Images are not displaying in my outlook 365 desktop inbox

Question

The images display in web outlook and outlook on my smartphone. if I view source and copy the image url it displays fiine, there is no ability to download the images. It says the linked image cannot be displayed. This started happening yesterday evening

Answer 1

Hi Nic Wood

Thanks for posting your question. I understand how frustrating it is when images display correctly in Outlook on the web and mobile, but not in the Outlook desktop app.

Before moving forward, could you please confirm whether you have already tried all of the steps suggested by Q&A Assist?

If those steps didn’t resolve the issue, please try this next (quick check):

1, Check Outlook Trust Center image settings

• Open Outlook desktop
• Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings
• Select Automatic Download
• Make sure “Don’t download pictures automatically in HTML email messages” is unchecked
• Click OK > restart Outlook, and test again

2, Add sender to Safe Senders (test)

As a test, you can also add the sender to “Safe Senders”:

• Go to Junk Email > Junk Email Options > Safe Senders
• Add the sender’s email address
• Restart Outlook and check if images load

This helps confirm whether Outlook’s content‑blocking logic is involved.

Please feel free to let me know how it goes. Thank you so much for your time and understanding.

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Answer 2

In Outlook 365 desktop, this behavior typically occurs when linked images are blocked by a security setting or policy in classic Outlook for Windows.

Try these steps on the Windows device where Outlook desktop is installed:

1. Close Outlook.
2. Check the Internet Explorer/Windows Internet Options setting for encrypted pages (affects Outlook):
   1. Open Internet Options (press Windows key, type Internet Options, or open from Control Panel).
   2. Go to the Advanced tab.
   3. Under Security, find Do not save encrypted pages to disk.
   4. Clear (uncheck) Do not save encrypted pages to disk.
   5. Select OK.
   6. Reopen Outlook and test whether images now display.
3. If the issue persists, check the Outlook registry setting that blocks HTTP images:
   1. Close Outlook.
   2. Press Windows key + R, type regedit.exe, and press Enter.
   3. Navigate to one (or both) of these keys, depending on configuration (replace x.0 with the Office version in use, for example 16.0 for Microsoft 365):
      • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Common
      • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Common
   4. In each location, look for a DWORD value named BlockHTTPimages.
   5. If BlockHTTPimages exists, right‑click it and select Delete.
   6. Confirm deletion when prompted.
   7. Close Registry Editor and reopen Outlook.

If the BlockHTTPimages value is under the Policies hive, it is likely being enforced by Group Policy; in that case, an administrator must change the policy, otherwise the value will be recreated and images will continue to be blocked.

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References:

• The Linked image cannot be displayed error in an Outlook email message
• HTTPS linked images in HTML emails display the red X