Also Problem with Thumbnail view (Windows Vista)

[Nicole]

I try to view pictures on a CD using the Explorer (Windows Vista). I have
found out that you can change the size of the thumbnail but all I get is a
picture of the programm. I have also cleared the checkbox next to "Always
show icons, never thumbnails" as well.

However, nothing changed. What else do I need to do in order to view the
pictures on my CD rather than having to open each picture individually. I am
really getting annoyed now with all these unnecessary changes in Vista.

[Adam Albright]

Sounds like you and many others that ask a similar question are
getting confused over terminology.

If you want to see thumbnails of your pictures from Windows Explorer
then click on View on it's menu bar and move the vertical slider to
select one of the following: small, medium, large or extra large
icons. Clicking on Organize will add further options.

This will produce a screen full of images, (thumbnails)assuming the
files are of a supported image type like JPG.

Here is a web page that explains it in more detail and shows Explorer
in one of it's many possible configurations.

Actually, Explorer is more friendly than ever in Vista, once you
understand what's changed. If you have a fairly large monitor and run
at a higher resolution selecting medium or large icons works well.

Once you can see thumbnails, meaning a screen full of them at once,
next click on the Organize button, then Layout, then select Details
pane. By default this will open a larger picture of whatever
thumbnail (icon) currently has the focus, that's whichever one you
just clicked on. You should notice there is a difference in the
background color, for example in the default color scheme the top
portion of the screen where you see all the thumbnails (icons) is
white but now about 15% of the bottom screen is pale blue with a
single image (the one you selected) is showing larger and it should
also show text details of THAT picture. The details vary depending on
what details you select or what may have already been embedded in the
image's file. Right click on any image, then properties, then the
details tab. Click ok after making changes. You now should be back in
the previous view when you see all your icons (thumbnails) in the
right pane and one selected in the details pane.

Now slowly move your cursor over the dividing line between the area
where you see a page full of icons and the larger selected one. When
you hit the right spot your cursor will change from a single arrow to
a double headed vertical arrow. While holding down your left mouse
button drag this barely noticeable shaded line up and you'll see
what's called the detail pane grow in size which increases the size of
the single profiled image and what details about it are shown.

In a similar way you can grab the vertical line that separates the
left and right window panes sizing it as you wish which will reveal
more or less thumbnails on a single line.

[Nicole]

I have already done that but all I get is a larger picture of the same image
but not the picture itself.

Many thanks, will check it out maybe there is an answer to it.

Well, that is exactly the problem...understanding it will take me months ;-)

In the past I only had to insert the disc and view the pictures on the right
hand side in the Explorer. I had expected it to be as easy with Vista but
obvsioulsy I was wrong.

Thanks again for all the hints.

[paulp]

I have exactly the same problem - jpegs do not show as thumbnails of the
picture, but rather as a thumbnail of some random landscape. This makes
selecting photos for photo editing etc. very difficult and frustrating.

The solution proposed was not applicable. I see thumbnails, just not
thumbnails of the photo.

Any other suggestions?

[Adam Albright]

Part of the frustration of trying to help people is getting them to
learn HOW to ask questions and provide the necessary details...
otherwise no matter how much the person TRYING to help you knows, it
often becomes a game of twenty questions.

Did you set things up as I suggested? If so, the "landscape" you're
seeing is a probably just the placeholder. Does it have a mountain
range and some sky? If yes, that IS the Vista placeholder, it should
go away by itself ONCE Vista makes the actual thumbnail.

In other words it could be as simple as WAITING until Vista generates
the actual thumbnails. This can take a long time if you have mixed
files, especially videos mixed in or just a large number of files in
one folder. When I use large in this context I mean thousands of files
in ONE folder.

Humor me...

Make a new folder. Call it test. Copy ten SMALL sized images files,
like some JPEGs to this folder. Be sure it is set to large icon view.
Now just wait! How long depends on the total size of the images, plus
the speed of your computer. For me, it is instantanous. If you eyes
are very fast you may catch Vista in the act changing your "landscape"
into one of your thumbnails. Hint: If you have LOTS of files in the
folder Vista may not start at the beginning. It could be creating
thumbnails out of sight, you can check, by moving the scroll bar to
look further down in the folder. Again, give it at least 30 seconds or
so after scrolling to start to see any thumbnails developing.

