# Problem Saving back to Lightroom with Nik Plugins



## morgo1968 (Aug 9, 2011)

Hi,

I haven't been able to find anything similar to my problem so have started a new thread.

I'm running the latest versions of CS5 and Lightroom on a Win 7 64bit PC. I have the full suite of Nik plugins. I usually only run the plugins out of CS5 and have no issues here, all is working OK.

Recently I've tried to use the plugins from Lightroom. The plugins run and function as normal until I try to save the file back to Lightroom when I get the following error:

_"The file XXXXXXX-Edit.tif cannot be written. Please make sure that the file is not write protected and that you have sufficient access rights for that file."
_
Also when I cancel out and go back to Lightroom it appears to have created a XXXX-Edit.tif file but with no modifications. The problem also occurs regardless of whether I choose to edit a DNG/NEF file or an exisiting tif file.

I get the same message with all of the plugins. I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling the plugins, then I tried doing it with admin rights. I thought it might be UAC problem, but I switched it off and still have the problem.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


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## b_gossweiler (Aug 9, 2011)

Welcome to the forums, moro1968 

Where do your originals reside, or in other words where does the xxxx-Edit.tif get created by LR (internal/external drive)? If external, have you been using the same drive on a WinXP system before?

Beat


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## morgo1968 (Aug 10, 2011)

Hi Beat,

Thanks for your reply.

All of my working is on the internal drive on my Laptop.  I backup to external drives via SyncBack SE but I don't work from the backup drives.  None of my backup drives have been used on a WinXP system.


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## Gene McCullagh (Aug 10, 2011)

Welcome morgo1968!

This type of problem cropped up a while ago and I thought it had been corrected in the latest LR. Take a look at the filename on one of the images this is happening to. If the filename contains any of these characters *( *or *) *or *&* or *^* AND there are no spaces in the filename then LR used to have issues passing these to external plugins. Put a space in the filename or remove these characters. Now see if the problem persists.

As I said, I thought this was corrected but perhaps not. It's worth a shot if your filenames fit this pattern.


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## morgo1968 (Aug 11, 2011)

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the welcome.

I've checked and none of my files are named incorrectly. But just to check I tried renaming a file to see what would happen. Windows Explorer wouldn't let me rename the file, saying I didn't have access because the file was in use by Windows Explorer??? I can rename and delete files in Lightroom though.

So I'm starting to wonder if I've got a Lightroom or Windows issue. I've tried checking permissions, UAC, re-installing Lightroom and numerous other things but still have the same issue.

Anybody have any other ideas?


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## Gene McCullagh (Aug 11, 2011)

Yes. It sounds as if there is an underlying Windows issue that is somehow blocking the plugin. Your original error seems to be in the same family as the error you get when trying to rename the file in Explorer. Perhaps Windows is somehow locking some aspects of the file?

There is a free (BETA) utility called LockHunter http://lockhunter.com/ that works under 64-bit Windows and may show you what is really locking the file and preventing a rename. It will let you unlock the file as well. Perhaps you can try it on one image file, unlock it, then see if (1) you can rename it and (2) if the file makes it all the way through the plugin process.

I'll have to defer to the many knowledgable Windows folk here for further suggestions. Good luck!


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## b_gossweiler (Aug 11, 2011)

Have you tried rebooting the system?

Beat


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## morgo1968 (Aug 11, 2011)

Have tried to reboot numerous times.  I tried LockHunter and have managed to fix my Windows Explorer problem.  I can now rename/delete files.

But the same problem persists with Nik plugins.  Now I have tried uninstalling / re-installing both the Nik plugins and Lightroom.  I've checked permissions, cleaned the registry, anything I can think of.

I just tried editing the same file with Topaz Adjust through Lightroom and it worked with no problems.....


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## b_gossweiler (Aug 11, 2011)

Hmm, sounds like a problem with the Nik PlugIns. I really cannot help too much, as I only use Viveza 2, which is not implemented as a PlugIn, but as an external editor, and I've never had an issue with it in conjuction with LR (except the bl..dy activation issues ).

Beat


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## Gene McCullagh (Aug 11, 2011)

At this point I'd suggest knocking on Nik's door and see if they can't figure it out. It sounds as if you've done everything you can to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Nik should help you.


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## morgo1968 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks all for your support!

I have referred the problem to Nik support.  Hopefully they will reply to me soon.


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 12, 2011)

Do let us know what Nik say morgo - you might be able to help someone else out at the same time!


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