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On my ASUS laptop with Windows 10 (UX425J) I have a problem very similar to what is described in Thumbnails (only .png) and some icons on taskbar stop showing (Windows 10) and Can't see PNG previews in Windows 7?. Specifically, the .png files are the only ones I cannot see previews on thumbnails. Weirdly, the problem goes away, as I established experimentally, if and only if I set Paint.NET to be the default opening app for PNGs. Of course, that stopgap measure is very inconvenient when actually opening PNGs, so I would prefer being able to have a proper viewer associated without losing thumbnails.

The problem seems to be very persistent; in fact, it was present in the laptop already at the moment of purchase (so I cannot go back to any previous state), and was back then much more pervasive: no image file was having a thumbnail, and some of the apps on the taskbar (such as Store) were having blank icons as well. Simply by installing K-Lite Codec Pack, I managed to fix all the thumbnails and icons - except the persistent PNGs!

The Always show icons, never thumbnails method as given in the Windows 7 question was the thing I tried first, and it never worked; the registry edit method from the Windows 10 one helped for 10 seconds or something, and then the thumbnails promptly vanished once again.

Lastly, the problem was not solved by reinstalling Windows 10 using Media Creation Tool.

Edited to demonstrate how the files look with different default apps

Onyl Paint.NET works

Alexander Z.
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  • Have you tried another image editor, such as IrfanView, as default for .PNG, just as a test? – DrMoishe Pippik Aug 23 '23 at 14:11
  • Yes, multiple apps. IrfanView (which I would prefer), Windows standard Photos app, MS Paint, various random image viewers - only Paint.NET fixed the problem. – Alexander Z. Aug 23 '23 at 14:13
  • Not sure if either would help, but see https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-fix-thumbnail-previews-not-showing-in-windows-11-10-explorer/ and https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/23690-icons-png-files-shown-windows-explorer-rather-than-thumbnails.html , if you haven't yet. – DrMoishe Pippik Aug 23 '23 at 14:17
  • Instead of Paint.net try and associate them with the built-in [Photos](https://www.howtogeek.com/345504/how-to-open-heic-files-on-windows-or-convert-them-to-jpeg/#how-to-view-heic-files-in-windows-10-39-s-photos-app) application. I can confirm with the codec from the Windows Store, I can preview images, within File Explorer. – Ramhound Aug 23 '23 at 21:46
  • If it worked, I would have not been asking that question. When I associate with the built-in photos, the preview is replaced by an empty sheet, like Windows implements when it does not know the format at all. – Alexander Z. Aug 24 '23 at 07:06
  • Edited to demonstrate how the previews turn out to be. Cleaning thumbnail cache after switching to Photos only helps to wipe the remaining existing thumbnails that somehow persisted despite the change and set the absence of thumbnail for all the files. – Alexander Z. Aug 24 '23 at 07:26

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