Can't open LR catalogue

[Bryan]

Getting the message  "The Lightroom catalogue Master Catralogue 2 cannot be opened because another application already has it opened"

 

I've consulted LR help which says

 

Go to the folder where your catalog file [yourcatalogname].lrcat is saved. By default, Lightroom Classic saves catalogs in the following folders:

Windows: \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom

Mac OS: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom

where [user name] is the user id with which you are logged in.

Move the [yourcatalogname].lrcat.lock file to the Trash (macOS) or Recycle Bin (Windows), if it is present at this folder location.

 

Problem is while I can locate the [yourcatalogname].lrcat file I can't find the .lock file 

 

I have tried restarting the computer and restarting LR but the problem persists.

 

Any ideas?

Edited January 22, 2020 by Bryan

[spacecadet]

You could search for *.lock to find the missing one. It only took my machine about 30 seconds to find mine.

[spacecadet]

10 minutes ago, Bryan said:

Getting the message  "The Lightroom catalogue Master Catralogue 2 cannot be opened because another application already has it opened"

 

I've consulted LR help which says

 

Go to the folder where your catalog file [yourcatalogname].lrcat is saved. By default, Lightroom Classic saves catalogs in the following folders:

Windows: \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom

Mac OS: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom

where [user name] is the user id with which you are logged in.

Move the [yourcatalogname].lrcat.lock file to the Trash (macOS) or Recycle Bin (Windows), if it is present at this folder location.

 

Problem is while I can locate the [yourcatalogname].lrcat file I can't find the .lock file 

 

I have tried restarting the computer and restarting LR but the problem persists.

 

Any ideas?

My lockfile is in my catalogue folder. If you can't remember where it is go to Catalogue settings from LR (edit>preferences>general>catalog settings) and it will tell you the location. I just delete it- I don't have a recycle bin. LR recreates it on restart.

That's on LR5.7.

Edited January 22, 2020 by spacecadet

[Bryan]

Thanks Mark, appreciated.

 

Unfortunately this does not solve the problem. I can open LR using a different catalogue, and as you say, the lock file for that catalogue appears where you say it should, but that lock file is automatically deleted when the program is shut down. I am still unable to find the lock file associated with the catalogue that I wish to open.

 

 I can locate the relevant  lrcat file, but there is no associated lock file. The location is in Owner>Pictures>LIghtroom>Master catalogue

[MDM]

I've not come across this. Here are a few thoughts/suggestions.

 

Is it possible that the lock file is hidden? I don't know how you would make it unhidden in Windows but it must be straightforward.

 

Do you have a backup of the catalog ? I guess not or you would not be asking the question. If not, how about just duplicating the catalog that you wish to open, rename it and move it to another folder? 

 

If you can't find a solution I would suggest asking on the Lightroom Queen forums - genuinely helpful and very knowledgeable. 

[Harry Harrison]

I've not ever had to think about LR lock files but it seems that they shouldn't exist at all until you have opened the catalogue, and then they are deleted when you close it. They are there to prevent another user attempting to open that catalogue at the same time to prevent corruption. In fact that is the message that you are getting, as if someone already has that catalogue open. Can you log in as different users on that machine. If you close Lightroom is it still running as a process in Task Manager.

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/deleted-lr-lock-files-now-catalogs-images-missing/td-p/8642102

 

I suspect that it's not a case of hidden files as you can see other .lock files, though that begs the question why do you see those?

Edited January 23, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[Joseph Clemson]

The most likely issue would seem to be that the .lock file has somehow become hidden. In which case I don't think a search will show it. If you are on Windows open the Lightroom catalogue folder and go to the View pane. Select the Options button and then View from within the Folder Options dialogue. Check whether 'show hidden files, folders and drives' is marked. If it is, even a hidden .lock file would be visible or found by search. 

[spacecadet]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said:

The most likely issue would seem to be that the .lock file has somehow become hidden. In which case I don't think a search will show it. If you are on Windows open the Lightroom catalogue folder and go to the View pane. Select the Options button and then View from within the Folder Options dialogue. Check whether 'show hidden files, folders and drives' is marked. If it is, even a hidden .lock file would be visible or found by search. 

I've just tried selecting "don't show hidden folders" and it makes no difference- lock files aren't hidden. So Bryan may be able to rule that out.

 

[Harry Harrison]

Certainly worth finding all instances of .lock files on your computer, might shed some light on it.

 

Edit:

Just done a search on mine for lrcat.lock in the Start Search box, the only results are two txt files of directory contents.

 

Did the same search by opening my hard drive as a folder and searching in the search box at top right and it found one, for the Lightroom Catalogue that is open on that machine. There are lots of LR catalogues on that hard drive.

 

I have 'Show Hidden Files, Folders and Drives' checked in my Folder View options.

 

I don't have time right now to understand why the Start Search didn't reveal it, I'd like to know really.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[Joseph Clemson]

24 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I've just tried selecting "don't show hidden folders" and it makes no difference- lock files aren't hidden. So Bryan may be able to rule that out.

 

 

The .lock file isn't hidden by default but this is not a normal situation or Bryan would clearly seethe file. I'm speculating that the .lock file has somehow become corrupt and acquired the 'hidden' status. If so, making sure hidden files can be seen might reveal it.  I'm by no means sure this is the problem, but it is one of the steps I woudl take myelf in troubleshooting an issue like this. 

[Bryan]

Thanks for the further thoughts. The situation arose because the computer froze while running LR and I had to use a hard reset to get it started again.  The joys of Win 10 after an update !

 

I've looked for the Lock file using the search function but no joy.  I'll take a look at the hidden files, worth a try thanks.

 

I do have a backup catalogue, I backup every week, but not sure what to do with it!

 

Edit - Success, I used Mark's suggestion of searching using *.lock and that found the file. Don't know why I couldn't  find it when searching with the entire file name, but not to worry!  I have now successfully opened LR with what was the missing catalogue!

 

Mark I owe you a beer mate, should we ever meet!

Edited January 23, 2020 by Bryan

[Reciprocity Images]

Try opening Lightroom holding ALT/OPTION. This will check integrity of catalog at startup and possibly repair any issues.

 

 

If you have a backup, you can also unzip the backup file and open that .lrcat catalog file directly. You would lose any changes since the most recent backup.