How to Turn Off and Disable Thumbnail Preview in Vista

Windows Vista creates and generates a preview thumbnail for almost every file which the file format is supported when the file is been viewed in Windows Explorer, regardless view type selected, including photos, pictures, videos, documents, etc. The Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons and Tiles view will show the thumbnails of the files, while Small Icons, List and Details view does not. However, when users open a folder in Windows Explorer, no matter which file view option selected, the system will start preview thumbnails generation process, with a green progress indicator sliding across the address bar to indicate the percentage completed.

Windows Explorer Progress Bar

The creation of thumbnail for quick previewing of files or images in Explorer slows down the other file operations and severely affect overall computer performance, especially when on initial viewing of folder containing thousands of videos, movies, graphics, photos and other media, as Vista system will access each and every files to generate the thumbnails. Thus, by disabling the thumbnail previewing feature in Windows Explorer will speed up access to the folder and increase system response time especially when have to browse back and forth between multiple folders.

  1. Click on the Start button, then on All Programs, follow by Accessories.
  2. Run Windows Explorer.
  3. In Windows Explorer window, click on Organize button on the menu/shortcut bar.
  4. In the pull down menu, click on Folder and Search Options.
  5. Folder Options dialog window will appear. Click on View tab.
  6. Under the Files and Folders tree heading, check (tick) the checkbox next to Always show icons, never thumbnails option.
  7. Click the OK button.

The Windows Vista Explorer will no longer generate and create any thumbnail when viewing a folder in any type of views. This trick is especially useful for users who need to copy or move files between folders to perform the task faster.


14 Responses to “How to Turn Off and Disable Thumbnail Preview in Vista”

  1. RobertSeattle
    August 12th, 2009 03:11
    14

    Thanks.
    I find this “amusing” as I’ve been using Windows for 15+ years now and it took me 30 minutes to “fix” this lack of thumbnail problem. I can’t believe Microsoft doesn’t somehow prompt you for thumbnails when every file in a particular folder has pictures – it’s a “duh” feature.

  2. karen
    August 1st, 2009 20:32
    13

    its really helpfull!! thankyou so muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  3. thanks
    July 31st, 2009 00:59
    12

    Thanks you so much!

  4. michael rutalo
    April 2nd, 2009 01:35
    11

    Thank you very much. Been trying to do this for a while

  5. Octavio
    December 15th, 2008 11:25
    10

    Thanks, i was trying to do the exactly opposed to this, and finally i could do it.

  6. Loading Slow - Computer Help & PC Help Forums - Provided By Free PC Help
    November 7th, 2008 13:34
    9

    [...] if the folder contains videos and music files. Fortunately, the feature can be turned off. How to Turn Off and Disable Thumbnail Preview in Vista Make the changes, save your settings and restart the computer. Does the window still take time to [...]

  7. gulfam
    November 1st, 2008 21:38
    8

    Its really helpful thank you

  8. Jane
    October 29th, 2008 03:00
    7

    Thank you !!!!

  9. Jeff Peterson
    September 1st, 2008 03:56
    6

    Fixed!!
    I loaded 2 worship presentation software packages this week and lost my thumbnail view.
    Everyone else on the net got way too deep, when
    it was a simple check box in my view tab.
    Thanks!!!
    Jeff

  10. nerd.
    May 25th, 2008 09:04
    5

    Is there any way you can do this for only certain types of files? I quite like being able to see my image files, but my PC takes ages to load thumbnails for video, and they’re not saved after the first go – every time I go into the directories in question (at least first time after a reboot) it takes 5 minutes!

  11. mave
    April 1st, 2008 05:18
    4

    MY HERO!!!!!!!

  12. dav
    September 16th, 2007 15:53
    3

    once the thumbnails are created for the first time (a few seconds) the thumbnails loading is very fast. I would never disable it

  13. boxvero
    September 16th, 2007 10:46
    2

    Yes..finally it works thanks for your article….

  14. Trucco: Disabilitare la creazione delle anteprime - BlogVista
    September 15th, 2007 22:47
    1

    [...] Mydigitallife.info Condividi Scritto da [...]

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