I don't know if this is a fault or something I have altered but if I go to 'My Pictures' in windows explorer I get a long list of files that are mostly .jpg (there are some bmp's) .

They just show up as files, in fact, I use a picture program called 'irfanview' so they all have that as the picture on the screen.

If I open the preview pane and click on one of them it shows up on the right side of the page just as an irfanview file and doesn't show the picture.

I am sure this used to show the picture in both panes?

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong?

This is very simple to fix. While in the directory of the troubled files, click "View" in the bar, and select Small Icons, for a smaller thumbnail (preview) of the picture, select Medium for a some-what larger view. I have also attached a picture.
If this does not help please let me know by replying to this thread.

 

this is what I get with medium view.

 

Alright, Do me a Favor. Hit the "Windows Key" and "R" to open up a run box. Additionally, you may search Run in the start menu. In Run, input the word "cleanmgr.exe" and hit ok. Please exclude the quotation marks. A Program named Disk Cleanup should appear, with a box and options to tick, in their make sure you tick "Thumbnails" and if you like, you may select additional options like Temporary Files or Recycle Bin, once you ticked Thumnails click Ok and wait. Once finished, I recommend you rebooting your PC after it has completed.

 

Do you have "Show thumbnails instead of icons" selected in visual effects?

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OK all done and the problem is still there.

 

Hi Frank, I did have show thumbnails but I have unticked the box and clicked apply without any change. do I need to do a shutdown and restart again?
show thumbnails is the default? If I uncheck it the radio button above changes to 'custom'?

 

I don't use the top-most default setting that selects all visual effects because I don't have any need for most of them, and it also reduces the amount of graphic "system hungriness".

I also use IrfanView 4.44 as the default app for opening and viewing images.

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If you open windows explorer , go to a page with pictures , go to medium icons , open the preview pane and click on one of the pictures can you see the picture or just the red cat?

My laptop has irfanview on it and the pictures show up correctly there?

 

I recommend running a repair tool. A Great Free one. The link is here.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows-repair-all-in-one/
Download the software and select Repair Icons. Additionally if you have any other minor problems using that tool will fix it for sure! its a great free tool. I recommend however to create a restore point before using it, it is really stable but you never know what happens and with a computer I wouldn't take the risk especially with software that modify and change certain parts of your PC like the registry.

 

Found it.
In windows explorer the pull down menu 'tools' has a box called 'folder options' the tab 'view' in there has a list of tick boxes, one is 'always show icons, never thumbnails' I unchecked this and the pictures all appeared.
I wish I know which piece of software had checked that box for me

 

Oops! I forgot about that window.

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Discussing it on here led me to it anyway so I am grateful.

 

Are you going to 'windows explorer/tools/folder options/view' and looking at the top check box? (see the picture three entries ago).
I am looking at the files using explorer.
Windows explorer isn't windows photo viewer.
If you are not using explorer can I suggest, from a purely layman's point of view, that you either get the latest updates for photo viewer or you download IRFANVIEW 4.44 as Frank suggests above?