Unable to delete thumbs.db

Anonymous
2023-03-22T08:55:44+00:00

I'm on the newest Win10 and am looking for a way to delete folders which only contain one file, the thumbs.db, and nothing else.

I've read several things in this thread (which is now closed) where some didn't help and others were too painful to be even tried (why should i have to boot in safe mode?).

Is there a easy way to delete those folders?

I'm often succeeding with restarting explorer.exe from the taskmanager's app tab (wondering why explorer.exe is the only process offering "restart" in its context menu) and then being quick enough to delete such folders before explorer grabs em again. But there are always some hard ones which somehow escape this hack.

For such the only working thing i know of is to actually end all explorer.exe processes, delete the folder from a cmd line with rmdir /S/Q "foldername" and restart explorer.exe. But both approaches are a pain because usually i have many explorer.exe windows open an don't like to restore them all manually because that's a waste of time.

Is there a proper way to delete those folders which doesn't involve hacking the registry, changing system wide settings, booting from a linux live cd or killing explorer.exe? After all their empty so i don't understand why there's the need to hold on to a thumbs.db which by then shouldn't contain any thumbs. Maybe there's a purge-unused-thumbs option somewhere?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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

66 answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-10-16T15:44:47+00:00

    Hello,

    To delete network shares with thumbs.db with the Registry, use these steps:

    1. Open Start.
    2. Search for regedit, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
    3. Browse the following path: 
       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
    4. Right-click the Windows folder, select the New submenu, and click on Key. Create Explorer Registry key
    5. Name the key Explorer and press Enter.
    6. Right-click the newly created key, select the New submenu, and click on the “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option. Registry create DisableThumbsDBOnNetworkFolders DWORD
    7. Name the DWORD DisableThumbsDBOnNetworkFolders and press Enter.
    8. Double-click the newly created DWORD and change its value from 0 to 1. Registry disable thumbnail caching policy to delete thumbs.db files
    9. Click the OK button.
    10. Restart your computer.

    Once you complete the steps, the new settings will apply, and you should now be able to delete thumbs.db files without the “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in Windows Explorer” message.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-16T15:21:24+00:00

    Also, Try going to

    A. Options

    B. View

    C. turn Hide protected operating system files "on". It should be the default actually.

    I usually like to see hidden files but that is where the problem starts.

    Hiding thumbs.db seems to make them a non-issue.

    A co-worker found this solution on youtube and it seems to work for me as more of a permanent fix.

    cheers

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-10-16T14:44:55+00:00

    Hello,

    Probably is a bit late for this, but what really help me:

    • Show hidden items.
    • Open "Thumbs.db" with notepad.
    • Delete everything.
    • Save and close notepad.
    • Delete "Thumbs.db".
    • Delete folder.

    Hopefully this works for you :)

    Thanks! This did it for me as well.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-26T18:13:56+00:00

    To delete the Thumbs.db file copy a JPG image into the file with the Thumbs.db file. Then go to view and select "extra large icons" you can then delete the Thumbs.db file. Then delete the JPG file.

    Was this answer helpful?

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-09-25T16:40:42+00:00

    If it happens again, try using the PowerToys File Locksmith tool to see what process is using the Thumbs.db file.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/file-locksmith

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments