Windows 10: Many File Thumbnails will not Display on Windows 10 but some will Display

I realize that some media file thumbnails will show but some won't, Please help.




:)

 

Displaying Thumbnails for .jpg files in Windows 10 File Explorer

For some reason I cannot get File Explorer in Windows 10 to display thumbnails of my .jpg files. That makes scanning through hundreds of photos very tedious. I am using a desktop, a standard display monitor, manual keyboard, and mouse -- no touch screen.

I have done everything I have found on-line to no avail. Those efforts include:

• Going to Folder Options and ensuring that "Always show icons, never thumbnails" is unchecked...no change was necessary.
• Making sure "Large Icons" are selected in the picture toolbar View tab
• Clearing thumbnail cache as described on-line
• And everything else which I no longer remember.

Some observations:

• A few of my photos do display as thumbnails, e.g., 1 or 2 in a folder of dozens, but the majority are just the large icon.
  
• As one would expect, there are different icons for photos and videos.
• Sometimes, but not always, if I open a photo, it will then display as a thumbnail.
  
• In the folders where I have the photos saved, there is frequently a file labeled thumbs.db.
• Occasionally, as I open a folder holding photos, for the "blink of an eye" thumbnails will display before the photos become icons.

Another curious observation is that when I attempt to change (rename) a file from a name with upper case letters to lower case, the change does not display after hitting enter, e.g., IMG_1234.JPG renamed as img_1234.jpg. The displayed file name below the
icon stays in uppercase, but if I select "rename", it displays in lower case, but hitting enter still displays it in uppercase. This appears to be the case for all files, not just photos. Probably has nothing to do with the issue, but is curious nonetheless.

I am seeking any new suggestions as I am at my wit's end.

TIA,

Bill

 

Displaying Thumbnails for .jpg files in Windows 10 File Explorer

Thanks for your suggestion.

As "recommended for Windows 10", "Photos" is the default app for "Photo viewer" (.jpg isn't really listed as the file extension in the settings).

Do you have another app you would suggest?

By the way, my photos open and display just fine, the issue is the general absence of thumbnails in File Explorer.

 

Displaying Thumbnails for .jpg files in Windows 10 File Explorer

Certified_Friend,

Thank you for your continued suggestions and patience. I would like to respond to your questions in some detail and hope it can help us discover/determine a viable solution.



Regarding which files do not have thumbnails: .jpg, .bmp, .avi, .mp4, etc.
They have different icon designs, but no thumbnails.



Regarding installing Windows Live Photo Gallery:

• It is certainly possible I did something wrong, but I started by clicking on the link you provided:
  Windows Live Photo Gallery 2012 (Windows) - Download
• From the web site, on the same line as Windows Live Photo Gallery 2012, I clicked on the Green Button labeled “Free Download, Safe download”.
• On the next page, I chose not to sign-in with either Facebook or Google+, but selected the Alternative Download.
  That downloaded a file “wlsetup-web.exe” which I saved and then executed through File Explorer.
• Navigating to the file in File Explorer, I did a right click and selected Troubleshoot Compatibility.
• Next, I selected Troubleshoot Program, then the first choice, “The program worked in an earlier version of Windows, but won’t install or run now”.
• In the next window, I selected Windows Vista (SP2). [Actually I tried them all, but you specifically said Vista.]
• I then clicked Test the program. When asked by the User Account Control on my computer, I said yes, I wanted to allow changes to my computer which began the Windows Essentials 2012 Preparing to install.
• That was very shortly followed by “Couldn’t Install program”…just as before.
• Did I miss something here?

Regarding previous installation of Windows Live/Essentials: This is a new PC purchased in the last year and it would not let me install any of the Windows Live/Essentials right from the beginning.
I have gone through all the programs listed in Control Panel/Programs and Features/Uninstall a Program and cannot find any program listed that appears to address Microsoft and Windows Live and/or Essentials.



All of that having been said, I have found some more interesting, but not necessarily helpful, idiosyncrasies.

• Changing the default photo viewing program from Photos to Paint changes the design of the icons displayed in File Explorer, but does not result in the thumbnails being displayed.
• Opening a .jpg file in Paint and saving it as a .bmp does result in the thumbnail displaying in File Explorer.
• Interestingly enough, opening a .jpg file in Paint and resaving it as the same .jpg file also results in the thumbnail displaying.
• Even more interesting is that opening a .jpg file in Photos and selecting Edit & Create, Edit, then Save a copy, results in the thumbnail subsequently displaying in File Explorer WHETHER OR NOT the file is actually saved (the final step in saving a copy).
  

I guess the bottom line is that there appears to be an issue between the files as saved on my PC and File Explorer which may not be influenced by either Photos and/or Paint.
Note these exact same files backed-up/duplicated on my Laptop (purchased only a couple months after the PC) properly display as thumbnails in File Explorer.



Certainly, I could spend an indeterminate amount of time going through hundreds of photos, opening each one and resaving them, but that clearly seems inappropriate…there has to be a better way.



Thank you again for your efforts at trying to sort out this weird and annoying situation.



Bill