4 Methods to Fix Picture Thumbnails Not Showing on Windows 10

Thumbnail Previews Not Showing in Windows 10

When you open a directory that contains pictures or videos, you will normally view thumbnails. For almost common image formats such as PNG, GIF, JPG, and JPEG, and video formats including MP4, MPG, WMV, AVI, FLV, MKV and MOV, thumbnails will appear. This way, you can easily find files you are looking for.

However, sometimes you can notice an odd thing – pictures thumbnail not showing Windows 10, but you can only see the default icon for that file type. How annoying it is! If you want the thumbnails back in File Explorer, you are at the right place and we will introduce how to fix this issue.

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Solutions to Photos Thumbnails Not Showing

If you can’t see picture thumbnails in Windows 10, follow the following 4 common methods now! Let’s go to see them.

Check Whether Thumbnail Preview Is Enabled

This is the first thing you should do – make sure that the right view mode is turned on for the folder where you have your photos and videos.

Step 1: In Windows 10 File Explorer, open the target folder.

Step 2: Click on View and click one option: Extra large icons, Large icons, Medium icons, Titles or Content.

All these views support thumbnail previews, so you can choose one view to turn on thumbnail view. If you are still bothered by the issue of pictures thumbnails not showing Windows 10, try the next methods.

Check If Thumbnails Are Disabled

Thumbnail previews not showing in Windows 10 can be caused by improper settings. Windows is able to show icons instead of thumbnails if thumbnails are turned off. Thus, you need to find this setting and change it.

It is rather simple as long as you follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the File Explorer Options tab via one of the ways:

• Type file explorer options in the search bar of Windows 10 and click the first result.
• In File Explorer, click File, and click Change folder and search options or Options.

Step 2: Switch to the View tab and ensure the Always show icons, never thumbnails option is unchecked.

Step 3: Click Apply and OK to save the change.

Alternatively, you can also modify the settings to fix the issue of picture thumbnails not showing Windows 10.

Step 1: Open Control Panel and view the items in large icons.

Step 2: Click System and Advanced system settings.

Step 3: Under the Advanced tab, click Settings from the Performance section.

Step 4: Make sure the Show thumbnails instead of icons option is checked.

Restore File Explorer Options to Default

To fix the issue of photos thumbnails not showing in Windows 10, you can also restore File Explorer options to default. Follow the guide:

Step 1: Open File Explorer Options by searching it in the search bar.

Step 2: Go to View and click the Restore Defaults button.

Step 3: Click Apply and OK.

Clear Thumbnails Cache

Thumbnails use thumbnail cache. You can’t see picture thumbnails in Windows 10 if the cache is corrupted. You can reset the thumbnail cache by following these steps:

Step 1: In File Explorer, right-click on C drive to choose Properties.

Step 2: Click on Disk Cleanup.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, check Thumbnails from the list and click on OK.

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Now, 4 common methods to fix the picture thumbnails not showing Windows 10 issue are introduced to you. Just try them to get rid of this trouble!