Windows 10: How do I see thumbnails for my video files?

I have a brand new PC, with Windows 11 home. I attached my Android phone to transfer some video files to the PC and there are no thumbnails showing. Only the basic video icon. I have tried some solutions found online but nothing is working. Please help! I can't work on these files without being able to see a thumbnail it's super frustrating.

:)

 

Video preview thumbnails

Hello,

System file corruption is one of the possible reasons why thumbnail preview has recently disappeared. To better assist you, please answer the following:

• For clarification, are referring to video preview thumbnails when using File Explorer?
  
• We would like to verify if you are referring to the Fall Creators Update. To see your
  Windows build and version, please follow the steps in this
  article.
  

In the meantime, we suggest creating a Test User Profile. This is to see if the same issue occurs on a different user profile.

To create a Test User Profile, follow these steps:

• On Search, type Settings then hit the
  Enter key.
• On Settings window, select Accounts.
• Select Family & other people.
  
• Select Add someone else to this PC.
• Name the User Profile as TEST.
• Assign a password for TEST user, then select Next.
• Sign in TEST user.

We'll be waiting on the results.

 

File Explorer not showing thumbnails

Brink,

Many thanks for you reply. I have done all the steps you suggested, but no change,

When I open a folder containing photos, some open correctly but the vast majority open with thumbnails, but they very quickly get overwritten and you can not longer see the thumbnails.

Are there any more suggestions?

 

Inserting Thumbnails in Video Files..... !?

That is really complicated. See this thread posted in another forum:

Video Thumbnails: How to Edit? - VideoHelp Forum

I would suggest organising videos into appropriately named folders and give each video a name that identifies what it is.

Note: I've tried various video managers including Veehive and some of them can let you grab a thumbnail to use - mostly those chosen thumbnails are not displayed in Explorer even with MediaPreview installed. Instead thumbnails are auto generated.

I like this software to browse videos:

Diffractor: Find and organize - photos, videos and audio.

You might want to test it. Navigate to a folder containing video then hover mouse over thumbnails.

A quick demo video. Video can be played within Diffractor and additionally opened in other installed media player. Towards the end of the demo video you see a video opened in PotPlayer with timeline thumbnails. You also get timeline thumbnails in Diffractor.