Thumbnails in Windows Explorer

tigorek · Feb 2, 2008

Hello
i wanted to ask if i can turn off only folder preview thumbnails in all Windows Explorer windows and not files preview thumbnails?

Brink · Feb 2, 2008

Hi tigorek,

Welcome to Vista Forums. :party:

Sorry, they go hand and hand.

Shawn

smilinged · Jul 30, 2008

Video icons without thumbnails do not function correctly

Since installing Service Pack 1 I have had major problems with video clips. There are a number of scenarios with one thing in common: when I open the folder that contains the video files, the address bar starts to gray out as it loads the file icons then slows drastically and the icon stays as the label (MPEG, WMV, AVI) without the thumbnail picture for none, one, some or all of the files in the folder. Eventually the address bar is totally grayed out but the "label icons" remain "un-thumbnailed". Sometimes when I go to another folder and return to the original folder one or more "label icon" turns into a "thumbnail icons".

All files can be opened and play correctly whether they are "label icons" or "thumbnailed icons".

When I try to delete or move the "thumbnailed icons" everything works perfectly. On the other hand, almost anything except correct operation occurs with "label icons".

For example, when I try to Empty a 16.1 MB "label icon" from the Recycle Bin, I get a box that says "Deleting 1 item (16.1 MB) - From Recycle Bin - 0 items discovered (0 bytes) - under More Information: From: Recycle Bin - Time Remaining: Calculating... - Items Remaining: 1 (16.1 MB) - Speed: 0 bytes/sec" and the progress bar shows a small bar moving across it from left to right but the progress bar never turns into a solid line.

This box never changes and is shown in Task Manager as a Running Application. The only way to absolutely get rid of the box is to end the task using Task Manager. Using the Cancel key or the X to close may or may not close the box.

When I try to move a "label icon" to another location or click delete sometimes it will move to the new location or the Recycle Bin or I get the box described above.

I can only guess that the problem stems from not being able to get the thumbnail information and that the drastically reduced speed of the address bar is a symptom of trying to find the info.

I have done the following:

Tools->Folder Options->View->unchecked Always show icons, never thumbnails

From Brink's tutorial:
(http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/73715-thumbnails-windows-explorer.html)

2. To Enable Windows Explorer Thumbnails -

A) Click on the download button below to download the Enable_Explorer_Thumbnails.reg file.

3. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.
4. Right click the .reg (On Desktop) file and click Merge.
5. Click on the Run button for Security Warning pop-up.
6. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.
7. When done, you can delete the .reg file (On Desktop).
8. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply changes.

So far, no joy :cry:

Any and all help greatly appreciated as this is driving me crazy (normally a pretty short drive anyway).

Windows Vista Home Premium
32 bit Operating System
Service Pack 1
Dell Inspiron 530
Intel Core Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz 2.20GHz
RAM 2.00 Gb
Hard Drive: 288 GB 119 GB Used 168 GB Free
Compress this drive to save space Not Checked
Index this drive for faster searching Checked

Brink · Jul 30, 2008

Hi Smilinged,

Loading the thumbnails real slow or not all of them can happen sometimes when you have a large folder of video files.

Are you low on drive space for the drive or partition that Vista is installed on? This can cause there not to be enough room for the thumbnail cache.

See if clearing the thumbnail cache can help any. This tutorial will show you how to if needed.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/73720-thumbnail-cache.html

It would not be a bad ideal to also run a sfc /scannow command to see if it can find and fix and bad system files. This tutorial will show you how to if needed.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

smilinged · Aug 2, 2008

Shawn, thank you for your fast response and my apologies for my slow thank you.

I redid your reg edit procedure and now all works fine - I'm guessing that I must have made an error somewhere for it not to take the first time. I will also do both other steps in the near future as they seem to be good things to do.

Once again a big thank you - you and your compatriots are the only reason I haven't demanded :mad:

a replacement with XP!

Brink · Aug 2, 2008

LOL, your welcome SmilingEd. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn

fredhoward · Aug 14, 2008

Shawn, I have exactly the same problem with Thumbs in Vista. I see them on all file types except saved web pages. I save them as ".mht" files. I'm running Vista home premium SP1 64bit. I've been at this for weeks now and have followed all the advice here, to no avail. I've just successfully downloaded and installed your regedit file and also ran "scannow" which found no problems. I enclose a screenie of my registry's "Explorer" entries. I have no problems with jpgs, bmps, all movie clips, etc, but no Web page thumbs. Are we saying that there definitely should be Web thumbs in Vista ? Another site told me that it was removed in IE7, but I also run XP SP3 with IE7 and Web thumbs are there.
Desperate, Fred

fredhoward · Aug 14, 2008

Shawn,
As an exercise I downloaded the "disable thumbnails" registry fix and installed it. It successfully showed up in the registry and also disabled thumbnails !
See here:-

I then hoped that reinstalling the "enable thumbs" registry data would maybe now do the trick, but it didn't. As I said before, I see all thumbs except those related to web pages.
Thank you, Shawn.
Fred

