Windows 10: Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer in Windows 10

How to: Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer in Windows 10

How to Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer in Windows 10


Information File Explorer can display thumbnail images or icons for files and folders in Windows 10.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable thumbnail previews in File Explorer for your account, all users, or specific users in Windows 10.



Note Thumbnail previews will only show when turned on and you have a medium icons, large icons, or extra large icons folder view layout selected.

If thumbnail previews is turned off or disabled, it will also disable previews of files in the preview pane.

If you choose a file to show as a folder picture, this folder will no longer show a thumbnail preview of its content until you restore the default folder pictures.

If you change the icon of a folder, this folder will no longer show a folder picture or thumbnail preview.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer Options
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews in Visual Effects Settings
• Option Three: To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews using a BAT file
• Option Four: To Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in Group Policy
• Option Five: To Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Thumbnail Previews Enabled and Disabled in File Explorer












OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer Options


Note This option will only affect your user account, and does the same as Option Two and Option Three.

Option Four and Option Five will override this option.


1. Open File Explorer Options.

2. Do step 3 (on) or step 4 (off) below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)


3. To Turn On Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the View tab, uncheck Always show icons, never thumbnails, check Display file icon on thumbnails, and click/tap on OK.

4. To Turn Off Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
A) Click/tap on the View tab, check Always show icons, never thumbnails, and click/tap on OK.








OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews in Visual Effects Settings


Note This option will only affect your user account, and does the same as Option One and Option Three.

Option Four and Option Five will override this option.


1. Open Visual Effects settings.

2. Do step 3 (on) or step 4 (off) below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)


3. To Turn On Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Check Show thumbnails instead of icons, and click/tap on OK.

4. To Turn Off Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
A) Uncheck Show thumbnails instead of icons, and click/tap on OK.








OPTION THREE [/i] To Turn On or Off Thumbnail Previews using a BAT file


Note This option will only affect your user account, and does the same as Option One and Option Two.

Option Four and Option Five will override this option.


The .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

IconsOnly DWORD

0 = Off - show icons
1 = On - show thumbnails


1. Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Turn On Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_on_thumbnail_previews_in_explorer.bat

Download

3. To Turn Off Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_off_thumbnail_previews_in_explorer.bat

Download
4. Save the .bat file to your desktop.

5. Unblock the .bat file.

6. Run the .bat file.

7. You will now notice your screen flicker and a command prompt quickly opens and closes as explorer is restarted to apply the registry changes.

8. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] To Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in Group Policy


Note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.

This option will affect all users or specified users, and does the same as Option Five below.

This option will override what users have set in Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above.

This option is not available in the Windows 10 Home edition since the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. All editions can use Option Four below.


1. Open the all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on the arrow to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and open File Explorer. (see screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of the File Explorer policy, double click/tap on Turn off the display of thumbnails and only display icons to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)


5. To Enable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Not Configured is the default setting.

B) Users will now be able to turn on/off thumbnail previews using Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above.

6. To Disable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer
A) Select (dot) Enabled, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)








OPTION FIVE [/i] To Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews using a REG file


Note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.

This option does the same as Option Four above, but only is applied to the current user.

This option will override what you have set in Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above.


The .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD values in the registry keys below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

DisableThumbnails DWORD

0 or delete = enable
1 = disable


1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer for All Users
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Thumbnails_for_All_Users.reg

Download
3. To Disable Thumbnail Previews in File Explorer for All Users
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Thumbnails_for_All_Users.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. restart the computer to apply.

8. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

9. If enabled, users will now be able to turn on/off thumbnail previews using Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above.




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Hide or Show Preview Handlers in Preview Pane of File Explorer in Windows 10
• How to Clear and Reset the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10
• How to Change a Folder Picture in Windows 10
• How to Show or Hide Preview Pane in File Explorer in Windows 10
• How to Change Border of Thumbnail Previews in Windows 10

:)

 

window 10 pics

Are you looking at them in File Explorer?

If so, it may be worthwhile disabling and re-enabling thumbnails to see if that helps -

https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/enable-or-disable-thumbnail-previews-in-file-explorer-in-windows-10.8426/ see option 1 and 2.

If that doesn't help try clearing the thumbnail cache - https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/open-and-use-disk-cleanup-in-windows-10.6756/

 

Explorer Preview

The feature you want to turn on is "thumbnails"

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/18834-enabl...

 

Hello Greg, *Smile

If you have Windows 10 Home edition installed, then you will not have the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) available. It's only available in Pro and Enterprise editions.

If you like, you can use OPTION FIVE instead to apply the group policy.

 

Thanks. Since I have the Home edition, I guess everything's normal; at least regarding this issue.*Smile

 

You're most welcome. Yep, that would be normal. *Smile

 

Thanks! Option three wooorks!!!

 

I'm glad it could help Gelashvili. *Smile

 

Hi,I said that the third method worked for me,but unfortunately not for all extensions.For example,mpeg and avi files won't show thumbnails.So...
Heeelllp!!!

 

Hello Gelashvili, *Smile

I'm sorry to hear that. If you like, download and merge the .reg files of your affected file types (ex: mpeg and avi) listed in the table of OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to see if it may help. It'll restore the default associations of these file types.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8...dows-10-a.html

 

Goodday, I want to ask if any of you knows how to just shows the thumbnail of files e.g. photos and videos but not the folders. I mean folders, generally, stay as icon only, no preview of whats in it. Thank you guys in advance!

 

Hello psychexx, and welcome to Ten Forums.

I'm afraid that thumbnail previews is a global setting that is either off or on for all files/folders. *Sad

 

Is there a registry tweak or hack for this? that if the option to show thumbnails be enable, it will only show on files but not on folders?

 

Nope. It's all or none. *Sad

 

For the record, I could not get thumbnails of video files, no matter what.
Apparently codecs have to installed in order to show them properly.
I installed K-Lite Basic pack, since I use VLC, I did not have any.