If this works, try the folder you had trouble with. Just open it, be
sure it is set to show icons, then get up and stretch your legs and
come back in a few minutes. You should START to see your thumbnails. I
know if you have a lot in one folder it can take awhile the FIRST TIME
since Vista is building a database of thumbnails.

If you don't see this and you're sure you have the folder set to show
icons then one of three things probably:

1. The entire thumbnail database is corrupted.
2. One or more files are corrupted or not of a supported format.
3. None of the images you are trying to generate thumbnails for
are in supported formats. See Vista's help for more on this.

If either 1-2, a common sign is you have a mixed presentation. You see
some actual thumbnails and some placeholders. Usually the first
placeholder you see after a bunch of converted thumbnails is the
corrupt one. Try removing that single file from the folder. Close the
folder, to be sure it is closed open another one, then go back and see
if thumbnails are getting creating from that point again.

I do lots of video work and that means I run into files using all
kinds of weird codecs. This can present a similar problem. Vista will
generate normal thumbnails if it understands the codec used. If not
instead it will display the icon of the application that is associated
with the file type.

Example: Vista natively doesn't understand MPEG-4. With a little
trickery you can force Media Player to open it once you install a
codec via another player. While Media Player will now play the video
after first nagging it don't understand the file type it still refuses
to generate a thumbnail showing only the GOM Player which is what I
used to get a workable codec, so Vista instead of making a thumbnail
of MPEG-4 videos instead shows the GOM-4 icon. If you see similar
application icons and not actual thumbnails that is another possible
problem.

If you can't get it to work, you may want to try another application
that does the same thing. I've used a little free application called
XnView that very quickly builds thumbnails and no surprise to me, does
so much better and way faster than Vista. Plus it opens just about any
file type there is. Yes, it works find under Vista.

[paulp]

Thanks for the advice and I'll try it and let you know. However I am
skeptical for the following reasons: (i) when I go to the Sample Pictures
folder that was pre-installed, about a third of them display properly and the
others don't; (ii) I tried switching the default viewer to another program
(I'll also try the one you mentioned), and the thumbnail was comprised only
of that other program's "marker"; (iii) I also note that sometimes, for a
split second, the photos are displayed in the thumbnail when I first open the
folder - this occurs both with the Windows Photo Gallery and with this other
program; (iv) it's kind of like the icon for PDF files, sometimes they show
for a split second, then disappear; (v) I tried the Sample Videos which were
preinstalled, and these previewed perfectly.

Also, I can easily open all the thumbnails if I do so in the Windows Photo
Gallery, so it doesn't seem like the entire thumbnail database is corrupted.

The files I am trying to open are relatively large jpegs, about 2.75 megs
each (there's only about a dozen photos in this folder), but I've left
explorer open for quite some time and nothing has ever occurred - if it
really is a matter of just waiting much longer, the preview is useless. For
example I've had a file highlighted since I began typing this Reply, and
nothing has yet appeared.

Anyway, I'll give your suggestions a try and let you know the results.

[Mr. Ed]

I am having the exact same problem as Paul. I came here on a google search
looking for answers I hadn't already read elsewhere. The only thing I did
find here was "adam" acting condescending and arrogant toward Paul.

Adam, "humor ME"...

Try understanding that not everyone here is as smart as you, and maybe we
just CAN'T get it. We're all stupid I guess. Yeah, we try all your
suggestions but none of them help... maybe it's just the fact that Vista is
still brand new and screwed up. Ever think of that??

[Adam Albright]

I guess some people confuse authoritative with condescending. I don't
feel people are dumb but look at it from the prospective of the person
trying to help. If you keep telling people what to do step by step and
they still don't get it, what should I say when the feedback I get is
something like "that don't work", or "can I try something else" when
I KNOW what I told them to do does work.

Understood, people can get very frustrated when something doesn't
work. You should also understand the person trying to help gets
frustrated too when you tell somebody exactly what to do and they seem
to want to argue with you or act like what you told them doesn't work.
Vista is different than XP and prior versions of Windows. What has
changed is mostly cosmetic. Nothing radical has changed. For reasons
you'll have to ask Microsoft some features in Windows Explorer have
been redesigned, flat out changed or moved. I know.

My big gripe and it is common to all newsgroups is people simply do
not know HOW to properly ask technical questions. That often results
in the person trying to help needing to guess what they really want.
I'm pretty good at guessing, but I'm not a mind reader.

