Forum Discussion
JPG and DNG files not showing images
Win 11 Pro....I had a major disaster....I accidently deleted about 5000 photos of many subjects taken over many years.......I thought they were backed up on Google Photos....but alas and alak....they were not.....
Several iterations of various data recovery programs....(File Scavanger was the most successful)......I have been able to restore about half of my photos.....I put the restored files on a separate SATA drive....and mounted it in my W11 box.....
When I open the photos drive (H: in this case).......I see icons for the photos.....I do not see any of the images themselves......this is for both JPG and DNG files.....Right now I am using
Picassa Photo Viewer to open the files and see the content......BUT the content is NOT visible UNLESS I open them in Picassa....or some other photo viewer application....I use Picassa Photo Viewer because I'm used to it......
So question is......How can I make the file icon show the actual photo content of the file...without having to "open" the file in some photo viewer....????
Hope I made this "understandable".....
Many thanks
1 Reply
1. Quick fixes
Step 1: Reset the photo viewer
Right click on the picture → open mode → select other applications
Select “Photos” application → Check “Always use this application”.
If it doesn't work, try to use Windows Photo Viewer instead (you need to enable it manually):
powershell
reg add “HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command” /t REG_SZ /d “%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe `”%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll`“, ImageView_Fullscreen %1” /f
2. Rebuild the thumbnail cache
Open File Explorer → View → Check “Hidden Items”
Delete the following cache files:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db
Restart the computer (the system will rebuild the cache automatically)
3. Check the file association
Repair method:
Open Settings → Applications → Default Applications
Search for “.jpg” → select “Photos” as default app.
Repeat the same for “.dng”
4. Driver/decoder problem
Solution:
Update the graphics card driver:
Right-click Start Menu → Device Manager → Display Adapters → Right-click to update driver.
Install the RAW Image Extension:
Install “Raw Image Extension” from Microsoft Store.
5. Ultimate Repair Solution
System Integrity Check:
Run CMD as administrator:
cmd
sfc /scannow
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Create a new user account to test:
Settings → Accounts → Other users → Add local account
