15 Ways to Fix It When Windows 11 Folder Thumbnails Aren't Showing Up

Why Are My Image Thumbnails Not Showing?

Refresh your Windows 11 desktop.

Right-click anywhere on your desktop and selectRefresh.

Change the Windows 11 file icon size.

File icons wont display a thumbnail preview when their size is set to Small.

Right-tap the desktop and selectView, and then make sureMedium iconsorLarge iconsis selected.

Change the Windows 11 folder view style.

Right-click within a folder and selectView>TilesorContentto enable icon thumbnails.

Enable Windows 11 thumbnails.

Having this option enabled will turn off thumbnails and replace them with generic file jot down icons.

Restore File Explorer default prefs.

Open Task Manager by pressingCtrl+Shift+Esc.

Then, in theProcessestab, right-clickWindows Explorerand chooseRestart.

A quick system restart can fix a number of issues and improve performance in general.

Perform a Windows update.

upgrade your Windows 11 apps.

An out-of-date app can affect how file icons are displayed.

Remove junk files from Windows 11.

Deleting unneeded files can improve system performance and help everything run better.

Check how much free space you have left.

Consider deletingcommon items that take up lots of space.

Run a Windows troubleshooter.

Open configs and selectSystem>Troubleshoot.

If a troubleshooter is recommended, selectRun.

Change the Windows 11 default apps.

Check Windows advanced system options to ensure that thumbnails are showing.

kick off the Start menu, typeView advanced system tweaks, then select that result from the list.

UnderPerformance, selectSettingsand make sureSave taskbar thumbnail previewsandShow thumbnails instead of iconsare checked.

SelectApplyfollowed byOKto save any changes made.

spin up the sfc /scannow command.

The easiest way to turn on thumbnail previews in Windows 10 is through File Explorer prefs.

Windows has kept thumbnail image data in a specific location since Vista.