Take all the questions about thumbnails. If you are having trouble
with that the first thing you should be saying is WHAT file types you
are having trouble with. People generally just say they can't see
their pictures. That tells me nothing. I need to know what KIND of
pictures, JPEG, TIF, maybe a video like DivX, whatever. The reason I
need to know what type is Photo Galley can't show thumbnails for
certain types of files. If you check in Vista's help it tells what
file types Photo Galley has trouble with.

Next I need to know your settings. Like in this thread. The OP is
describing the icon that typically shows when you are in Detail view.
He described it. I KNOW that was what he was looking at so of course
you won't see pictures when you're in Detail View, you need to switch
to Icon view. That I'm guessing throws off a lot of people because for
some odd Reason Microsoft used the word "icon" when people will
associate that with something other then their thumbnails, so they may
never try one of the icon settings which is the ONLY setting that will
show your thumbnails.

Then Microsoft foolishly added a double menu bar. Make sure one of the
icon choices are checked under View in the top row AND be sure that
you select one of the icon views from VIEWS in the second row. Get it?
There is both a VIEW and VIEWS setting.

If that isn't confusing enough you can undo everything if you click on
Tools, Folder Options, View and check "always show icons, never
thumbnails" If you have that checked UNCHECK it otherwise you just set
Vista to override the other settings and it never with show your
thumbnails. Note how dumb Microsoft is in their choices of words.

Earlier Microsoft used the icon to represent your thumbnails, yet
under View in Folder options they use the word in the context to
override showing the very thumbnails you probably want to see.

I'm just the messenger, go yell at Microsoft.

Finally if you do as I said, are sure the settings are right and
you're sure you're in icon view, and you still see application icons
not your thumbnails that's Microsoft way of showing that it can't
generate a actual thumbnail and instead will try to show the
associated application's icon instead.

That means the file is corrupt, the database that stores the thumbnail
is corrupt or the file type isn't understood and therefore it can't
generate a thumbnail, yet dumb Windows may still play the file
perfectly.

[paulp]

Hi Adam,

As I indicated, I've tried pretty much what you've suggested. Both the
"View" and "Views" are selected as medium icons. The "always show icons" is
unchecked in the Folder Options. When I view the preinstalled Sample Picture
folder, 5 of the 15 appear as thumbnails, the remaining 10 appear as the
default icon. I have examined the properties of these photos and cannot
discern a reason why the 5 would appear and the others would not. These 5
consistenty appear, and the remaining 10 consistenty show the default icons.

None of our photos appear as thumbnails.

When I double click any of the photos from Explorer, the Office Picture
Manager launches, and the photo is opened. If I then click "Thumbnail View"
all photos in the folder display properly as thumbnails. Our own photos work
the same way.

So it does not seem as if the file, or even the database is corrupt. It
seems to me that my version of Vista is not working properly.

[Miroslav]

I have same problem, and i was solve them.

In Windows Explorer - Tools - Folder Options - View (Tab) - uncheck "Always
show icons, never tumbnails" - OK

After that, everything work fine.

It is very strange that even the included samples don't show properly.
So you are probably right, something is very wrong with your install
of Vista and your only solution would be to reinstall.

I feel stupid asking this, but how do I get to windows explorer/tools?

I got it. I accessed Folder Options through Control Panel and unchecked
the box under the View tab. It worked. Thanks much.

[rwh]

I agree that something fishy goes on with thumbnails in Vista. I have 3 PDF
documents in the same folder. Two of them show a thumbnail of the actual
document, the other shows only the default PDF icon, placeholder or whatever
it is called.

I also had a problem with dvr-ms files that I created with Media center (all
files have always been recorded to the same folder). The first three that I
created always showed a thumbnail view of the actual recorded clip. Then,
all of a sudden, any clips that I record in Media Center only show the
default Icon if I browse to that folder using explorer (the first three I
originally recorded still show the thumbnail. Now, If I open Media Center
fisrst, select one of the clips that does not show the thumbnail, paly it in
Media Center for a second, then quit Media Center and vrose to the folder in
Explorer, the thumbnail will be there from that point forward.

As for the PDF file, I do not know why it will not show a thumbmnail view.
When I right click on that Icon, select properties and then click the PDF
tab, there is no PDF Producer or PDF Version listed. The other two that do
have the thumbnals have information in both of these fields. Maybe that has
something to do with it.

