Windows 8.1 Photos app does not show any photos, only videos

Anonymous
2014-02-17T22:09:31+00:00

The Photos app in Windows 8.1 does not display any of my photos.  The subfolders of my Pictures Library are shown but only the thumbnails for videos are shown.  The photos not seem to exist at all.  The pictures show fine in Explorer and Picasa.

Adding new photos to the library presents the same result, folders and videos show but not photos.

I have already tried all of the solutions given in this community with no success:

  • I already tried running the Modern App trouble shooter and it did not find any problems.
  • Indexing is enabled for my Pictures folder and the permissions for System are full access.
  • The app is up-to-date

Please help!

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.

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Anonymous
2014-09-04T09:15:44+00:00

Same issue App shows folders no photos.  I scrolled through all threads and tired all the suggestions about kind and regedit and reindex. Nothing worked UNTIL I renamed the folder containing the pictures. Viola!! The photo app displayed and opened the photos. All I did to rename was add an "x" to the folder name. A few weeks ago I did post this issue on the Libra community. The only reply I got was a snarky one from someone who seemed offended that I posed a question about compatibility of the app and Libre.  Hope this helps. I saw one other person in the thread fixed theirs the same way. It's easy enough to try.

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Anonymous
2014-03-08T01:00:57+00:00

For those users who see the Kind property marked as "document" instead of "picture", this is what is causing your pictures to not show up in the Photos app. To further investigate this, please answer the following:

  1. When did this start happening for you?
  2. Did this start happening after installing a certain app? What photo/document software have you installed on the computer? During installation, apps can change registry values.
  3. Did this start happening after upgrading to 8.1? After a fresh install of Windows? Did it occur after installing updates from Windows Update? The most likely case is that an app got installed that changes the Kind for these types of files.

To fix this, you could try uninstalling the app that was installed just before this behavior started. You could also try changing the Kind property for each filetype you own. To do that, perform the following:

  1. Launch the Registry Editor by launching search (Windows key + S) and typing in "regedit", and clicking the first result "regedit.exe".
  2. In the left navigation pane, navigate to the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\KindMap
  3. Find the filetype(s) your images are of in the right pane listing all known filetypes. 
  4. Right-click on the filetype and click Modify.
  5. In the Value data field, change the word "document" to "picture" (do not include quotation marks), then click OK. Repeat this process for any additional filetypes that aren't showing up.
  6. Close Registry Editor.
  7. Launch the Photos app and check to see if your photos are now appearing.

You may need to restore default libraries and rebuild the system index if you are still not seeing a change after performing the above steps. To restore default libraries:

  1. Launch File Explorer (Winkey+E).
  2. Click the View tab at the top of the window.
  3. Click the Navigation pane button and make sure the "Show libraries" option is selected.
  4. Below, in the Navigation pane, expand the Libraries tab.
  5. Right-click on the Pictures library and click Properties.
  6. Click the Restore Defaults button.
  7. Click Apply, then OK.

To rebuild the index:

  1. Launch search (Windows key + S) and type "Indexing Options", and choosing the first result.
  2. In the Indexing Options window, click the Advanced button.
  3. Click the Rebuild option.
  4. Let the computer run for a while without touching it while the index is rebuilt (interacting with your computer during this greatly slows it down).
  5. Launch the Photos app and check to see if your photos are now appearing.

Please let us know the answers to the earlier questions I asked so we can prevent other users

from hitting this problem, and let us know if the steps listed fix your problem!

-Adam

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114 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-02-23T16:24:42+00:00

    New user account, exactly the same problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-23T16:23:35+00:00

    Thanks Edward.  It seems like there is no hope for Microsoft to fix this for us.  Have they already abandoned Windows 8.  I just switched over from a Mac and have been entirely disappointing by the Modern app interface and store.  Thought I would give it a solid try since I am returning to windows after 7 years on Mac.  Win 8 is certainly the most solid MS OS yet, but problems like this have forced me to back away from the Modern interface entirely and stick to the desktop.  Lets hope for better in Windows 9.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-23T13:08:37+00:00

    Hi FrailOtis I'm actually having the exact same problem, my Photos app shows only videos and no photos in Windows 8, though all pictures do show correctly in Desktop/Windows Explorer. I find it mind boggling the app has trouble with such simple functionality as displaying pictures in a dedicated Photos app. I've also opened my own thread regarding this so I will let you know if I get any positive response from there. Though the responses from the Microsoft support people never are very helpful.

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