It’s quite possible that the thumbnail preview might be disabled by default and you may need to enable it again. so don’t worry if you can’t see the thumbnail preview of your images because it doesn’t mean there is any problem with your Windows. So without wasting any time let’s see how to actually enable Thumbnail preview in Windows 10 with the below-listed methods.
5 Ways to enable Thumbnail preview in Windows 10
Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong.
5 Ways to enable Thumbnail preview in Windows 10 Method 1: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Folder Options Method 2: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Group Policy Editor Method 3: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Registry Editor Method 4: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Advanced system settings Method 5: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Registry
Method 1: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Folder Options
1.Press Windows Key + E to open File Explorer then click on View > Options.
2.Now switch to View tab in Folder Options. 3.Search for “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and uncheck it.
4.This would enable thumbnail previews but if for some reason it doesn’t work for you then continue to the next method.
Method 2: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Group Policy Editor
If for some reason the above settings are not visible to you or you can’t change it then first enable this feature from Group Policy Editor. For Windows 10 home user’s who don’t have gpedit.msc by default follow the next method to enable Thumbnail preview settings from Registry. 1.Press Windows Key + R then type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and hit Enter.
2.From the left-hand side menu, select User Configuration. 3.Under User Configuration expand Administrative Templates > Windows Components.
4.Now select File Explorer and in the right window pane search for “Turn off the display of thumbnails and only display icons.“ 5.Double-click on it to change settings and select Not Configured.
6.Click Apply followed by OK and close group policy editor. 7.Now again follow the above method 1, 4, or 5 to change the Thumbnail preview settings.
Method 3: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Registry Editor
1.Press Windows Key + R then type “Regedit” (without quotes) and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
2.Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer 3.Double click on DisableThumbnails and set it’s value to 0.
4.If the above DWORD is not found then you need to create it by right-clicking then select New > DWORD (32-bit value). 5.Name the key DisableThumbnails then double click and set it’s value to 0. 6.Now navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer 7.Find DisableThumbnails DWORD but if you don’t see any such key then right click New >DWORD (32-bit value). 8.Name this key as DisableThumbnails then double-click on it and change it’s value to 0.
9.Reboot your PC to save changes and then follow method 1, 4, or 5 to enable Thumbnail preview in Windows 10.
Method 4: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Advanced system settings
1.Right-click on This PC or My Computer then select Properties.
2.In properties, window click Advanced system settings in the left-hand side menu.
3.Now in Advanced tab click Settings under Performance.
4.Make sure to check mark “Show thumbnails instead of icons” and click Apply followed by OK.
5.Reboot your PC to save changes.
Method 5: Enable Thumbnail Preview via Registry
1.Press Windows Key + R then type Regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
2.Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 3.Find the DWORD IconsOnly in the right window pane and double click on it.
4.Now change it value to 1 in order to display thumbnails. 5.Close everything and reboot your PC. Recommended for you:
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That’s it you have successfully learned How to enable Thumbnail preview in Windows 10 if you still have any questions regarding this guide then feel free to ask them in the comment’s section.
