{"id":182,"date":"2008-04-14T15:07:18","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T15:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=182"},"modified":"2023-07-22T20:04:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T14:34:06","slug":"fix-thumbnail-preview-for-pictures-w7-vista","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-thumbnail-preview-for-pictures-w7-vista\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix: Thumbnails Not Showing up in File Explorer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are your image files showing up with a generic mountain and lake scene instead of the miniature or thumbnail display in File Explorer? And video files may show up with a generic icon\/thumbnail.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9073\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/thumbnail-preview-pane-missing-1.png\" alt=\"Thumbnails Previews Not Showing up in File Explorer\" width=\"700\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This article tells you how to enable thumbnails in File Explorer on Windows 10\/11 and earlier.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-preview-not-available-thumbnail-media-files\/\">Fix \u201cNo Preview Available\u201d and No Thumbnails for Video (MP4\/MPG\/AVI) Files<\/a><\/div>\n<h2>Fix: Thumbnails Not Showing up in File Explorer<\/h2>\n<p>To view the thumbnails for your images, media, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/enable-or-disable-thumbnail-preview-for-pdf-files\/\">other<\/a> file types, choose one of the following folder views from the ribbon toolbar:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Medium Icons<\/li>\n<li>Large Icons<\/li>\n<li>Extra Large Icons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If thumbnail previews are not still not displayed, follow the steps below.<\/p>\n<h3>Enable thumbnails via Folder Options<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Right-click Start, and click Run.<\/li>\n<li>Type <strong>control folders<\/strong> and click OK. This opens the Folder Options dialog.<\/li>\n<li>In the <b>View<\/b> tab of <b>Folder Options<\/b>, uncheck the following option:\n<pre>Always show icons, never thumbnails<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>OK<\/b>.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>Alternatively, you can also enable thumbnails via the Performance Options dialog. <\/em><em>Launch <code>sysdm.cpl<\/code> via the Run dialog \u2192 Advanced tab \u2192 Performance \u2192 Settings \u2192 <strong>Show thumbnails instead of icons<\/strong> \u2192 OK<\/em><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9074\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/thumbnail-preview-pane-missing-3.png\" alt=\"Thumbnails Previews Not Showing up in File Explorer\" width=\"419\" height=\"602\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This restores the thumbnail images for your pictures, media, and all other file types.<\/p>\n<h4>See also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-preview-not-available-thumbnail-media-files\/\">Fix &#8220;No Preview Available&#8221; and No Thumbnails for Videos<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/enable-or-disable-thumbnail-preview-for-pdf-files\/\">[Fix] PDF Thumbnail and Preview Not Showing Up in File Explorer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<h4>[Tweak] Enable or disable thumbnail view via the right-click menu<\/h4>\n<p>To toggle the display of thumbnail previews without going into Folder Options every time, here is a Windows Script solution for you that adds the <strong>Enable\/Disable Thumbnails<\/strong> in the right-click menu.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/togglethumbs.zip\">togglethumbs.zip<\/a> and save it to the Desktop. The archive contains a registry file and a VBScript &#8212; both are plain-text files.<\/li>\n<li>Unzip the archive and extract the contents to a folder.<\/li>\n<li>Move the file <code>togglethumbs.vbs<\/code> to the <code>C:\\Windows<\/code> directory.<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>togglethumbs.reg<\/code> to merge the contents to the registry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Enable\/Disable Thumbnails option is now added to the context menu, which will be seen when you right-click on the Desktop and when right-clicking on an empty area in a folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9159\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/toggle-thumbs-menu.png\" alt=\"Thumbnails Previews Not Showing up in File Explorer\" width=\"701\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This adds the Enable\/Disable Thumbnails option to the right-click menu. This script works in Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10.<\/p>\n<p>And here is a small YouTube video &#8212; togglethumbs.avi<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I1zSkGasCXc?feature=oembed\" width=\"812\" height=\"609\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Clear the thumbnail cache<\/h3>\n<p>If the thumbnails still don&#8217;t appear in File Explorer, see if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-thumbnail-cache-windows\/\">clearing the thumbnail cache<\/a> using Disk Cleanup helps.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6569\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/cleanmgr-thumbnail-clear-list.png\" alt=\"Thumbnails Previews Not Showing up in File Explorer\" width=\"375\" height=\"454\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>See also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-thumbnail-cache-windows\/\">How to Clear the Thumbnail Cache Using Disk Cleanup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/thumbnail-cache-automatically-deleted-windows-maintenance\/\">[Fix] Thumbnail Cache Auto Deletion Problem in Windows<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Are thumbnails missing in OneDrive folders?<\/h3>\n<p>In some systems, the thumbnail previews don&#8217;t show up in the OneDrive Documents or Pictures folders, even though the files are available offline.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9603\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/onedrive-thumbnail-missing.png\" alt=\"thumbnail previews don't show in onedrive folders\" width=\"701\" height=\"464\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To work around the problem, disable the <strong>Files On-Demand<\/strong> feature in OneDrive.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch OneDrive, and open settings.<\/li>\n<li>On the &#8220;Sync and backup&#8221; tab, <strong>disable<\/strong> the &#8220;Files On-Demand&#8221; toggle button.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-59618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/onedrive-files-on-demand.png\" alt=\"onedrive disable files on demand\" width=\"762\" height=\"483\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This should bring back the thumbnails in OneDrive folders.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check your Thumbnail registry settings<\/h3>\n<p>In some cases, none of the above steps work, and the thumbnails may appear blank, as in the image below:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-59619\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/thumbnails-blank.png\" alt=\"thumbnails blank -- fix the IconServiceLib registry setting\" width=\"752\" height=\"320\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In that case, a registry setting may need to be fixed.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch the Registry Editor by running <code>regedit.exe<\/code><\/li>\n<li>In the Registry Editor, go to the following keys one by one:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Windows\n\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Windows<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>each<\/strong> of the above keys, ensure the <strong>IconServiceLib<\/strong> REG_SZ value exists and points to <strong>IconCodecService.dll<\/strong>.