6

Thumbnails for .jpg, .webp, .mp4, and other file formats seem to work just fine, it's only .png files that don't work.

Things I've tried:

  • Removing my thumbnail cache using the disk cleanup utility
  • Toggling "Always show icons, never thumbnails" on and then off again in File Explorer Options
  • Changing the default .png app from Photos to a different app, then back to Photos (that actually made the problem worse, because now windows is assigning the files this ugly blurry default icon instead of the Photos app icon)
  • Restarting my computer
  • Making sure Windows is up to date
  • Making sure my graphics driver is up to date
  • (From this thread)
    Press Windows key + R
    Type: ie4uinit.exe -show
    Hit Enter
  • Restarting my graphics driver with Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B
  • From C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer, delete all thumbcache and iconcache files
  • Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth, which showed "No component store corruption detected. The operation completed successfully."
  • In Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > Microsoft Photos > Advanced options, I clicked Reset, then rebooted again.

Yet still, not a single .png file on my computer shows a proper thumbnail anymore. See screenshot.

Screenshot of broken thumbnails

How do I get my .png thumbnails back?

It seems other users on the Microsoft forums are having this issue as of this week:

I have the exact same problem. It started a couple days ago out of the blue. I tried all the steps listed but this is still happening. I've seen this sort of thing on other forums and there doesn't seem to be a fix other than to re-load windows which is a pain for a sysadmin with tools to reinstall and re-configure. Maybe the next update will fix it....but in the meantime, I'll just guess between the txt files and the png files on my desktop....

Maximillian Laumeister
  • 546

6 Answers6

3

I have the same problem. Temporary fix was to set the .png files to always open with paint.net. Not the most desirable solution but at least I got the thumbnails to show.

Gary Rosner
  • 41
3
  1. Open File Explorer
  2. Select "This PC" on the left
  3. Click the "..." on the ribbon
  4. Select "Options" from the drop down menu
  5. Click on the "View" Tab
  6. Under the Advanced Settings Section
  7. Under Files and Folders
  8. Uncheck the "Always show icons, never thumbnails"
  9. Click the "Apply" Buttom
  10. Click "OK"

View a screenshot here

Not sure why this got changed on my pc, but it did, and these steps fixed it.

Shadow IT
  • 31
2

The solution presented here by @Coder-M worked for me. It is for people that installed Google Drive.

In sum, go to HKEY_USERS\[Your-User-ID]\Software\Classes\.png\shellex and delete E357FCCD-A995-4576-B01F-234630154E96.

To find Your-User-ID you can go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist and look for the entry with a value like \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\[Your-User-Name]\NTUSER.DAT. It is usually the one ending with 0001.

bortao
  • 1,861
1

Found this thread through Google and I just now fixed mine. I changed the default app to open .png from Picasa (yes, I still have this. lol) to Paint.net and BINGO! I opened Windows Explorer and my .PNG thumbnails showed the pic instead of a generic icon. Cheers all!

Rob
  • 11
0

I've tried all the methods including DISM, sfc /scannow, cleaning up thumbnails etc.

What actually helped me is installing SageThumbs (https://www.cherubicsoft.com/en/projects/sagethumbs/) - that's a small program that does the job for creating thumbnails for images in the system. You could also try other software that's generating thumbnails like MysticThumbs.

I know it's not a solution solution, it's just a workaround but couldn't find anything would work besides SageThumbs or trying to reinstall the entire system.

FamousSnake
  • 147
0

Download and run this reg file. You might need to log off & on or reboot after, but not always.

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/tutorials/52473d1449507905-default-file-type-associations-restore-windows-10-a-png.reg

File comes from this forum post: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8703-restore-default-file-type-associations-windows-10-a.html

the_borv
  • 1