Windows 10: How to block the automatic cleaning of Windows 10's Thumbnail Cache

Microsoft's Windows operating system uses a thumbnail cache for thumbnail icons used in Explorer to speed up the display of icons when a user opens a folder with cached items.

Microsoft changed how the thumbnail cache works in the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10. Starting with that release, Windows 10 clears the thumbnail cache automatically using a feature called Automatic Maintenance.

Automatic Maintenance


Automatic Maintenance performs a large number of tasks, from synchronizing the time and maintaining Windows Defender to defragmentation of drives and clean-up operations.

Tip: Open PowerShell and run the command Get-ScheduledTask | ? {$_.Settings.MaintenanceSettings} | Out-GridView to display all Automatic Maintenance tasks and the status of each in a listing.

One such task is called SilentCleanup. The task launches the built-in Disk Cleanup tool using the parameter /autoclean which makes the tool read Registry values to determine what to clean.

Cleaning the cache may free up storage on the device but it comes at the cost of having to renew the cache when File Explorer is used. Windows 10 users who keep lots of photos in a single folder may experience issues when those folders are opened in File Explorer as it may increase the CPU load for the time it takes to generate and cache the thumbnails.

You can visit the hidden folder %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer in Explorer to display the cache.

Option 1: Making changes to the Registry




SilentCleanup checks the data of each Autorun Dword value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\ and HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\ to determine whether it should include that cache in the cleanup operation.

A value of 0 blocks the maintenance task from deleting the cache, a value of 1 allows it to to so.

Here is how you configure Windows 10 to block or allow the clearing of the cache:

1. Open Start, e.g. by clicking on the icon or tapping on the Windows-key on the keyboard.
2. Type regedit.exe.
3. Confirm the UAC prompt that Windows displays.
4. Go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache
5. Double-click on the Autorun Dword value.
6. Set it to 0 to prevent Windows from clearing the cache, or to 1 to allow it to do so.
7. Go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache
8. Double-click on the Autorun Dword value.
9. Set it to 0 or 1 accordingly.
10. Optional: repeat the steps for any other cache listed under VolumeCaches.
11. Restart the PC.

Windows won't delete the cache anymore as part of Automatic Maintenance if you set both entries to 0.

Option 2: The Task Scheduler




You may disable the entire SilentCleanup task or even Automatic Maintenance in the Task Scheduler. Disabling SilentCleanup may be an option if you don't want Windows to clear the cache automatically.

You may still run Disk Cleanup or any third-party tool that supports the cleaning of Windows caches to do so. Note that used disk space my increase if you don't as Windows won't run the cleanup task anymore.

1. Open Start.
2. Type Task Scheduler and load the result. You may also search for taskschd.msc directly if Windows Search acts up and does not reveal the right result in the search results.
3. Use the navigation in the sidebar to go to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > DiskCleanup
4. Right-click on the SilentCleanup task on the right and select Disable from the context menu; this turns the task off so that it is not run automatically anymore.

Tip: You can turn the task back on at any time by following the steps described above and selecting Enable from the context menu.

Ghacks needs you. You can find out how to support us here or support the site directly by becoming a Patreon. Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post How to block the automatic cleaning of Windows 10's Thumbnail Cache appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

read more...

 

Thumbnail Cache

anyone know how to move the thumbnail cache to another HDD?

i already moved my temp folder to another HDD but thumbnail cache takes up space Fast, and i have having to erase the space cuzz i don't wanna ware down my SSD over time

i also just googled where the thumbnail cache is and its in the %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer ,But how would you go about moving that 1 Folder and having the system know that's its the new path

 

Windows 10 Picture Files not updating thumbnails

Hi,

I realize that the picture files are not updating thumbnails. I will try to help you with this issue.

Suggest you to perform “Disk Cleanup”, cleaning up the temporary internet files, thumbnail, cookies and temp files, so as to check the thumbnail view of the photo is updated by cleaning up your temporary data.

Further, if the issue persists then you can also follow these steps:

• 
  Right click in the Folder that contains the images.
  
• 
  Select View.
  
• 
  Note the current icon size, and change it to another size (ie: "Medium-Icons" to "Large-Icons", then back to "Medium-Icons").
  
• 
  This causes the icons to be resized and their cache updated.
  

Keep us informed to help you further.

 

disable windows 10 thumbnail cache

Hi,

Thank you for being part of windows 10 family.

We would be glad to help you with the issue you are facing today. I understand the difficulty with the problem.

Method: 1

Let us follow these steps and check if this helps.

• Press “Windows key + X” and click on “Control Panel”.
• Double click on “Folder Options”.
• Click the “View tab”.
• Uncheck the following option, “Display file icons on thumbnails”.
• "Always show icons, never thumbnails".
• Click on Apply and OK.

Method: 2

Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder containing your pictures.

Type "del *.db /s /as" (without the quotes).

This will delete all the thumbnail cache files including those in subdirectories and cause them to be rebuilt next time you open the folder.

Get back to us if you need any further assistance on Windows related issues and we will be glad to help.



Thank you.