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Downloaded Beta but having trouble

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lovestruck

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Apr 2, 2012
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I downloaded and installed LR5 Beta and followed the instructions on Victorias Lightroom Queen site about making new preferences file and then moving LR4 preferences back and deleting the preferences xy etc...

I have just tried to start LR4 but am getting a message box that says Creating New Catalogue..Lightroom needs to create a new catalogue. I also get the same if I try to start LR5 Beta.

I have not clicked in the message box as I am worried that if I tell it to start a new catalogue I will loose all my old settings and catalogue from LR4 so thought I would ask for help here first!

I guess I have gone wrong somewhere, I hope it can be fixed though...the thought of starting a new catalogue for the thousands of images I have in LR4 fills me with dread!

Thanks!
 
For Lightroom 4 just double click your existing catalog (.lrcat) file to open Lightroom with that catalog. The preference removal takes away the "memory"of past catalogs.
With Lightroom 5 beta you will need to create a new catalog as catalog upgrades are not initiated for betas as they are designed for testing not actual use.
 
Thanks for the reply..I have located the LR4 catalogue backup files but when I click on the latest one ( or any of the others) nothing happens.
 
Thanks for the reply..I have located the LR4 catalogue backup files
Yes, but what about your normal LR4 catalog?

You have not written anything about moving/deleting/changing that, so I would assume that it is still where it used to be, and you just need to open it.
 
Right..this is what I am doing.. I click on the latest backup ( and any of the previous ones in the list) I get into the folder that has 2 other folders one is 'Lightroom 4 Catalog Previews.lrdata' and the other is 'Lightroom 4 Catalog' When I click on the catalog I now am getting a message box saying 'The Lightroom catalogue named 'Lightroom 4 catalogue cannot be opened because it is from an earlier version of lightroom. Would you like to select a different catalogue' amd underneath it says 'The Lightroom 5 beta release does not support catalog updates'.

I do not understand why the beta version seems to have taken over my LR4.
 
There are two issues here:

1. You don't need to be looking in the catalog backups folders....your original LR4 catalog should be still on the system (it will not have been removed by any of those actions you took to get LR5 working). What appears to have happened is that somewhere in those instructions you've gone astray, which has resulted in the LR4 Preferences file not being correctly restored. Consequently LR4 no longer knows where that LR4 catalog is, and so you get the "Create New Catalog" dialog. You should be able to use that dialog.....isn't a box which says something like "Choose a Different Catalog", if so click on it and navigate to the original LR4 catalog (NOT a backup) and you should be back to the way you were.

2. The reason that you get that message when you double-click on the backup LR4 catalog is because following the LR5 installation the system now associates the file extension .lrcat with LR5 (being the latest version of LR that was installed)....so when you double-click the OS launches LR5. To get round that simply start LR4 from the LR4 desktop icon and follow the instructions in 1) above. Once you've done that once all subsequent starts of LR4 should open the correct catalog.
 
OK..But I thought that the backup catalogues were the working catalogues that would have all the filters I have applied and the changes I have made to the images?..am I misunderstanding that?

And being totally thick..where is the original LR4 catalog located?...
 
The default location for your working (as opposed to backup) copy of the LR4 catalog is in C:\users\ (your name)\ pictures\lightroom

open the folder and look for your Lightroom 4 catalog. You will see your Lightroom 5 catalog there also.
 
I have just tried that and I get the same message box as described above, the LR5 catalogue opens LR5 ok though..

I really wish I had not bothered I want my Lightroom 4 back!!
 
When you get that message box is there another option to choose? Or does it only give the option to create a new cat.
 
OK..But I thought that the backup catalogues were the working catalogues

No, the backups catalogs are a copy ​of the working catalog, that's why it's called a backup. You need to find the original. Do you think you have located it? If so can you give us a screenshot of the Windows Explorer listing for the Lightroom folder that you think contains the LR4 catalog.

I have just tried that and I get the same message box as described above

What did you just try? There are a couple of ways out of this problem:

1. Find the original LR4 Preferences file, i.e. revisit what you did when following the instructions to fix the LR5 issue and see if you can work out where you went wrong.

2. Locate the master LR4 catalog, then start LR4 from the desktop icon. Don't worry if it wants to create a new catalog, let it do that then as soon as it opens with the new empty catalog do File>Open Catalog and point to the correct location of the master LR4 catalog.

3. Uninstall LR5, which will then restore LR4 as the default program for opening catalogs.....then locate the original LR4 catalog and double-click it to open it into LR4.
 
I have just tried that and I get the same message box as described above
The message box as described above is an LR5 message box.

This tells me that you have still not tried to follow the advice you got:
1. Start LR4 (not LR5).
2. When LR4 asks for a catalog, point it to your LR4 catalog (not the backup catalog)
 
I actually did both the things you mention above, ie starting LR4 NOT LR5 and also pointed to the LR4 catalog not the backup, as the helpful replies above said.

I still got the same message box and could not get LR4 to start so have now uninstalled LR5 and LR4 is working fine
 
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