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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  1. Barb Bowman 80,805 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-04-28T10:30:21+00:00

    On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 22:43:12 +0000, DJSigma wrote:

    |If you scroll about 2/5ths of the way down the page, you'll see some text in

    green that says "+// registering other supported types", then under that is a

    bunch of code where each line begins with "+CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION".

    If you look at those lines, you can see the file extensions that LibreOffice has

    messed up.

    that would be:

    +// registering other supported types

    +

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Wpg,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, wpg,

    WPG,  WORDPERFECT_GRAPHIC_FILE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Dxf,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, dxf,

    DXF,  AUTOCAD_DRAWING_INTERCHANGE_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Emf,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, emf,

    EMF,  MS_ENHANCED_METAFILE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Eps,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, eps,

    EPS,  ENCAPSULATED_POSTSCRIPT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Met,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, met,

    MET,  OS2_METAFILE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Pct,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, pct,

    PCT,  MACINTOSH_PICTURE_METAFILE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Wmf,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, wmf,

    WMF,  MS_WINDOWS_METAFILE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Bmp,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, bmp,

    BMP,  MS_WINDOWS_BITMAP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Cdr,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, cdr,

    CDR,  CORELDRAW_FILE_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Cmx,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, cmx,

    CMX,  COREL_PRESENTATION_EXCHANGE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Gif,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, gif,

    GIF,  GRAPHICS_INTERCHANGE_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Jpg,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, jpg,

    JPG,  JOINT_PHOTOGRAPHIC_EXPERTS_GROUP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Jpeg,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, jpeg,

    JPEG,  JOINT_PHOTOGRAPHIC_EXPERTS_GROUP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Jpe,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, jpe,

    JPE,  JOINT_PHOTOGRAPHIC_EXPERTS_GROUP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Pbm,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, pbm,

    PBM,  PORTABLE_BITMAP_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Pcx,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, pcx,

    PCX,  PERSONAL_COMPUTER_EXCHANGE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Pgm,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, pgm,

    PGM,  PORTABLE_GRAYMAP_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Png,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, png,

    PNG,  PORTABLE_NETWORK_GRAPHICS, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Ppm,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, ppm,

    PPM,  PORTABLE_PIXMAP_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Psd,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, psd,

    PSD,  PHOTOSHOP_DOCUMENT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Ras,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, ras,

    RAS,  SUN_RASTER_GRAPHIC, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Svg,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, svg,

    SVG,  SCALABLE_VECTOR_GRAPHICS, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Tga,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, tga,

    TGA,  TRUEVISION_TGA, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Tif,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, tif,

    TIF,  TAGGED_IMAGE_FILE_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Tiff,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, tiff,

    TIFF,  TAGGED_IMAGE_FILE_FORMAT, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Xbm,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, xbm,

    XBM,  X_BITMAP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( Xpm,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, xpm,

    XPM,  X_PIXMAP, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +CONDITIONAL_REGISTER_DOC_EXTENSION( PCD,  gid_Module_Prg_Draw_Other_Reg, pcd,

    PCD,  KODAK_PHOTO_CD_IMAGE, 5, sdraw.exe, open, Draw )

    +

    it "should" be easy for MS to offer a fixit for this.

    __________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Barb

    Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

    My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

    Barb's Connected World Blog Reader Windows 8 App -

    http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/barbs-connected-world-blog/02f35769-52bf-461c-b1d5-06e54a58d298

    Windows and Surface Community Reader Windows 8 App

    http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/windows-and-surface-community/0abb150e-d287-47d4-837e-9fa51f485ad7

    Please mark as answered if this answers your question

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  2. Barb Bowman 80,805 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-04-28T10:41:44+00:00

    On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 22:43:12 +0000, DJSigma wrote:

    |http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=cd97b11a33db909318572a27a54305cb4757ba0f

    WPG

    DXF

    EMF

    EPS

    MET

    PCT

    WMF

    BMP

    CDR

    CMX

    GIF

    JPG

    JPG

    JPE

    PBM

    PCX

    PGM

    PNG

    PPM

    PSD

    RAS

    SVG

    TGA

    TIF

    TIF

    XBM

    XPM

    PCD

    __________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Barb

    Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

    My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

    Barb's Connected World Blog Reader Windows 8 App -

    http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/barbs-connected-world-blog/02f35769-52bf-461c-b1d5-06e54a58d298

    Windows and Surface Community Reader Windows 8 App

    http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/windows-and-surface-community/0abb150e-d287-47d4-837e-9fa51f485ad7

    Please mark as answered if this answers your question

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-29T20:00:28+00:00

    changing the registry and re-indexing fixed the problem for me as well

    here is a .reg file to fix the extensions mentioned in Barb's post above automatically

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4243207/KindMapFix.reg.txt

    Download the file and inspect it with a text editor. Once you are satisfied it is safe, rename it to "KindMapFix.reg" (i.e., remove the .txt extension) and double click on the file to modify your registry.

    Use at your own risk!

    NOTE: this .reg file does the changes in the registry Adam pointed out. You still have to follow his steps to reset the defaults and to re-index. Potentially you will also have to remove and re-add your pictures folder from the indexing (Mirek273, moving the files to a temp directory like DJSigma proposed probably has the same effect)

    @Barb: I fully understand, thanks for pointing this out!

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