I know this post does not help anyone, but it does show that there is
something that does prevent Vista from showing some thumbnails that may not
be as a result of the user's lack of knowledge.

[Adam Albright]

There are many reasons why Vista can't (won't) show thumbnails besides
not having things set up correctly in Explorer.

For video files the most common reason is the movie was compressed
with a codec Vista doesn't have or understand or the file itself is
corrupt. This is fairly common if you got file from the Internet.
There are many tools that can successfully rebuild a video file's
index, then it can be played correctly and then finally Vista may be
able to make a thumbnail for it.

Improper file association is another reason. If you have file X that
won't show a thumbnail check under Default programs in Control Panel,
the look at the master file association table is be sure Photo Gallery
is set as the default application to view the file type.

Some graphic file types are not supported. The following types are
supported: BMP,JPEG,JFIF,TIFF,PNG,WDP,ASF,AVI,MPEG,WMV

NOTE some common types are not, like GIF or MOV.

You may have a typo in or a missing file extension on the file.

You may find the following site useful. It explains how the Vista
shell works but more importantly you may get to talk to some of the
people that wrote the code, if you're lucky.

I quite agree about all the changes. Some of them seem totally unnecessary.
Try finding Add/Remove programs!

[zunguri]

I was having the same problem as others mentioned. I would browse to a
folder with photos in it and the thumbnails would briefly appear then revert
back to the default landscape. (I'm beginning to hate that landscape.)

The fact that they appeared at all meant the codec was fine. This led me to
think it was a database problem.

I went to delete the thumbnail database thinking it was corrupt. Same
result again.

I went back to look at the database file and discovered it was missing.
This was the asnwer! The permissions on the folder did not allow me write to
the folder.

Once I fixed the permissions and made the folder writable the thumbnails
stuck around for longer than a few milliseconds!

[dbknox]

I do understand the Thumbnail/icon thing
fairly well ( I work with pictures a lot) I could never explain things
as clearly as you have!
Condescending, not as far as I am concerned.
For the few of you that are still having troubles with your thumbnails
maybe, if you check what extensions your pictures are and let us know.
To see extensions go into "folder options", "view", unclick "hide
extensions for known file types".
It may be a just the type of file as also was mentioned by Adam.
*Adam* just for the heck of it I changed the extension from "name".jpg,
to just "name" and then back to "name".jpg and I now do not get a
thumbnail, what do you make of this? All the rest of my thumbnails are
still there.
I am going to have to experiment a bit more.

I tried everything I could to get the thumbnail, to show for the file
that I renamed and nothing worked. Then , just out of curiosity, I
copied and pasted the picture, in the same folder which, by the way
Vista allows,Vista added in a picture with the word "copy" added to the
name and this picture came up with a thumbnail. The old one is still in
the folder without a thumbnail and I have tried comparing the properties
of the two and they are identical. I have even opened the picture with a
few "photo" programs and "saved as" giving them it a different title and
it has a thumbnail.
This is strange!!
I was wondering if one of the posters that is having troubles with some
pictures in a folder having thumbnails and some not could try this and
see if they get the same result.

[cnd]

There are at least SEVEN DIFFERENT reasons why thumnails don't show up, and it's really annoying how people with 1 reason (or one idea) keep thinking their solution (or idea) is the single fix... it is not.

1. Some people have icons turned on instead of thumbnails
2. Some people have associations messed up
3. Some have visual display settings that happen to prevent thumbnails
4. Some have corrupted icon cache files
5. Some have incompatible (probably from XP) cache files
6. Some people have not enough temp/cache disk space for storing thumbnails
7. No doubt - theres more reasons too

MY particular problem is, I think, #4 or #5. The unusual symptom for this problem is that thumbnails DO work, for a moment, and then Vista stupidly overwrites the perfect thumbnails with the damned handler program icon. The "moment" it works for is dependent on how many files exist - for a lot of files on a network share - thumbnail work fine for a few minutes, before getting wiped over by the icon. For a few files on a local disk - it's so fast, you can't even notice it's an overwrite, rather than a wrong-disply issue.

Once again - sorry I've got no solution - but hopefully this will discourage the rude people who belittle us for being idiots, when in fact, *they* just don't appreciate the care WE are putting into the description of symptoms, and the experiments we do to try and fix before resorting to google...