Pictures do not display as thumbnail preview

Anonymous
2010-02-03T09:23:47+00:00

In Windows 7, I can't get pictures to show as thumbnail previews. I've tried three different methods suggested on this site. Why is this so difficult?__

The three methods I've tried are as follows:

1.    Open the folder in Windows Explorer and click the down arrow next to Views at the top.  Choose Medium icons and see if the thumbnails start working again.

2.    If not, click on Organize, then Folder and Search Options.  Click the View tab.  Make sure that "Always show icons, never thumbnails" does not have a check mark next to it.

3.    Open Control Panel. (Classic View). Click on the System icon. Click on the advanced system settings link. Under Performance, click on the Settings button. In the Visual Effects tab, Check "Show thumbnails instead of icons.”

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-08-16T19:59:31+00:00

Not sure where these answers were going but to simply make your pictures show in thumbnail mode in win7 simply open your pictures folder, click tools, folder options, view, then uncheck "Always show icons, never thumbnails"

Don't forget to hit apply!

That should do it.

Was this answer helpful?

300+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-10-30T14:32:38+00:00

Click on the Start button, go to Control Panel.  In Control Panel select System.  From the System window select Advanced system settings.  Select Performance settings.  Be sure the box Show thumbnails instead of icons is checked.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-02-04T05:02:06+00:00

Hi RRWilcox,

You may try the following steps and check whether you can get thumbnail previews.

  1. Open the Pictures library by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Pictures.
  2. In the left pane, click the folder that contains the pictures you want to view.
  3. Click the arrow next to the Views button, and then move the slider to change the size of the thumbnails.

For more information, you may refer the following link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/View-and-print-picture-thumbnails

You may also try to Enable or disable the thumbnail preview using group policy editor.

Note: The following steps won’t work in home editions of Windows 7.

To do this, follow the steps:

  1. Click on start and type gpedit.msc in start search bar and press enter.
  2. Now navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar in left pan of Group Policy Editor
  3. Locate “Turn off Taskbar Thumbnails” in right pan of Group policy editor and double click on it.
  4. Select Enable or Disable click apply and Press ok
  5. Now check your Taskbar, it shouldn’t show Thumbnails Preview.

Please Note: Taskbar Thumbnail Preview only works when you have Enabled Aero in Windows 7.

Hope this information is helpful.

Praseetha. K.

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

Was this answer helpful?

60+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

326 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-02T15:50:51+00:00

    Hi RRWilcox,

    You may try the following steps and check whether you can get thumbnail previews.

    1. Open the Pictures library by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Pictures.
    2. In the left pane, click the folder that contains the pictures you want to view.
    3. Click the arrow next to the Views button, and then move the slider to change the size of the thumbnails.

    For more information, you may refer the following link:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/View-and-print-picture-thumbnails

    You may also try to Enable or disable the thumbnail preview using group policy editor.

    Note: The following steps won’t work in home editions of Windows 7.

    To do this, follow the steps:

    1. Click on start and type gpedit.msc in start search bar and press enter.
    2. Now navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar in left pan of Group Policy Editor
    3. Locate “Turn off Taskbar Thumbnails” in right pan of Group policy editor and double click on it.
    4. Select Enable or Disable click apply and Press ok
    5. Now check your Taskbar, it shouldn’t show Thumbnails Preview.

    Please Note: Taskbar Thumbnail Preview only works when you have Enabled Aero in Windows 7.

    Hope this information is helpful.

    Praseetha. K.

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

    Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

    thank you it worked for me

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2011-11-24T21:04:32+00:00

    The majority of my thumbnails (and icons) are not displaying, showing only the generic image. I have checked and unchecked the proper boxes, run disk cleanup for thumbnails but when I go into a folder with the generic images, the green bar rebuild never finishes to rebuild the thumbnails.. I have lots of image files on my computer and wonder if I have reached a size limit on either the number of thumbnails or the folder capacity itself. The weirdest thing is that not all the images (same type) have this problem and display fine. I have been installing a lot of software lately trying to do a video book trailer and that seems to be making it worse but I need the software until I get the trailer done-hard to do when you can't see the images! I'm on 64 bit Win7 converted from Vista 64. BTW have had difficulty deleting some files too, have to go into Safe Mode to do that. My admin privleges seem screwed up. Ran spyware software checkers to check for problems but it comes out clean.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments