Hello
i wanted to ask if i can turn off only folder preview thumbnails in all Windows Explorer windows and not files preview thumbnails?

Since installing Service Pack 1 I have had major problems with video clips. There are a number of scenarios with one thing in common: when I open the folder that contains the video files, the address bar starts to gray out as it loads the file icons then slows drastically and the icon stays as the label (MPEG, WMV, AVI) without the thumbnail picture for none, one, some or all of the files in the folder. Eventually the address bar is totally grayed out but the "label icons" remain "un-thumbnailed". Sometimes when I go to another folder and return to the original folder one or more "label icon" turns into a "thumbnail icons".

All files can be opened and play correctly whether they are "label icons" or "thumbnailed icons".

When I try to delete or move the "thumbnailed icons" everything works perfectly. On the other hand, almost anything except correct operation occurs with "label icons".

For example, when I try to Empty a 16.1 MB "label icon" from the Recycle Bin, I get a box that says "Deleting 1 item (16.1 MB) - From Recycle Bin - 0 items discovered (0 bytes) - under More Information: From: Recycle Bin - Time Remaining: Calculating... - Items Remaining: 1 (16.1 MB) - Speed: 0 bytes/sec" and the progress bar shows a small bar moving across it from left to right but the progress bar never turns into a solid line.

This box never changes and is shown in Task Manager as a Running Application. The only way to absolutely get rid of the box is to end the task using Task Manager. Using the Cancel key or the X to close may or may not close the box.

When I try to move a "label icon" to another location or click delete sometimes it will move to the new location or the Recycle Bin or I get the box described above.

I can only guess that the problem stems from not being able to get the thumbnail information and that the drastically reduced speed of the address bar is a symptom of trying to find the info.

I have done the following:

Tools->Folder Options->View->unchecked Always show icons, never thumbnails

From Brink's tutorial:
(Thumbnails in Windows Explorer)

2. To Enable Windows Explorer Thumbnails -

A) Click on the download button below to download the Enable_Explorer_Thumbnails.reg file.

3. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.
4. Right click the .reg (On Desktop) file and click Merge.
5. Click on the Run button for Security Warning pop-up.
6. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.
7. When done, you can delete the .reg file (On Desktop).
8. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply changes.

So far, no joy

Any and all help greatly appreciated as this is driving me crazy (normally a pretty short drive anyway).

Windows Vista Home Premium
32 bit Operating System
Service Pack 1
Dell Inspiron 530
Intel Core Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz 2.20GHz
RAM 2.00 Gb
Hard Drive: 288 GB 119 GB Used 168 GB Free
Compress this drive to save space Not Checked
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Shawn, thank you for your fast response and my apologies for my slow thank you.

I redid your reg edit procedure and now all works fine - I'm guessing that I must have made an error somewhere for it not to take the first time. I will also do both other steps in the near future as they seem to be good things to do.

Once again a big thank you - you and your compatriots are the only reason I haven't demanded a replacement with XP!

Shawn, I have exactly the same problem with Thumbs in Vista. I see them on all file types except saved web pages. I save them as ".mht" files. I'm running Vista home premium SP1 64bit. I've been at this for weeks now and have followed all the advice here, to no avail. I've just successfully downloaded and installed your regedit file and also ran "scannow" which found no problems. I enclose a screenie of my registry's "Explorer" entries. I have no problems with jpgs, bmps, all movie clips, etc, but no Web page thumbs. Are we saying that there definitely should be Web thumbs in Vista ? Another site told me that it was removed in IE7, but I also run XP SP3 with IE7 and Web thumbs are there.
Desperate, Fred

Shawn,
As an exercise I downloaded the "disable thumbnails" registry fix and installed it. It successfully showed up in the registry and also disabled thumbnails !
See here:-



I then hoped that reinstalling the "enable thumbs" registry data would maybe now do the trick, but it didn't. As I said before, I see all thumbs except those related to web pages.
Thank you, Shawn.
Fred