Metadata Not Copied or DNG Invalid with Lightroom Plugin > Topaz Photo AI (Windows)

Metadata will fail to copy or the output DNG file is invalid if you are using the Lightroom Classic Edit in > Topaz Photo AI and there are special characters in the file name or file path to the image location.

There are two options to fix this.

The first option is to remove unsupported characters (umlauts, non-phonetic alphabet characters) so only English characters are in the file name or file path.

The second option is to change your computer region to support all characters. Follow the instructions below or watch the video at the bottom to change the region settings for your computer. After restarting your computer, the Lightroom plugin should work as expected.

1. Go to your Windows search bar and type in Region or Region Settings.
   
2. Click "Additional date, time, & region settings", then in the window that appears click "Change date, time, or number formats".
3. Click the "Administrative" tab, click "Change system locale...", and make sure the "Use Unicode UTF-8" box is checked.
   
4. Click OK, restart your computer, and then the plugin should work again.

Video instructions are here.