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Some image files are not showing thumbnails after USB file transfer

Anonymous
2023-07-25T21:22:49+00:00

Hello!

Yesterday I was using a newly-bought USB stick. I didn't have enough space on OneDrive to automatically transfer files to a new PC and since I have a lot of files I need to transfer I decided to simply put all the files (most of which are image (jpg and PNG, however there are some other image files) on the USB stick and transfer it that way.

I was transferring files from a W10pro Laptop to a W10pro PC.

I essentially just dragged and dropped files onto my PC.

I don't recall if it happened right after but I started noticing that the image files aren't showing thumbnails anymore. SOME. The screenshot images (originally from the PC) and some randoms are showing thumbnails. Nearly all transfered image files are not showing thumbnails. Some folders that were not transfered over that had images also had those image thumbnails disappear.

Instead of the small version of the image, it shows the white/blue image icon.

I have asked some friends who are tech-savy for help and searched the internet for help but I haven't been able to find anything. I tried cleaning my bin, Disk Cleanup, checking file explorer settings, restarting my PC, running an antivirus check, updating my windows, and a bunch of other fixes which I don't really recall. I did do some kind of a corrupted file search/repair I believe. (The thing you access by pressing Win+x, I don't recall, sorry)

Sometimes the file explorer would become very slow and laggy, which shouldn't happen since I have a powerful computer that is brand new.

I'm happy to provide any needed information if it is needed.

This is a big issue for me because I work with art and design and regularly scout through my image files for references. Not being able to see thumbnails is crippling to a point.

Thank you.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-10-25T07:31:13+00:00

    One of the images

    Hi im Xenia i am having the same problem with transfers from hard drive external to 2TB usb formatted with NTFS,some photos are being copied but others are not showing up only opening file thumbnail(photos) with two blue arrows ,and the photo number eg if ive copied photo 52 ont usb is 52 under thumbnail of photos no image showing

    I copied some back to original hdisk and they show up correctly.

    I have done chkdsk R:/f R being drive of usb nothing changed

    Can you help as i am not sure what is going on

    I have windows 11

    I hope you understand what ive tried to describe as the problem im facing

    Thank you in advance Xenia

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-10-25T07:23:45+00:00

    Hi im Xenia i am having the same problem with transfers from hard drive external to 2TB usb formatted with NTFS,some photos are being copied but others are not showing up only opening file thumbnail(photos) with two blue arrows ,and the photo number eg if ive copied photo 52 ont usb is 52 under thumbnail of photos no image showing

    I copied some back to original hdisk and they show up correctly.

    I have done chkdsk R:/f R being drive of usb nothing changed

    Can you help as i am not sure what is going on

    I have windows 11

    I hope you understand what ive tried to describe as the problem im facing

    Thank you in advance Xenia

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-27T06:01:45+00:00

    Hello Petra Matković.

    Thanks for your reply.

    Did the image thumbnails work well when you copy these images from the USB device to the laptop?

    You can try cutting some pictures as a test and pasting it into another directory to check whether the image thumbnails will display.

    And we find that this icon appears on your file names, did it the One Drive not Syncing these files? It also may cause you can't get the thumbnails.

    If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

    Best Regards,

    Tommy-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-26T11:32:39+00:00

    Hello Tommy!

    Thank you very much for the swift response and trying to help me.

    Unfortunately, your first suggestion is unclear to me and I wasn't able to follow through with it.

    I have done the second suggestion of rebuilding the index and the problem was not fixed.

    I have downloaded some new images, and their thumbnails are displaying perfectly fine.

    Here is a photo of some files I transfered over. Some transfered images have thumbnails while others don't. Some files I already had on my PC and didn't transfer over are also not showing thumbnails anymore.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-07-26T03:24:33+00:00

    Hello Petra Matković.

    Welcome to Microsoft Community.

    Regarding to your information I assume that the image thumbnails not shown after you transfer them through USB device.

    First, you can try to use these commands in CMD run as administrator to clean the cache of thumbnails.

    taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

    del /f /s /q /a %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db

    start explorer.exe

    After that open the image and turn off it check whether it works.

    You can also try to rebuild the index to solve the problem.

    1. Open the "Control Panel" by typing "Control Panel" in the Windows search bar and selecting the corresponding result.
    2. In the Control Panel, change the view to "Large icons" or "Small icons" to easily find the options.
    3. Click on "Indexing Options".
    4. In the Indexing Options window, click on the "Advanced" button.
    5. In the Advanced Options window, switch to the "Index Settings" tab.
    6. Under the Troubleshooting section, click on the "Rebuild" button.
    7. A confirmation message will appear, informing you that rebuilding the index might take a while. Click on "OK".
    8. Windows will now start rebuilding the search index. This process can take some time, especially if you have a large number of files on your system.
    9. Once the index rebuild is completed, you can close the Indexing Options window.

    Check whether it works.

    At the same time, I noticed that you seem to be involved in professional image work, so you can also check whether

    you have installed extensions for the relevant photo encoding formats.

    If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

    Best Regards,

    Tommy-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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