please help: thumbnail preview gone.

[xdash]

not sure if thumbnail preview is the right term .....
hi all - wanted to ask about why or how i might be able to fix .......
scenario:
when i open a folder ....
1. if its full of pdf files (ex.: e-books) i dont see the preview / covers of the e-books any more as before - just the foxit icon
2. if the folder is full of videos (ex: movies) i dont see a small clip of a scene as before now i only see my VLC Player icon. (the big orange cone)
was there some setting that i might changed, not realizing?
new things that ive done lately:
.....have tried like crazy to better boot time by following the guide at Black Viper
.....at this moment im using the Vista Basic Theme (no aero)
P.S
really dont care much for the thumbnail previews on taskbar

have checked:

.. when i open a folder and click on organize & select folder and search options.....
under view tab - the option "always show icons, never thumbnails" is NOT checked. ????
.. have also tried clearing the thumbnail cache by deleting thumbnails under disk cleanup????

SORRY for the long post but i HAVE been trying to resolve on my own.
hang'n by a thread here

(OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2)

 

[Imperfect1]

I was hoping one of you super-smart guys and gals would respond, cause I'm having the same problem and can't figure out why I can see thumbnail previews of MS Word files, but can't see thumbnail previews of any downloaded videos or movies.

I've gone to Windows Explorer, Organize, Layout, and checked: Preview Pane; and I've gone into Tools, Folder Options, View, Files and Folders: and UNchecked: "always show icons, never thumbnails," and "display file icons on thumbnails," and checked "remember each folder's view setting." And I've gone into IE8 Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, Multimedia, and checked: Show Pictures.

What else should I be doing? Please help! Thanks all.

 

[xdash]

god help us!
i really thought there'd be some feedback ....
nobody even bothered to chime in and say "hey no double posting!"
as i did - cause i never got a response the first time.
i kinda have given up on it almost as i have searched 'till my fingertips can't take anymore!
lets see what happens.
alls left now is somebody to jump in and say "hey no double posting!"..

 

[nayeem]

Follow this procedure by this you can enable or disable the thumbnail icon feature for image files.

1. Open Control Panel.(or whereever you find "folder option")
2. Open Folder Options.
3. Select View.
4. Uncheck the box for Always show icons, never thumbnails to enable thumbnail icons.
5. Check the box to disable thumbnail icons.

 

[nayeem]

oh, i didnt see you already tried this. but well, it worked for me. or may be you can look at this forum:

No thumbnails preview of files in Vista - Customize Desktop

 

[Imperfect1]

Follow this procedure by this you can enable or disable the thumbnail icon feature for image files.

1. Open Control Panel.(or whereever you find "folder option")
2. Open Folder Options.
3. Select View.
4. Uncheck the box for Always show icons, never thumbnails to enable thumbnail icons.
5. Check the box to disable thumbnail icons.

I have UNchecked both “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and “Display file icon on thumbnails” and I can get a thumbnail or preview of any MS Word file, but no thumbnail or preview of a video or movie.

 

[nayeem]

ok then check out the link i provided in my last post. that might be a help. good luck.

 

[Brink]

Follow this procedure by this you can enable or disable the thumbnail icon feature for image files.

1. Open Control Panel.(or whereever you find "folder option")
2. Open Folder Options.
3. Select View.
4. Uncheck the box for Always show icons, never thumbnails to enable thumbnail icons.
5. Check the box to disable thumbnail icons.

I have UNchecked both “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and “Display file icon on thumbnails” and I can get a thumbnail or preview of any MS Word file, but no thumbnail or preview of a video or movie.

Hello Imperfect,

Also check here to make sure everything is enabled for thumbnail previews.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/73715-thumbnails-windows-explorer.html

Also check in Default Programs to make sure that Windows Media Player and Windows Photo Gallery are both set as default programs with all of their associations set for them.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[xdash]

hi all....
thanks for all the feedback i see that its been acouple days since you all replied but i never received notification in my inbox of the thread being updated.
sorry for the delay - i will look at all the suggestions more closely once i get home and try out some of the suggestionjs - thanks all for the feedback.

 

[Imperfect1]

Follow this procedure by this you can enable or disable the thumbnail icon feature for image files.

1. Open Control Panel.(or whereever you find "folder option")
2. Open Folder Options.
3. Select View.
4. Uncheck the box for Always show icons, never thumbnails to enable thumbnail icons.
5. Check the box to disable thumbnail icons.

I have UNchecked both “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and “Display file icon on thumbnails” and I can get a thumbnail or preview of any MS Word file, but no thumbnail or preview of a video or movie.

Hello Imperfect,

Also check here to make sure everything is enabled for thumbnail previews.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/73715-thumbnails-windows-explorer.html

Also check in Default Programs to make sure that Windows Media Player and Windows Photo Gallery are both set as default programs with all of their associations set for them.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks very much Shawn. As usual, you have hit the nail on the head! Thanks to your reference as to which programs are set as the defaults, I think I know what my problem is. . . I use Real Player and MS Picture Manager as my defaults. I have no problem in getting thumbnails for my photos and images, so apparently Picture Manager isn't the problem. But, I can't get thumbnails for any videos, music or movie files downloaded through Real Player (or any other app on my system), so setting Real Player as my default media player must be the problem.

When searching Real Player's preferences and options, I could not find any customizable link that even dealt with the issue of how icons or thumbnails are displayed in Windows Explorer. Do you know of anywhere else that I could find such a link? And, when you stated, "with all of their associations set for them" is that what you meant --- that there are specific settings related to, for example, WMP that control how icons and thumbnails are displayed --- or does it refer to something else?

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Imperfect,

Some 3rd party programs may still support showing thumbnails in Windows Explorer, but few properly do so other than the defaults in Vista.

"with all of their associations set for them" is basically to use step 5 in the tutorial so that all of the items (file extensions) under step 6D are checked automatically for the program. That's all.

I can't think of a link for that information either.