Thumbnail previews on Windows allow you to see your files without having to open them. For a variety of reasons, Windows 11 may stop displaying such file thumbnails. If you’re having difficulties with a similar problem on your Windows 11 machine, you can troubleshoot and fix it.
While the cause could be anything from a tiny malfunction to corrupted system files, this tutorial will walk you through all of the options for getting those thumbnails back. So, let’s get this party started.
How To Fix Thumbnails Not Showing on Windows 11
METHOD 1. ENABLE THUMBNAILS ON WINDOWS
To begin, check Windows File Explorer Options to see if thumbnails are enabled on your computer.
Step 1: Open Windows Search by pressing Windows key + S, then typing file explorer options and pressing Enter.
Step 2: In the next window, go to the View tab and uncheck the box that says “Always show icons, never thumbnails.” Then, after clicking Apply, click OK.
2. RESTART WINDOWS EXPLORER
File Explorer on Windows is known to have issues from time to time. It’s also possible that this is causing the thumbnails not to appear. Fortunately, similar problems are frequently remedied by restarting File Explorer.
Step 1: To rapidly access the Task Manager, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard.
Step 2: To expand Task Manager, click More details.
Step 3: Scroll down to Windows Explorer under the Process tab. Select it, then press the Restart button.
3. REBUILD THUMBNAIL CACHE
On Windows, all thumbnail data is saved in the form of a cache. Windows may fail to load thumbnails if the data becomes corrupted. You can force Windows to reload the thumbnail cache to fix this.
Step 1: To access Settings, press Windows key + I and select Storage.
Step 2: Select Temporary Files from the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Select Thumbnails from the drop-down menu, then click the Remove files option at the top.
4. CHANGE DEFAULT APP TYPE
If the thumbnail issue is restricted to a few file types, it could be due to the default application being configured. To see if it helps, try changing the default app for the file type.
Step 1: Select Choose another app from the Open with the menu when right-clicking on the issue file type.
Step 2: Select a different app and check the box labeled “Always use this app to open files”. To save your changes, click OK.
5. MODIFY ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS
You might not see any thumbnail previews on Windows if you’ve recently modified any of the performance parameters. This is how you can modify it.
Step 1: Press Enter after opening the Start menu and typing view advanced system settings.
Step 2: Switch to the Advanced tab and select the Settings button under Performance in the System Properties window that appears.
Step 3: Select Custom from the Visual effects tab and check the boxes next to ‘Save taskbar thumbnail previews’ and ‘Show thumbnails instead of icons.’
Finally, click OK and Apply to save your changes.
6. RESTORE FILE EXPLORER OPTIONS
Finally, if nothing else seems to be working, try returning the File Explorer Options to their normal settings to see whether thumbnails appear.
Step 1: Go to the Start menu and type file explorer options into the search box.
Step 2: Go to the View tab in the next window and click the Restore Defaults button. Then, after clicking Apply, click OK.
Check to see if the thumbnails have appeared.
7. RUN SFC SCAN
Windows 11 problems, such as this one, can be caused by damaged or lost system files. Thankfully, Windows 11 has an SFC (System File Checker) scan that can detect and restore corrupted system files on your PC to their former state.
If thumbnails aren’t loading on Windows 11, try running an SFC scan using the instructions below.
Step 1: From the resulting menu, right-click on the Start menu icon Windows Terminal (admin).
Step 2: Press Enter after typing the instruction listed below.
sfc /scannow
Wait for the process to finish before restarting your computer.
8. SCAN FOR MALWARE
If the preceding options fail to fix the thumbnails not showing problems on Windows, your computer may be infected with malware. To be sure, do a comprehensive check of your PC with Windows Defender or another anti-virus tool.
Check this video for more help:
PREVIEW YOUR FILES
Many of us would rather use thumbnails than icons. While Windows 11 does not by default display folder thumbnails, it does support file thumbnails. Hopefully, one of the options listed above was successful in restoring your thumbnails.
