How to Move Lightroom to a New Computer (2016)

A Windows-first, no-panic guide from someone who’s done this many times

Upgrading a computer is something I’ve done more times than I can count.

Because I travel a lot for photography, I work exclusively from laptops. I usually upgrade every three to five years, not because I want the latest thing, but because reliability matters when you’re on the road. For over ten years, that meant Dell XPS 15 laptops. Solid machines, powerful enough for Lightroom Classic, dependable enough for client work.

My most recent XPS 15, however, had other ideas. The graphics card failed completely. No warning, no gradual slowdown, it just stopped working. That meant an unplanned replacement rather than a carefully timed upgrade.

After a lot of research, I switched to an Asus ProArt 16. So far, it’s been an incredible machine. Fast, quiet, and clearly built with creative work in mind.

But with a new laptop comes a familiar worry.

Years of work live inside Lightroom Classic. Edits, collections, keywords, flags, virtual copies. None of that lives in the photo files themselves. It lives primarily in the Lightroom catalog. Get the move wrong and Lightroom will happily let you start again as if none of it ever existed.

Because I had to move my Lightroom Classic setup from the old laptop to the new one anyway, I decided to turn the process into a blog post. This isn’t theory. It’s exactly how I do it myself.

I’m a Windows user, and this guide is written from that point of view.

One thing you’ll need before you start

Before you touch Lightroom at all, you will need something to copy files onto.

For most people, that means:

• an external hard drive
• an external SSD
• or a USB thumb drive with enough space

This drive is just a temporary bridge between the old computer and the new one.

Throughout this article, the process is always the same:

Old computer → external drive → new computer

Any time I say “copy this folder”, that’s what I mean.
You copy it onto the external drive on the old computer, then later copy it from the external drive onto the new computer.

If you already store your photos on an external drive, don’t worry, that’s covered later.

How Lightroom Classic actually works (important)

Lightroom Classic does two separate jobs.

Your photos live on your hard drives.
Your catalog is a database that remembers everything you’ve done to those photos.

Things like:

• edits
• ratings
• flags
• keywords
• collections
• virtual copies
• edit history

all live primarily inside the Lightroom catalog file.

Lightroom can also write some information to XMP files, but those do not contain everything and are not a replacement for the catalog.

If you move the catalog correctly, everything comes with you.

If you don’t, Lightroom opens with empty looking photos.

What not to do (this is how people lose work)

Before you start, be very clear about what not to do.

• Do not import your photos into a new catalog
• Do not synchronise folders to rebuild edits
• Do not rely on XMP files as a backup
• Do not export photos and start again

All of these approaches lose information.

If you remember one sentence from this article, remember this:

You move the catalog. You do not rebuild it.

Move Lightroom to a new computer

Step 1, find the catalog Lightroom is actually using (old computer)

On your old computer, open Lightroom Classic.

Go to:

Edit → Catalog Settings → General

You will see the catalog name and its location.
Click Show.

File Explorer will open and highlight the exact folder Lightroom is using.

👉 This is the folder you will later copy to your external drive.

Step 2, about missing photos (and when it’s okay)

Lightroom may already show missing photos. That’s not automatically a problem.

I personally have thousands of missing photos in my catalog. Old client work, archived projects, drives I don’t keep connected anymore. I’m fine with that because:

• Lightroom remembers where those files used to be
• If I ever need one, I can reconnect it later

You do not need to fix every missing photo before moving computers.

What you should still check

On the old computer, go to:

Library → Find All Missing Photos

You’re not fixing everything here. You’re just checking that nothing unexpected is missing, like recent work.

Step 3, back up the catalog (old computer)

Still on the old computer, close Lightroom.

When Lightroom asks to back up the catalog, let it do so.

This backs up the database, not your photos, but it’s your safety net.

Step 4, copy the catalog folder to your external drive

Now we start copying files.

Still on the old computer:

• Go back to the catalog folder you opened earlier
• (You might need to go up one folder here by click on the up arrow)
• Right-click the entire folder (not just the .lrcat file)
• Choose Copy
• Paste it onto your external drive

In my case, that folder is:

C:\Users\tyler\Documents\LR-Landscapes

Yours may be somewhere else, and that’s fine.

Do not delete anything from the old computer yet.

Step 5, what to do with your photos

This depends on where your photos already live.

If your photos are already on an external drive

If your photos already live on an external drive and you’re happy with that setup, do nothing.

When you move to the new computer:

• plug that same drive in
• make sure it has the same drive letter

That’s it.

Why drive letters matter (Windows)

Lightroom remembers full addresses, including drive letters.

If your photos were on:

E:\Photos

but on the new computer the drive appears as:

F:\Photos

Lightroom won’t recognise them.

