I am on Windows 10 which runs on an SSD. As shown in the screenshot, pictures/videos do not have thumbnails.

Pictures without thumbnails.

In some folders they do, but not in others. At the time of writing, there does not seem to be a pattern, nor a method to determine which folders do get thumbnails and which do not. I have done a decent bit of Googling I would like to think, resulting in me trying the following before posting here:

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Changing view, switching between every single option

Checking for a Windows update

Clicking the “Reset Folders” button in File Explorer Options, under the View tab

Deleting IconCache.db in %localappdata%

Deleting all files and folders in %temp%

Deleting all the thumbcache files in %localappdata%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Explorer

Disk Cleanup, clicking Clean up system files, with every checkbox checked

Entering the following commands into an admin cmd (specifically in this order, waiting for each to finish before entering the next):

  1. sfc /scannow

  2. DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

  3. DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

  4. taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

  5. del /f /s /q /a %LocalAppData%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Explorer\\thumbcache\_\*.db

  6. start explorer.exe

Restarting explorer.exe multiple times, and again after each step I have tried

Restarting my computer multiple times, and again after each step I have tried

Switching the default app/photo viewer back and fourth a few times

Turning off tablet mode

Updating my display drivers from Device Manager

According to Help Desk Geek, “If your PC is running out of space, that may be the reason you don’t see your thumbnails.”

[https://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-10/thumbnails-not-showing-up-in-windows-10-9-easy-fixes/#:\\\~:text=If your PC is running out of space%2C that may be the reason you don’t see your thumbnails\](https://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-10/thumbnails-not-showing-up-in-windows-10-9-easy-fixes/#:\~:text=If your PC is running out of space%2C that may be the reason you don’t see your thumbnails).

The SSD that Windows 10 is operating from is 930 GB in size. I have used 749 GB, leaving 181 GB free. Surely I have enough space to be able to see my thumbnails, so I do not think that is a problem.

Despite my best efforts as detailed above, nothing has worked. I am at a complete loss for further ideas on what to do. If there is any relevant information you believe would help assess the problem further, or anything I have not tried yet, please comment it and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you for reading.

  • Brake4Bots@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Try this PowerShell script:

    $IcaclsExe = "$env:SystemRoot\System32\Icacls.exe"
$ThumbCacheFiles = "$Env:LocalAppData\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db"
& $IcaclsExe $ThumbCacheFiles /grant Everyone:F
Remove-Item -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue $ThumbCacheFiles
Stop-Process -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -ProcessName Explorer
  • JO-R-D-AN@alien.topOPBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Update: Just before I stood up to take a break I discovered a weird way of getting it sort of working. If I disable Windows Indexing (by going into Services and disabling Windows Search) then I add affected folders to the exlusions list from the Settings panel, then open one of the pictures in said affected folder and hit F5 it displays the icons in like a minesweeper type way where the photo itself and all the photos around it within a small vicinity come back. What sucks is that when switching views it does not update and it either stays small when going large, or it stretches and pixelates.

  • JO-R-D-AN@alien.topOPBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    EDIT: HERE’S THE FIX THAT WORKED FOR ME:

    I was using qView as a photo viewer. I uninstalled it with Bulk Crap Uninstaller, then I used ShellExView and ShellMenuView to disable every right click menu item that wasn’t from Microsoft, then I cleared the thumbcache and entered

    Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.Windows.Photos | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register “$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown}

    into a PowerShell window. It gave me an error message but made a popup come up saying I’ll be signed out in 10 mins. If I remember correctly I manually signed out and signed back in myself and nothing changed, but then the 10 mins went by and when my computer restarted, my thumbnails were back.