Super User
Super User

Questions tagged [thumbs.db]

thumbs.db is the thumbnail cache file for Windows Explorer

thumbs.db is the thumbnail cache file for Windows Explorer. Caching speeds up the display of images as these smaller images do not need to be recalculated every time the user views the folder.

34 questions
30
votes
4 answers

What are Thumbs.db files for? How can I prevent them from being created?

What are Thumbs.db files for? I've seen them mostly in picture folders. Wherever pictures like icons and wallpapers are located, a Thumbs.db is automatically generated. I've deleted them many times, but they just appear again after some time. I…
avirk
  • 15,877
18
votes
3 answers

thumbs.db the file is open in windows explorer

All the time I have the problem that I cannot delete - move - rename folders in Windows 7 (also applies to windows 10) on network drives because of the thumbs.db file. It complains: "The action can't be completed because the file is open in Windows…
lode
  • 501
8
votes
3 answers

Powershell removing Thumbs.db

When removing recursively a directory in PowerShell I've got: Remove-Item W:\x -recurse Remove-Item : Cannot remove item W:\x\y\z\Thumbs.db: You do not have sufficient access rights to perform this operation. The directory tree removed…
kubanczyk
  • 1,447
8
votes
1 answer

NAS: pre-generating thumbnails for multiple clients

I have a simple setup: Linux server at home with a huge drive; that drive has a photo library (hundreds of folders, hundreds of gigabytes). The drive is shared with multiple Windows and Mac clients using Samba. Question: is there a utility I can run…
Alex
  • 81
8
votes
2 answers

Thumbs.db does not always show up in image folders

For some folders, Thumbs.db does now show up even though I am showing hidden folders/files and always showing extensions. How do I get it to always be displayed while using Windows Explorer? Also, the file shows up when I use the command prompt dir…
Joe Phillips
  • 1,430
8
votes
1 answer

Force Windows 10 to create thumbs.db files within local folders

I will soon move large amounts of photos and videos from my Windows 10 PC to an NAS. To minimize thumbnail load times when accessing those files on the NAS, I want to create thumbs.db files in every folder while the data is still on my PC's HDDs. In…
chingelord
  • 81
8
votes
4 answers

Hide desktop.ini file only, without hiding other "hidden files"?

I want to hide desktop.ini files but preserve their functionality¹, keeping all other hidden files and protected system files visible on Windows 8 and above. The reason: I like to see everything going on in my folders—except that annoying file…
Rhaenys
  • 932
7
votes
4 answers

HTML thumbnail icon is broken for Google Chrome

The problem is pretty straightforward. When I set an .html file to open with Chrome, the thumbnail icon is broken and doesn't show the Chrome logo. I already tried deleting the IconCache.db file and then restarting my computer. Sadly, that didn't…
DrZoo
  • 11,391
6
votes
1 answer

Stop Thumbs.db files in certain folders

I'm a big fan of folder+file thumbnailing, so I'm all for thumbs.db files. However, I'm working on a Git project, so every time I commit my git folder to the online repository, some thumbs.db files get uploaded too. This is incredibly annoying, both…
ACarter
  • 1,494
5
votes
0 answers

Centrally manage thumbs.db for multiple clients on a CIFS share

I have a multimedia archive viewable read-only by multiple Windows 7 clients. Each time the clients browse the directory in Windows Explorer, the thumbnails are re-created. They're useful, but they take 10s of minutes on directories with 1000s of…
Chris Betti
  • 2,364
5
votes
7 answers

How to delete a Thumbs.db:encryptable file

I found a file called Thumbs.db:encryptable on my image folder, and I can't delete it. I've tried reboot my PC, but it doesn't work. When I try to delete a folder that contains this file, this message appears: del Thumbs.db* /s /f D:\My…
Richard Lopes
  • 51
2
votes
3 answers

How to delete empty folder with thumbs.db without disabling thumbnails

I often have problem to delete a folder that contains a thumbs.db file. Also tools like "unlocker" fail. It seems to be loccked by os for some unknown reason. The only solution i found in the net was to disabling thumbnails in windows but this is a…
dermoritz
  • 857
2
votes
4 answers

How to delete visible Desktop.ini, Thumbs.db and album art from My Music

How do I delete album art, desktop.ini, and thumbs.db from my music folder in Windows 7? I can see all of these files because I took the hard drive from my old computer and put it in my new one. It now has all of these junk files that the OS does…
Mark Tomlin
  • 1,359
2
votes
1 answer

When backing up files and folders, include or exclude thumbs.db?

When backing up individual files and folders (as opposed to creating volume images), are there any reasons to intentionally include or exclude thumbs.db files? The sources of the files are Android and Windows devices. The destination is external…
Amazon Dies In Darkness
  • 9,990
2
votes
0 answers

Why does robocopy still try to copy Thumbs.db even with XF option?

Using robocopy (version 10.0.10586.0) on Windows 10 to copy files from one drive to another using the following command: ROBOCOPY c:\src D:\dest /MIR /COPY:DT /DCOPY:T /XJ /XF Thumbs.db /XD "$RECYCLE.BIN" "System Volume Information" /MT:32 /R:0…
User
  • 3,835
1
2 3