Thumbnail Preview Not Shown for Pictures in Vista?

© Ramesh Srinivasan | Windows Vista | 14th April 2008

Q: I have a lot of pictures on my Vista computer. When I try to find a photograph in a folder the icon does not show me what the photograph looks like. It is just a generic mountain and lake scene for every picture. How can I turn on the actual picture to be depicted in the icon of the file?

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.

If that does not work, try clearing the thumbnail cache using the Disk Cleanup tool. See article How to clear the thumbnail cache in Windows Vista? for more information.

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42 Comments

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  1. MARIO
    said this on Saturday, April 11th 2009 6:57 pm

    Many thanks….problem solved. I had been looking for a solution for a number of weeks….your solution was so clear and simple. well done. Mario

  2. Bob
    said this on Tuesday, April 7th 2009 3:51 am

    Thanks. Fixed my preview issue. Why would Bill do it this way? lol

  3. Williams
    said this on Sunday, April 5th 2009 12:12 am

    thank you
    this fixed the problem

  4. Sudhi
    said this on Sunday, March 8th 2009 2:43 pm

    Thanks buddy..it works now…

  5. not my real name
    said this on Monday, February 9th 2009 12:24 am

    im in the same boat as micheal over ther, i have that box unchecked, yet all i see is mountains/clouds. or worse yet, NOTHING, i get spaces FOR the thumbnails that i cant see

  6. holdyourhorses
    said this on Tuesday, January 27th 2009 10:37 pm

    Thanks this is great. It finally worked. I couldn’t figure it out earlier.

  7. Michael
    said this on Sunday, January 4th 2009 10:35 am

    The first suggestion did not work (it was already unchecked) and when I attempted to clear my cache, thumbnail did not appear on the disk cleanup list. I’m wondering if my registry is messed up. Help!!!

  8. Nicholas
    said this on Sunday, December 28th 2008 9:43 pm

    Thanks! This problem has been constantly irritating me for months on end; now it’s all sorted! Thanks again!

  9. Keith
    said this on Saturday, December 27th 2008 12:14 pm

    I have been trying to get this fixed for months and have bought software to fix the problem with no luck!! Thanks so much!!!

  10. Gwendolyn Zamora
    said this on Thursday, October 2nd 2008 2:33 am

    i didnt know how to do that, and neither did anyone else i know, thanks so much! :DD

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