To fix this, use Disk Management to assign the same drive letter. (Press Start and Type “disk management” and choose “Create and format hard drive partitions”)

Right Click (On your external drive) → Change Drive Letter and Paths

If your photos were on the old computer’s internal drive

Then you do need to copy them.

On the old computer:

• copy your main photo folder to the external drive

On the new computer:

• copy that same folder from the external drive to the exact same place you’ve just copied them on the old computer

Keep the folder structure exactly the same.

Important rule about moving folders

If you ever want to move or reorganise your photo folders, it’s very important that you do this inside Lightroom, not in File Explorer.

Lightroom isn’t just showing you folders. It’s keeping a record of where every photo lives. If you move things the right way, Lightroom updates that record automatically. If you move things the wrong way, Lightroom gets confused and thinks files are missing.

Here’s how to do it properly.

Where folder moving happens in Lightroom

Folder moving is done in the Library module, using the Folders panel on the left-hand side.

If you don’t see the Folders panel:

• make sure you’re in the Library module
• look down the left-hand side
• expand the Folders panel if it’s collapsed

How to move a folder the correct way

Let’s say you want to move a folder of photos from one place to another.

1. Go to the Library module
2. In the Folders panel, find the folder you want to move
3. Click and hold on that folder
4. Drag it onto the destination folder
5. Release the mouse

That’s it.

What happens behind the scenes is important:

• Lightroom physically moves the folder on your hard drive
• Lightroom updates the catalog at the same time
• No files go missing
• No relinking is needed

From your point of view, everything just continues to work.

Example, moving a folder into a new year

For example, if you have a folder called:

2023 > Iceland

and you want to move it into:

2024 > Iceland

You simply drag the Iceland folder from the 2023 folder and drop it onto the 2024 folder inside Lightroom.

Lightroom does the rest.

You do not need to touch File Explorer at all.

Renaming folders safely

Renaming folders works the same way.

1. Right-click the folder in the Folders panel
2. Choose Rename
3. Type the new name and press Enter

Lightroom renames the folder on disk and updates the catalog automatically.

What not to do (this is where people get into trouble)

Do not do this:

• close Lightroom
• open File Explorer
• move or rename folders there
• reopen Lightroom

If you do that, Lightroom will still be looking in the old location and you’ll see question marks and missing files.

Nothing is destroyed, but you’ve created extra work for yourself.

If you’ve already moved folders outside Lightroom

If you’ve done this in the past, don’t panic.

You can usually fix everything by:

• right-clicking the top-level missing folder
• choosing Find Missing Folder
• pointing Lightroom to the new location

Lightroom will reconnect everything underneath it.

Still, if you have the choice, always move folders inside Lightroom going forward.

Think of it this way

• Moving folders in Lightroom = telling Lightroom what you’re doing
• Moving folders in File Explorer = doing it behind Lightroom’s back

Lightroom is very forgiving if you keep it informed.

Moving them outside Lightroom is how people create missing files.

Step 6, presets, export settings, watermarks and extras

These are easy to forget.

Things like:

• export presets
• watermarks
• filename templates
• print and slideshow templates
• publish services

are not stored in the catalog.

On the old computer, copy these folders to your external drive:

C:\Users\[your name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom
C:\Users\[your name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw

Important Windows note, AppData is hidden

If you can’t see AppData, that’s normal.

In File Explorer:

• click View → Show → Hidden items

Once you do this you will see AppData appear.

On the new computer, copy those folders from the external drive back to the same locations.

Step 7, open the catalog on the new computer

Now move to the new computer.

1. Install Creative Cloud
2. Install Lightroom Classic
3. Copy the catalog folder from the external drive onto the new computer
4. Double-click the .lrcat file inside that folder

If Lightroom asks to upgrade the catalog, say yes.

Step 8, reconnect photos if Lightroom can’t see them

When Lightroom opens, one of two things will happen.

If everything looks normal

You’re done. No further action needed.

If Lightroom shows question marks or exclamation marks

This just means Lightroom can’t see the photos yet.

To fix it:

1. Go to the Library module
2. Look at the Folders panel on the left
3. Find the top-level folder with a question mark
4. Right-click it
5. Choose Find Missing Folder
6. Navigate to where that folder actually lives
7. Click Select Folder

Lightroom will reconnect everything underneath automatically.

You are not importing files.
You are not copying files.
You are just showing Lightroom where they are.

Final checks

Take a few minutes to check:

• older edited images
• collections
• keywords and ratings
• export presets and watermarks

If everything looks right, you’re finished.

Only then should you consider wiping or selling the old computer.

One last thing

Moving Lightroom Classic feels risky because it represents years of work. That feeling is completely valid.

But when you slow down and follow the simple pattern, old computer → external drive → new computer, the process becomes calm and predictable.

No shortcuts. No rebuilding. Just moving what already works.

That’s the whole trick.