Q:

How can I stop QGIS from crashing when opening layer properties of large raster?

I am using a VRT to organize and examine a very large LiDAR dataset (>250GB). I never display the full extent, so I can normally navigate around without any problems loading the tiles. 
But QGIS crashes when I try to open up the layer properties to change the display properties of the VRT (specifically I want to make the color scale relative to the current display extent.) My guess is that this is occurring because QGIS then tries to calculate some global layer properties, such as max and min values, which blows it up. 
Does this sound like a probable cause? Is there any way to stop QGIS from calculating the layer properties? 

A:

csk's comment above is a viable workaround. The Layer Styling panel let me change the display properties without causing QGIS to crash. 

