# Please help me.  I have a windows PC, and I just bought an iMAC



## lyzha81 (Feb 15, 2013)

I am very over whelmed since opening my new iMAC!  BUT - I love IT!!!  But I am very confused on what to do.  
I have Lightroom 4 on my Windows PC, and all my presets..etc...
You can only down LR4 2 times.  So I don't want to mess anything up.
Can someone please help me?

Since I registered LR4 for a windows PC, is that going to mess something up?  Should I just take the program and put it on the Mac?  
Then, how do I get my presets over?  Will they work on the Mac still?
I know its alot of questions, but Im unsure on what to do.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Leah


----------



## clee01l (Feb 15, 2013)

Welcome to the forum. You are making steps in the right direction! You are about one year behind me. 
First, your LR license can legally be installed on two computers. So you can install it on you new iMac and keep,a copy on your old PC if you like. 
The easiest way to make the transfer of all of your critical windows data and settings is to use the Migration Assistant app that comes with your Mac. There is a Windows component that you can get from Apple and install on the PC. 
Next, all you then need to do ins install the OSX versions of the programs that will read and process the data files that you transferred over. This includes d/l and install of the Mac version of LR from the Adobe site. 

If you  installed the LR catalog and image files in the usual default location (in your pictures folder) the transition of  PC catalog to a Mac catalog will be transparent and painless. This link will help you understand the locations of the critical LR files http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/preference-file-locations-lighroom-3.html.  However if you use the migration assistant, you won't need to move these manually. If your PC installed image files are not in a relative path from the catalog, the windows use of drive letters will through LR off the first time you open the Windows catalog in OSX. If it does, come back and we'll help you sort that out.


----------



## lyzha81 (Feb 15, 2013)

ALOT of what you are saying is greek to me at this point!  
We installed the migration assistant on the PC, and it did search for info.  Im not sure what all to transfer over.
So I dont have to somehow copy my presets to a flash drive or anything?  or will I still have to do that?
ORR are you saying, I install LR4 from Adobe, onto the MAC, and then all the presets should transfer over with the migration assistant?


----------



## clee01l (Feb 15, 2013)

The Migration assistant is going create a package on the PC for a user.  It will take the important contents from "C:\users\{yourUserName}\" and create a package that the OSX Migration Assistant can use.  This includes the contents from "C:\users\{yourUserName}\AppData\" which is where your presets reside if you do not have the checkbox labeled "Store Presets With catalog" checked in LR preferences. 

With both computers on the same local network and both running the MigrationAssistant App, Migration Assistant will give you two options: 1) Transfer _*from*_ a Mac, PC, TimeMachine on the same network or from a connected Mac or Disk or 2) Transfer to a Mac on the same network or connected by an ethernet crossover cable.  You want to choose option one on your iMac.   You will be presented with a view of the PC HD and a series of user folders.   What is going to happen is the Migration Assistant will create all the necessary folders for a user in /users/{yourUserName}/.  This user probably will be different from the current user since you most likely did not do this when you initialized the iMac. 

You Apple iMac comes with 90 day phone support and the Apple Support people can probably walk you through this better than I. Also you should have received an offer at the time of purchase in the Apple Store to help you set up your new iMac.  Additionally, if you purchased the 1 year Apple Care Protection plan, you have onsite training available to you that will help you make the transition from the Windows world to the Mac world.


----------

