Adobe Lightroom will not start or open

Question

Install lightroom.  Everytime I try to open lightroom I get the following error:
Lightroom cannot create a catalog named "Ligthroom 3 Catalog" on a network volume"
Anybody have any ideas?
Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

The error message is telling you what is wrong from LR's point-of-view.  You have to use LR with a catalog on a locally attached hard-drive, not a network drive.  The catalog that LR is either automatically trying to open, or that you are selecting to be opened is on a network drive not a local drive.
When you start LR for the first time, or if you press the Alt key while starting LR, you should have the option to create a new catalog.  Do this and make sure the catalog location you select is on a local drive and not a network drive.  The reason for this restriction is that LR's catalog file must not be accessed by more than one person at a time and having it on a network invites this complication.  LR is licensed for a single user at a time, not a multi-user network situation.
If you have installed LR on a network-bootable workstation that has no locally-attached hard-drives then a possible option would be to attach a hard-drive via USB or Firewire and use that for the location of the catalog.  It would be slower than an internal drive, but if that's your only option, it is an option.  Of course if your workstation doesn't have a local drive and doesn’t' allow attaching drives via USB or Firewire or eSATA, then you're out of luck and need to try a different computer that has local storage available.