With default installation settings, Windows 11 displays thumbnails for picture files so that users can easily find the photos they are looking for without opening them all.
If File Explorer is showing only generic file icons instead of thumbnails for pictures, it’s likely due to changes in File Explorer settings.
The following are common File Explorer settings you need to check to ensure File Explorer displays thumbnails for picture files.
NOTE: We recommend restarting File Explorer once before trying out the following troubleshooting methods.
Enable the thumbnail view in Windows 11 File Explorer
Step 1: In the Start menu or taskbar search box, type File Explorer Options and then press the Enter key to open Folder Options. As you might know, Folder Options houses several options and settings for File Explorer.
Step 2: In the Folder Options dialog, click the View tab.
Step 3: Here, check if the first option labeled Always show icons, never thumbnails option is selected. If yes, deselect the option and then click the Apply button to enable thumbnails.
Switch to a File Explorer view that supports thumbnails
Step 1: Navigate to the folder in the File Explorer that is not displaying thumbnails for pictures.
Step 2: Click the View button in the toolbar and then select a view other than List and Details. That is, you can select Extra large icons, Large icons, Medium icons, Small icons, Tiles, or Content view. All these views support thumbnails for picture files provided that the thumbnail feature is enabled as mentioned earlier.
Clear the thumbnail cache in Windows 11
Windows keeps a thumbnail copy of all picture, document, and video files so that it can show thumbnails as soon as the File Explorer opens. If a thumbnail is not appearing correctly, you can clear the thumbnail cache to force Windows 11 to rebuild it automatically. Here is how.
Step 1: Launch the Disk Cleanup tool using search or any other method.
Step 2: Select the Windows 11 installation drive from the drop-down, which is usually “C”.
Step 3: Once the Disk Cleanup dialog appears, look for the Thumbnails entry. Select Thumbnails, deselect other options selected by default, and then click the OK button. Note that Windows 11 might take up to a minute to show the list.
NOTE: If the Thumbnails entry does not show up, click the Clean up system files button. When asked, select your Windows 11 installed drive again and then click the OK button.
Step 6: You will now see the following warning dialog. Click the Delete button to go ahead and clear the thumbnail cache.
Please note that Windows 11 might take a few minutes to generate the new cache.
Our how to show PDF thumbnails in Windows File Explorer guide might also interest you.
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