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[FIX] Windows Explorer Doesn’t Show Thumbnail Previews in Windows Vista and Later

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Recently an AskVG reader “Neo13” contacted us regarding a weird problem. Following is the problem description:

Hello VG

I’m using Windows 7 and suddenly Windows Explorer has stopped showing thumbnails for files and folders. When I change the view type to thumbnails, Windows doesn’t show thumbnail previews.

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Can you please help me in fixing the problem?

Actually its a very common problem in Windows. Sometimes Windows Explorer doesn’t show thumbnail previews for images and other files as shown in following screenshot:

No_Thumbnails_Explorer.png

It might be due to a bug or the user accidentally turned off thumbnails using Folder Options or System Properties.

Anyway if you are also facing this problem, you can use following easy fix to show thumbnails again in Windows Explorer:

1. Open Windows Explorer, click on Organize button present in command bar and select “Folder and search options“.

2. Now go to View tab and make sure “Always show icons, never thumbnails” option is not enabled i.e. its disabled.

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Enable_Thumbnails_Folder_Options.png

If the option is enabled, uncheck the checkbox and click on Apply button.

It should fix the problem. If you can’t access Folder Options, you can use following alternative method:

1. Type sysdm.cpl in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It’ll open System Properties.

2. Go to “Advanced” tab and click on “Settings” button in “Performance” section.

3. Now make sure “Show thumbnails instead of icons” option is enabled.

Enable_Thumbnails_System_Properties.png

If its not enabled, enable the option and click on Apply button.

That’s it. Now you should get thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer without any problem as shown in following screenshot:

Thumbnails_Explorer.png

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 7, Windows Vista

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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Comments

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  1. If you are still having problems after trying seemingly everything, then try deleting stuff from your default drive (C:\ Drive) because when it becomes full up it stops generating thumbnails.

    I spent well over an hour today trying all these different methods and nothing worked. So I just resorted to deleting unnecessary stuff that’s clogging my drive and it worked wonders. I noticed I was able to get thumbnails back when it reached a minimum of 1 GB remaining space.

    If this doesn’t work try performing a disk clean-up.

    Hope this helped! <3

  2. Like you, I too have spent too long reading and/or trying different solutions to the problem, and I JUST scored success, and you may be able to as well now, so listen-up!

    My PC was not loading nearly all thumbnail images, although a few random thumbnails COULD be seen, and I found no correlation with what images DID display a thumbnail versus which ones did not, but this issue has been annoying me to no end, and reading of lots of OTHER people’s victories & success stories can start to get frustrating when they don’t apply to you or your situation.

    HOWEVER, I had to go back and try a “solution” offered here that does not at all SEEM to apply to my situation, but therein I did find the solution!!!

    My PC had issues showing thumbnail images, K? Now that has nothing to do with Adobe Reader or whatever… I understand that it might have something to do with Windows Explorer, but my issue had nothing to do with Adobe Reader… OR SO I THOUGHT!

    I finally got my thumbnails visible again (after several other, more common techniques offered earlier in this thread had failed) by basically doing (one of) two things:

    1. Going into Folder Options and near “Always Show Icons, Never Thumbnails”, I ticked it with a checkmark– even though the box was appropriately un-ticked and empty, and even though this is counter-intuitive to what I ultimately want– then clicked “Apply”, then “OK”. Then I opened up the Folder Options again and appropriately UN-ticked the box once again (making it empty) near “Always Show Icons, Never Thumbnails”, clicking “Apply” and then “OK”.

    2. Then– EVEN THOUGH MY ISSUE (seemingly) HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PDFs OR ADOBE– I opened-up Adobe Reader (for those who do not know, this is a program you might never actually launch from your computer’s Start-up Menu, but it likely IS installed on your computer anyways. Find it, open it, and the helpful advice posted above suggests to update it.). I did not update it (even though mine said that an update was/is available), but I did select “Edit”, then “Preferences”, then at the bottom I clicked “Select Default PDF Handler”. The only option listed was the default, Adobe Reader XI, so I then clicked “Apply”. BAM!!! This is the crucial step, I believe, because the program rebooted, and the icons on my Desktop flashed for an instant. Even though I never actively launch Adobe Reader and rarely ever read PDFs on my PC, the program apparently needed to finish some sort of process that involved my clicking “Apply”. Once I did, something DID occur, but instead of checking to see if my problem had been resolved, I decided to be patient, and finalize my steps with a third step:

    3. Rebooted the computer.

    Once I launched Windows again, thumbnail images finally became visible as they should be!

  3. Thank you for Solving my problem !

    I couldn’t see my photo’s display (thumbnail) on any folder !
    You fixed ma problem Thanks again !

    Yamaasss

  4. My .jpj’s have always functioned, but any Video, mp4, no matter what player, or check box for (show icons instead of thumbnail (un-checked)), just will not display Thumbs.. I did think it had something to do with performance, but alas, NOT! HELP Please. Tried different bit sets in associated registers (0/1), I just am unable to solve. My other two HP Laptop’s have both the same set of parameters as this one, (Windows10) is installed and they are fine, 16g/1T, AMD Quads, Hardware wise. Do You know what a TS extension means? (does display thumbs)? A lot of Thanks if You have seen this problem, Take Care.

  10. Make more freespace on drive C. I had same problem, above settings did not help (was same before), after deleting some files on drive C problem disapeared.

  11. I have a problem with change size of folder, my folder is small in size, when I changed it to large icon, it worked, then I restarted my PC, my folder is back to the small size. Could everyone have me!!

  13. new .mp4 video files aren’t generating a thumbnail, the ones i copied from my old computer came up fine but the new ones will not no matter what i tried on this thread

  14. Simple Soluiton : Problem – Windows Search

    >Msconfig
    >Services
    >Ordem By name, UNCHECK “Windows Search”. If disabled “UNCHECK” Too!
    >Apply
    >Restart

    Well done!

  15. Thank you so much! Such a simple fix. It’s been driving me nuts. All images are now showing. Thanks again 🙂

  21. thank you so much this solved a long running problem, i hope only good things come your way

  22. Will this create a “thumbs.db” file. That’s the primary reason I avoid image preview…

  23. Thank you! I have Windows 10 and the sysdm.cpl command in the Start Menu option worked perfectly!

  28. The images had no thumbnails previews and the context menu contained only about 5 options. I selected all the images and moved them into another folder.

    Problem: solved.

    Context menu complete, thumbnail previews restored, preview pane previews working.

    JUST MOVE THE FILES.

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