How to Fix Image Thumbnails Not Displayed in Windows 7 and Vista?

© Ramesh Srinivasan | Windows 7, Windows Vista | 14th April 2008

Are your image files showing up with a generic mountain and lake scene (for every picture) as shown below, instead of the miniature / thumbnail display? Here is how to enable Windows to generate and display thumbnail icon for your image files.

To enable thumbnail view for your images, first open the folder in question. In the Views drop-down in the Task pane, select one of the following views:

  • Medium Icons
  • Large Icons
  • Extra Large Icons

If thumbnail previews are not generated, then open Folder Options applet via Control Panel or from Start – Search box (by running the command "control folders"). In the View tab of Folder Options, uncheck the following option:

Always show icons, never thumbnails

Click OK.

Clear the Thumbnail Cache

If that does not work, try clearing the thumbnail cache using the Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) tool.

See How to Clear the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 7 and Windows Vista for more information.

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15 Comments

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  1. glen
    said this on Sunday, November 20th 2011 11:34 am

    thanks, this was killing me

  2. Vee
    said this on Sunday, November 13th 2011 9:38 pm

    Thank you. I have been looking for two weeks for this answer (not very hard but still two weeks w/o being able to preview a jpg file w/o opening it 1st)

    God Bless you

  3. Tamie Hamilton
    said this on Saturday, November 12th 2011 9:07 pm

    Perfect – thank you !

  4. poisonivy032773
    said this on Friday, October 28th 2011 3:00 pm

    thank you very much! it works! :)

  5. Avaisha
    said this on Monday, October 10th 2011 8:55 am

    Thanks so much! Such an easy fix and I have been missing my preview for so long now.

  6. lanette
    said this on Friday, October 7th 2011 3:48 am

    Something that simple, i have been looking for days, thanks alot!!!!

  7. Carmelo
    said this on Friday, August 26th 2011 12:11 am

    Thanks, I have been trying to fix this for years. Never thought it was such an easy fix.

  8. Raine
    said this on Friday, August 19th 2011 6:29 am

    thank you so much, it’s been along time I am looking for this to fix…thanks…
    Is it anybody know where can I free download nvidia nforce system management driver? thanks

  9. Xtn
    said this on Monday, July 18th 2011 2:34 am

    Thank you worked like a charm

  10. robby
    said this on Monday, March 29th 2010 12:51 am

    unchecking “always show icons, never thumbnails” worked for me thanks soo much.

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