Windows 10: How to restore the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11

Windows 11 brings a slew of new features, some of which have not been well received among users. If you look at the previous iteration, it also had some unwelcome changes such as the Photos app, which replaced the Windows Photo Viewer.



The Photos App isn't bad at all, in fact it comes with a built-in Video Editor, and I think it is quite useful. The main reason why people do not like the Photos app is due to its performance. It is rather sluggish to open, it takes an extra second or two to load, even when you are trying to view images which are just a few KB in size. The interface may appear slightly confusing, if you are coming over from Photo Viewer.

Well, if you like the simplicity of the legacy application, you are probably going to be disappointed to hear that Windows 11 does not include Photo Viewer by default. You can verify this by selecting any image and right-clicking on it. Select the "Open With" menu item and click on "Choose Another App". Click the "More Apps" option and scroll down the list, it will not display Photo Viewer among the choices, because it is hidden by the operating system.

The good news is that you can easily get the program back in Windows 11.

How to restore the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11


1. Download this Registry fix to your computer. It is based on the modification created by a user named Edwin at the Tenforums. The procedure remains the same as what we used on Windows 10 earlier.

2. Extract the ZIP file and double-click on the key file.

3. Accept the UAC prompt to allow the entry to be added to the Windows Registry.

This will add the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11. If you access the Start Menu, you may be surprised to see that it still won't list the option. The Start Menu won't find the app if you search for it, either. This is why the next step is necessary.

Note: Save your work before proceeding, in order to prevent data loss.

Access the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11


1. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Escape hotkey combo, to open the Task Manager.

2. Locate the process for Windows Explorer, and right-click on it. Select the Restart option, and the Taskbar will flash briefly while the process is reloaded. Alternatively, you may choose to restart the computer.

3. Open File Explorer and navigate to a folder that contains some pictures. Right-click on an image, click on "Open With > Choose Another App > More Apps." The Windows Photo Viewer will be listed there, click it to open the image in the classic application.



You may optionally set the program as the default image handler. To do so, just check the box which says "Always use this app to open .[FORMAT] files", where FORMAT is the extension of the image. e.g. PNG, GIF, JPG, etc.



As for the program's features, all options in it work fine. It is a little sad we have to resort to such tricks for accessing the legacy program. Microsoft should make it easier for users to choose the image viewer of their choice, what do you think about this?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post How to restore the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11 appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Restore Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10  


Brink, are there any risks to any of these methods? Would using any of them run any risk of damaging the registry in a way that could cause BSODs or any other type of issue?

Also, I have a question regarding this particular method:

I noticed that you said that it causes Windows Photo Viewer to be listed twice in "Open With". Is this at all problematic? Is it a sign of any sort of registry damage or corruption? And does it matter which one of the two instances of Windows Photo Viewer one selects from the "Open With" menu, or do each of them provide identical results?

And unless I'm mistaken, the advantage of using this particular method is that it allows one to view files in the order of (for example) date modified, name, size, etc (whichever way the folder is currently sorted in Windows Explorer), which the other methods of restoring Photos Viewer do not allow one to do. Is this correct?

 

How to get rid of raw file support in windows photo viewer?




I have downloaded this, and it did not work; photo viewer is not in the list of programs in Open With or Default App. I used option 2 step 3, followed by step 5 to 9.

 

Restore Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10  


It is great to know that Picture Viewer can be accessed with Wndows 10. I do have a couple of questions.

First .......

The tutorial for All User Accounts lists two choices, one is to restore Windows Photo Viewer without the sort fix (#2) and the other is to restore Windows Photo Viewer with the sort option fix (#3). Of these two, which one duplicates the behavior of Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 8 (and I assume Windows 7)?

Second .....

The tutorial comments for restoring Windows Picture View with the sort fix (#3) says "This option does cause Windows Photo Viewer to be listed twice in Open with -> Choose an app". How does this relate to post number 66 in this thread by PowerDrome saying there are two entries for Windows Power Viewer in the list for optional apps and then Brink provides a file fix in post #67 and then says the tutorial has been updated to include the fix.

Does the restore with the sort fix (#3) now display only one choice in the optioal apps list or is this a different issue than what is described in post 66?

Thanks.