Forum Discussion
Photos App not working "Invalid Value For Registry"
I've had this problem reoccur for multiple Azure Virtual Desktop customers throughout the last years (multi-session Windows 10 and 11).
When a user tries to open a .jpeg or any other photo-file, they get an error saying "Invalid Value For Registry". For some reason it cannot open the associated Photos app from Windows.
The problem is always fixed by going to the Start Menu and manually opening the Photos app from there. At the first start it looks like the app just got updated.
After starting it and closing the app, opening .jpegs etc. works fine.
The problem we have is that 'resetting' the Photos app needs to be done for every user, and it seems to reoccur every half year/ year.
I am wondering if there are any more permanent solutions to this in the AVD community. We could install a third-party photo viewer to workaround the problem, but we would like to solve it with the built-in photo viewer.
27 Replies
Right-click any image on your desktop and enter Properties, change the Opens with: to Photos
It might be on some weird system app by default.
This seemed to work to me.
Our WorkAround is to open the Photos App (search for it in the search field), close it again. Then it works - for some time.
- Ditto, we just get people to open and close the Photos app but it is a utter pain, we are 99% sure this is to do with the app updating and either different hosts ending up with different versions of the same apps or the registry referencing the old build version number.
To be honest having just had a load of issues with AppX deployments with FSLogix on Windows 10 hosts recently due to a regression in an update in July, and having been looking at the FSlogix logs I do have to question the logic in making everything retched modern apps updated via the app store and then basically re-deployed into each user session every login; I was looking and at each login our hosts report they process like nearly 70 AppX packages, none of which are third party packages, all are Microsoft in-box apps or there dependencies - can anyone explain to me what was wrong with say calc.exe, a file that is about 1MB and statically installed on the host at machine-wide level and why something bloated to 21x the size is an improvement!
I beleive the reason that the workarounds are temporary is because different AVD hosts have different photo versions. With a new FXLogix profile, the current host's photo app version is stored in the file associations, then when you access a different AVD host you have a different file association to the photos path.
Currently considering registering the dll's for the old Photo Viewer which exists in Win11, just not registered. https://green.cloud/docs/how-to-enable-photo-viewer-in-windows-server/#:~:text=How%20to%20Enable%20Photo%20Viewer%20in%20Windows%20Server,6%20Step%206%3A%20Allow%20Images%20in%20Thumbnails%20
- I have experienced this issue since I started working with AVD around 18 months ago. We have tried building VM's using marketplace images, custom images and the Custom Image builder, and still experience the same problem with each VM type.
Hi All,
I'm very glad to have found this, because I've been having the exact same issue within our AVD environment for about 8 months. We've had a Microsoft Premier case raised for this period but so far, nothing
We seemed to have first noticed this issue shortly after updating & rolling out our base image, which makes me think it's either FSLogix or Windows Update related. I've given Microsoft libraries of info & logs, but they've not yet been able to fix.
I've ran this on one of our test AVD servers & so far, it's worked, but I think like with all "fixes" posted here, it'll only be temporary:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
I'll keep everyone updated with the case, so hopefully we can get this resolved!
mlroberts98 Any news about your testing.
We have the same problem. Thinking of af workaround. Using RunOnce til run at script that opens and closes til Photo App (and film/video viewer app). Then deploying the RunOnce every time we update the Template (or putting it in the Template).
I am facing the same issue with Photos app. I have my all system added in Domain in which i am facing this issue.(On-Prem)
Here's what i have noticed.
1. I am only facing this issue with normal domain users(no admin accesses)
2. App working fine for Domain Administrator and system admin users.
Here's what i have tested
1. By Repairing/Resetting the App, it starts to work fine but for 1-2 days then i start to see the same issue.
2. Updated windows, no changes.
3. I also updated the permission in registry for whole group it worked fine 1-2 days. But again encountered the same issue.
Please help me with this.
We have had this issue from day 1 of AVD, 18 months. So many FSLogix versions.
Find it happens to users after we update the gold image and redeploy when there has been a 'significant' photos app update. doesn't happen everytime though.
We rebuild/update monthly and may happen 1/3 builds so probably aligns with updates.
Staff have been told, if they get this.. they are to open Photos app once from start menu, then it somehow reestablishes the association (as it IS actually set correctly). They are good for a few weeks.
Annoying!
do you use fslogix? I have the same problem and i'm starting to wonder if it is related to fslogix being in the mix. I might do a simple test without fslogix in the picture today.
- Yes, we are also using FSLogix. I have noticed that it isn't very friendly to Windows Apps, so that might be logical. We cannot ditch FSLogix however.
- It is also very possible that sysprep is screwing this up as well. Either fslogix or sysprep. But here's the update from my tests this morning. I basically could NOT reproduce it because the photo app was in a "working state" from the get go. I don't currenly know of a broken user either.
BUT i tested combinations of having the InstallAppxPackages fslogix reg key set to 0 and 1 and saw no difference in behavior, either deleting the profile container and trying logging in wiht both settings AND keeping the same profile in place and toggling the setting, restarting the fslogix app service each time.
So yeah, inconclusive testing so I can't reliably reproduce this at all.
maybe the latest fslogix build resolved this issue.
- Hello, I have been experiencing the same issues. We don't want to use a third party app. I have noticed that it occurs when there is a prompt after opening. I have been looking for a way to disable or auto accept that prompt.
HIT-AnthonyAlmeida We've given up, so unreliable. We've gone back to the legacy 'Windows Photo Viewer' application, users prefer it also.
KevHal We are using the Legacy "Windows Photo Viewer" now as well. There are not constant updates which require user interaction. I notice it tends to coincide with some prompt within the MS Photo app, such as promoting a new feature. I'm looking for some registry edit that would handle or disable that prompt. Kind of like an OOBE or First Start setting.
- Hi! We've had the same issue for our customers. I think you will save yourself a lot of pain and just go with a third party app. Honestly, we decided not to use any more resources than necessary, and this issue kept coming up now and then.
Sometime some updates change the default apps for specific types of files. I just had a similar experience when I used Norton to update some apps. When I tried to open a photo, it reported invalid registry value.
Solution:
- Go to settings and click on Apps in the left pane (6th)
- Under Apps, click on 'Default apps' (3rd).
- Scroll down to 'Photos' and click on it.
- Scroll down the file extensions to '.jpeg' and click on it.
- Default apps options will display, choose 'Photos' and click on 'Set default' and default app for '.jpeg' files will be changed to Photos.
- Repeat above for 'jpg'.
- Now photos will be opened by the photo app.
We have seen this issue since the very beginning. Our users have been plaqued with it!
- I had frequent issues with all of the built in windows apps also. Ended up going with the following replacements, and set default apps via group policy:
Photos - Irfanview
Video - VLC Media Player
Calculator - Windows7calculator
