Windows 10: Photos have blue arrow icons and now i cannot open them!

I downloaded some photos from my phone onto my PC and at first there was no problem, i could view them etc. Last night i went to back them up onto a 2nd drive and found they all had double blue arrow icons on them. Did some research and it seems Windows 10 has compressed them?


So i went to properties, advanced and uncompressed only to find each file is showing as ~18.7GB in size when uncompressed and WON'T OPEN.


I am completely at a loss as to how to get these files back now, if somebody can help i would be so grateful.

:)

 

Blue Arrows on folder and file icons

Autoruns or ShellExView should tell you which application is adding that Overlay.

Use the steps
here.

 

Two blue arrows at top right of icons

The files under Desktop folder have same issue. I solved problem using below steps.

• Right click to Desktop folder.
  
• Click to Advanced button
  
• Unchecked compress contents to save disk spaces. Click Ok, ok and apply
  buttons.
  

After these steps, arrows should be disappeared and also you can use below command to clear icon cache.

 

Photos direction arrows not showing

Hi Rafg,

We appreciate you for being a part of Windows 10.

Before proceeding, we need more information to help you better.

• 
  Since when you are facing this issue with Photos app?
  
• 
  How many photos are present in the subfolder from where you are trying to open Photos through Photos app? (Inside the My pictures sub folder)
  

Please be informed that if you have only one photo in the subfolder from where you are trying to open the photos in File explorer, you will not see the direction arrows in the Photos app to view the next picture in the Photos app.

If you have multiple pictures in the subfolder from where you are trying to open the photos in File explorer, then follow the below steps and check if you are able to view the right and left directions in the Photos app to view the pictures.

Step 1:

I suggest you to run the Windows app troubleshooter and check if you are able to fix the issue with Photos app.

Run the troubleshooter for Windows apps

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/run-the-troubleshooter-for-windows-apps

If the issue still persists, follow the below step.

Step 2:

You may try to uninstall the apps which came inbuilt with Windows 10 using Windows PowerShell and reinstall using Windows store. Follow the below steps to uninstall and reinstall the Photos app.

• 
  Open the Start menu, type
  Windows PowerShell in the search bar.
  
• 
  Right click on the Windows PowerShell and select
  Run as administrator.
  
• 
  Enter the below command to reinstall the Photos app.
  
  get-appxpackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | remove-appxpackage
  

Note: After performing the above steps, install the Photos app form the Windows store.

You may try to open the photos app and check if the issue persist.

I hope the above information helps. Kindly let us know if you need any further assistance with Windows. We are glad to assist you.

Thank you.