This document contains basic troubleshooting steps that solve most problems you can encounter while using Lightroom. Try all the steps below before posting on the forums for Lightroom specific issues.
If you encounter a crash, be sure to submit all crash reports. If you submit a crash report for a known issue and include your email address, we can email you a solution to correct the problem.
Known issues in Lightroom
Check to see if the issue you're encountering is a known issue in the latest release of Lightroom.
Get the latest camera support
One of the most commonly asked questions is "How do I get raw file support for the latest cameras?"
Install the latest Lightroom updates
You can fix many problems by simply making sure that your Adobe software is up-to-date.
Adobe provides technical support and security fixes for the current version and the prior version. Bug fixes are only provided for the current version. See Lightroom - Supported versions for complete details.
Install operating system updates
You can fix many problems by simply making sure your operating system (OS) is up-to-date.
- For macOS, see Get software updates for your Mac.
- For Windows, see Windows Service Pack and Update Center.
When a new major OS update is released, Adobe recommends that you perform your own testing on a non-production partition to ensure that the brand-new OS works well with your current hardware and drivers.
Creative Cloud doesn’t show available updates, or applications are in trial mode
Not seeing the available updates? Are your applications showing as trials?
I can't activate Lightroom, or applications are in trial mode
Not able to activate Lightroom or applications are appearing as trials?
Install graphics card (GPU) driver updates
To troubleshoot your computer's graphics card GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and driver, see Troubleshoot graphics processor (GPU) and graphics driver issues | Lightroom.
For more information on Lightroom's utilization of your computer's graphics card GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), see Graphics processor (GPU) FAQ | Lightroom.
Windows:
You can avoid GPU driver crashes, screen/document redraw, blue or X’d-out images, or color display issues by using the latest video drivers. Updated drivers are available from the card manufacturer’s website (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel).
Simply running Windows Update doesn’t ensure that you have the most recent video driver. Go directly to your card manufacturer's website to check for driver updates.
macOS:
Your video drivers are included with your operating system updates. Make sure that you have installed all the latest OS updates by choosing Apple menu > About This Mac > Software Update.
Calibrate your monitor
Corrupt monitor profiles affect both the performance and the color reproduction of Lightroom.
Calibrate your monitor either by using your operating system’s calibration feature or a hardware colorimeter to create a good color profile for your monitor.
For more information on how to calibrate your monitor, see How (& Why) to Calibrate Your Monitor.
Restore preferences
You can solve many abnormal and intermittent behavior issues by resetting the Lightroom preferences to their factory-fresh state.
To reset Lightroom preferences:
- Quit Lightroom.
- Start Lightroom while holding the Shift + Option (macOS) or Shift + Alt keys (Windows).
A dialog box asks if you want to Reset Preferences.
- Click Yes.
Troubleshoot user account permissions
If none of the above troubleshooting steps solve your problem, user permissions may need some attention.
Click Repair to Continue
If you get the Lightroom encountered user permission issues dialog box on launch, click Repair to Continue in the error dialog box.
Manually change folder permissions
Manually change the permissions on the following folders and on all the items in these folders to Read & Write, so that Adobe applications are able to write to these folders when opened or during use:
- /Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/
- /Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/
- /Users/[user name]/Library/Caches/Adobe/
- /Users/[user name]/Documents/Adobe/
Do the following:
1. Open the user Library folder. To do so, press Option and choose Go > Library in the Finder.
The user Library folder is hidden by default in macOS X 10.7 and later. To locate and access the user Library folder, refer to Can't see user library files on Mac OS X 10.7 and later.
2. Change the permission on these folders and all items within these folders to Read & Write. To perform the permission changes, refer to the topics Assign permissions to users and groups and Apply permissions to all items in a folder or a disk in the Apple article Set permissions for items on your Mac.
3. Launch Lightroom.
Use a script to restore permissions
If the previous solution does not resolve the folder permission issue, try this easy-to-run, shell-script-based solution explained below. This shell-script automatically restores the ownership and read/write permission, and it removes Access Control List (ACL) from the set of Adobe user folders and its subfolders.
To run the shell script, do the following:
- Download LightroomCorrectPermission.zip using the above link. By default, the file is downloaded to /Users/[user name]/Downloads/LightroomCorrectPermission.zip.
- Unzip the downloaded zip file to extract the LightroomCorrectPermission.sh shell script file.
- On your Mac desktop, type Terminal in the Spotlight search box and launch the Terminal app.
- From the Finder, drag the unzipped LightroomCorrectPermission.sh shell-script file (from step 2) onto the Terminal window. You see the following text in the terminal window:
/Users/[username]/Downloads/LightroomCorrectPermission.sh - Press Enter to run the shell script.
- When prompted, enter your Mac login credentials.
Note: Ensure that you use the account with administrator privilege to log in. - Launch Lightroom.
Set up a new admin user account
Create an admin user account to identify permissions problems. For instructions on creating an admin user account, see the following:
macOS:
Be sure to change the New Account pop-up window from [Standard] to [Administrator] when creating the user.
If you still experience trouble on macOS, try repairing the permissions on the disk. For details, see Repair disk permissions with Disk Utility.
Windows:
After you create the admin user account, log in to the new user and run Lightroom to see if the problem goes away.
Using the Repair Permissions command repairs permissions for the operating system, but not for applications, such as Lightroom.
Start in safe mode to troubleshoot system add-ons and utilities
Sometimes, third-party extensions and other utilities can interfere with Lightroom's operation.
If you start your computer in safe mode, third-party extensions and utilities are turned off, which can help solve your problem.
macOS:
- Starting up in safe mode: On macOS, safe mode disables all third-party extensions and startup items. It runs only required kernel extensions and Apple-installed startup items.
Windows:
- Start your computer in safe mode: On Windows, safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers.
Additional troubleshooting
Try all the steps above before posting on the forums for Lightroom-specific issues.
If you have a how-to question or questions about what's in the Lightroom updates, see the following:
If you need additional general troubleshooting help, see the following:
If you need help with app installation/downloads or your Creative Cloud membership, see the following:
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