\n<p>If the value is missing, create it manually and set its data as above.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-59620\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/iconservicelib-registry-thumbnail-fix.png\" alt=\"thumbnails blank -- fix the IconServiceLib registry setting\" width=\"724\" height=\"320\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Restart Windows.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Is the Preview Pane not working?<\/h3>\n<p>If the preview pane on the right shows the generic image instead of the actual image preview or video mini-player control, you&#8217;ll need to enable the <strong>Show preview handlers in preview pane<\/strong> option in the Folder Options dialog.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fix-thumb-preview-videos-4.png\" alt=\"Thumbnails Previews Not Showing up in File Explorer\" width=\"307\" height=\"478\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The thumbnails, as well as the preview pane functionality, should be restored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are your image files showing up with a generic mountain and lake scene instead of the miniature or thumbnail display in File Explorer? And video files may show up with a generic icon\/thumbnail. This article tells you how to enable thumbnails in File Explorer on Windows 10\/11 and earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[155,352,480],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-disk-cleanup","tag-onedrive","tag-scripts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/enable-or-disable-thumbnail-preview-for-pdf-files\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] PDF Thumbnail and Preview Not Showing Up in File Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In your Windows computer, File Explorer may not display PDF thumbnails, and instead, show only the default icon assigned for PDF files. This might happen even if you have the option Always show icons, never thumbnails unchecked in the View tab of the Folder Options dialog. Also, in Microsoft Outlook\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft Edge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft Edge","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/edge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Edge PDF Preview Handler - Microsoft PDF Previewer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/edge-preview-handler.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/edge-preview-handler.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/edge-preview-handler.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/edge-preview-handler.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9730,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-folder-thumbnails-without-disabling-thumbnail-preview-for-files\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":1},"title":"Disable Folder Thumbnails without Disabling Thumbnail Preview for Files","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When a folder contains one or more images in it, the contents of the folder are shown as the thumbnail image for that folder. Windows allows you to enable or disable thumbnail previews in File Explorer using the Always show icons, never thumbnails setting in the Folder Options dialog. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"disable folder content thumbnails","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/folder-content-previews-disable-before.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/folder-content-previews-disable-before.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/folder-content-previews-disable-before.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/folder-content-previews-disable-before.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3401,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-preview-not-available-thumbnail-media-files\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":2},"title":"Fix: No Video Thumbnails and No Preview Available for Video Files","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open a folder containing video files, no thumbnails may be displayed for your videos. Also, when you click a video file in File Explorer, the Preview pane may neither show the image preview nor the mini-player control for the chosen file. In some cases, No preview available message\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"reset video thumbnails and preview registry keys","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/codec-tweak-reset-thumbnail-previews-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/codec-tweak-reset-thumbnail-previews-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/codec-tweak-reset-thumbnail-previews-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1015,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-thumbnail-cache-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":3},"title":"How to Clear the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows keeps a copy of all of your picture, video, and document thumbnails in a cache database so they can be displayed quickly when you open a folder. Sometimes due to thumbnail cache corruption, thumbnail previews may not work for some files, for a particular icon size or for all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clear the Thumbnail Cache in Windows","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/corrupt-thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/corrupt-thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/corrupt-thumbnail.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/corrupt-thumbnail.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29386,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/preview-pane-blank-every-file-type\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":4},"title":"Preview Pane is Blank for Every File Type Except Images","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"We've seen the \"No preview available\" situations before, caused by the incorrect or missing preview handler registration for a file type. Here is a similar problem: the preview pane is empty, showing just the white space for all file types except images. However, the image file types may preview correctly.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"preview pane blank white all file types","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/preview-pane-blank-white-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/preview-pane-blank-white-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/preview-pane-blank-white-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/preview-pane-blank-white-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3321,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wmp-overwrite-album-art-folder-thumbnails-fix\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":5},"title":"WMP Overwrites Album Art and Folder Thumbnails. How to Stop it?","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the biggest annoyances with Windows Media Player is that it sometimes overwrites your custom album art images as well as folder thumbnails, replacing them with lo-res images.The dimensions of the updated folder.jpg would be 200x200 as available from WMP's meta information source. But as we've seen before, exact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"folder thumbnails with white border","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thumb-white-border-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}