Brink · Aug 14, 2008

Hello Fred,

As far as I know there is not a option for thumbnails for the .mht file types in Vista. A workaround is to turn on the Preview Pane in the Windows Explorer window with the .mht files in it. When you highlight a .mht file, you will see it in the Preview Pane instead.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/116098-preview-pane-vista-windows-explorer.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

fredhoward · Aug 15, 2008

Thanks for the quick response, Shawn. Might I ask why this ability has been removed when it was there in XP? I can see no reason for it and the increase in work times that this causes is horrendous. I have thousands of saved Web pages. The example I posted is a review of a Nikon camera and it goes to 35 pages. This particular review was better than most in that each page of the review had a defining name, but I have many hundreds of saved pages of Computer hardware reviews that are simply named "page 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, etc, etc". I now have to wait whilst each page loads to see which part of the review it refers to, whereas under XP I simply open the folder and immediately have, in the case of the Nikon review, 35 thumbnails. Very large ones too on a 24" monitor.
I really appreciate your response, Shawn, as I have been trawling the Net for weeks over this. There must be thousands of us out here with this problem and there is no respose whatsoever from Microsoft. If it's a security problem, why doesn't MS say so and tell us the reason ? If it is we should surely be given the option of switching it on or off, as we can with UAC.
As a workaround I reboot into XP, open up the relative folder, take a screenshot of the large thumbnails and retain in the same folder. When I am back with Vista I can open the JPG and see what each page is. However, each time I do that I ask myself why the hell do I have to do this? It's crazy.
I guess if you can't come up with a fix, Shawn, nobody can, but it can't be that hard surely ? Maybe Bill can have a go at it for something to do during his retirement !
Thanks again, Shawn.
Fred

Brink · Aug 15, 2008

LOL, I agree Fred.

I have found a program out there that will allow this in Vista, but it will only work with the 32 bit Vista.

Ave's Vista Apps: HTML Thumbnails in Explorer

fredhoward · Aug 15, 2008

Thanks, Shawn, but I wasn't joking when I said I've been at this for weeks. I found that site very early on and managed to get that fix into the registry after a bit of trouble, but it didn't work. If it's only for Vista 32, that might explain why, but not really. I had thought that it might be a problem only with Vista 64, so I've already tried on a 32 bit setup. Not Ave's fix but a test to see if the thumbs were there in 32 bit. I also tried it on a Vista business install and a Vista Ultimate. Still no go.
I might add that "preview" in Windows Explorer doesn't work either with web pages. It's Ok with other file types, jpg etc.
You obviously have a lot more contacts than I, so maybe somebody can at least tell me why we have this major omission in Vista.
I appreciate your attempts to help, Shawn and in particular the fact that I get sent an email when there is a response. I've joined so many Forums over the last few weeks that I've lost track of who is who. I've saved all the Web pages I've visited but that only rubs this problem in as when I open the folder where I saved them I have a load of pretty meaningless URL pages each with a generic Icon ( unless I boot into XP again !)
Thanks again, Shawn.
Fred

Brink · Aug 15, 2008

Yep, I can confirm it. All thumbnails views for the .htm, .html, .mht, and .mhtml file types have been removed in Vista for security purposes. The only way to see previews of them is with using the Preview Pane in Vista, and maybe with that program for the 32 bit Vista.

cmanmohan · Aug 15, 2008

Shawn,
thanks to you for good exposition of the subject matter.
cmanmohan

Brink · Aug 15, 2008

Your welcome Cmanmohan.

I like to keep the suspense up until ending it with a solution.

fredhoward · Aug 15, 2008

Thanks for that, Shawn, but like I said, "preview" doesn't work either with Web pages.
I was the first amongst a whole bunch of people here to switch to Vista and that was mainly 'cos I had to have it to run MS FSX Flight Sim. In fact it was the only reason really, plus building a new high end setup. I am already very peeved at not being able to use either of my two Scanners, one being an HP flatbed and the other a very expensive slide and negative scanner. Neither HP or MS would come to the party with drivers for them. That was the only reason that I kept XP up to date.
I shall now go back to XP as my main Operating system and relegate Vista to the backup and use it only for Flight Sim work. I shall also tell all of my friends to stay with XP. I am really, really upset by this, Shawn. No reflection on your goodself intended of course, but I can't be satisfied by a "security" excuse from MS unless I get chapter and verse on this. It has taken me weeks of effort to arrive at this negative outcome. I have just this week watched "Pirates of Silicon Valley."
"Pirates of Seattle" could just be their Epitaph in years to come.
Thanks for the info, Shawn.
Fred

Brink · Aug 15, 2008

Fred,

Sorry, I misundertood that part. You should be able to see the .htm, .html, .mht, and .mhtml file types in the Preview Pane. I see them fine in mine when I highlight one of these file types.

Double check that you have the Preview Pane set properly. This tutorial will help show you the settings to check.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/116098-preview-pane-vista-windows-explorer.html

Next, make sure that Internet Explorer is set as the default program with all of it's associations set to it. This tutorial will show you how to if needed.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/83196-default-programs-program-default-associations.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

fredhoward · Aug 15, 2008

Sorry, Shawn but Web bpages do not show up as previews in Vista explorer ! Here are two Screenies. As you can see, the JPG shows but the ".MHT" does not. I had already followed the instrutions in your excellent tutorial and all of my settings are as instructed. I found your site early in the piece and had already tried everything listed.
My last idea is to install "Firefox" and see if that is an answer. It's nearly 2:00AM here so I'm off to bed . Any other ideas to get previews in explorer would be appreciated. How about posting a Screenie showing this Web page as a preview in Explorer in your setup ? If I see that I'll keep trying but I don't believe it's possible.
Night, night, Shawn.
Fred

Brink · Aug 15, 2008

Sorry Fred,

I think you may have misunderstood what I meant with previews. There are no thumbnail previews of the .htm, .html, .mht, and .mhtml file types in Vista, but you can see a preview of these files in the Preview Pane instead. I attached a screenshot of this webpage saved as a .mht file being viewed in the Preview Pane.

Thumbnails in Windows Explorer

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