a screen shot.