Windows 11 shows thumbnails of images and videos when we open a folder. The thumbnail preview of images helps us to view images without opening them, so we can find the image we are looking for without opening it. Sometimes, the thumbnail preview loads slowly. In this article, we will show you what you can do if Windows 11 thumbnails are slow to load.
Windows Thumbnail cache or Thumbs.db files are hidden data-files in the Windows operating system, which contain small images, displayed when you view a folder in “thumbnail” view, as opposed to tile, icon, list, or detail view. Windows keeps a copy of all your pictures, video and document thumbnails so that they can be displayed quickly when you open a folder.
Fix Windows 11 Thumbnails slow to load
Are your Windows 11/10 thumbnails slow to load? You can speed up Thumbnail Loading using Group Policy, Registry, or Windows 11 Settings. We show you how! Before we show you the methods to speed up thumbnail loading in Windows 11, let’s look at some fixes to resolve this issue. Use the following suggestions to fix this problem:
- Clear thumbnail cache and other temporary files
- Upgrade your hardware
Below, we have explained all these fixes in detail.
1] Clear thumbnail cache and other temporary files
The first step is to delete the thumbnail cache on your system. Windows keeps a copy of all your pictures, videos, and document thumbnails so they can be displayed quickly when you open a folder. If you delete these thumbnails, Windows will recreate them again as needed.
To delete the thumbnail cache, you can use the Disk Cleanup app or Windows 11 Settings. We will show you the method to clear the thumbnail cache via Windows 11 Settings.
- Open Windows 11 Settings.
- Go to System > Storage > Temporary files.
- Let Windows scan for temporary files. After the scanning completes, uncheck all the checkboxes and select the Thumbnails checkbox.
- Now, click Remove files.
The above step will delete the thumbnails from your system. If you want to delete other temporary files, you can select those checkboxes too.
You can also, instead, use these commands in an elevated CMD to to delete and clear the Thumbnail cache:
cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
attrib –h
thumbcache_*.db
del thumbcache_*.db
start explorer
Please let us know if this worked for you and helped you resolve your problem.
TIP: FixWin 11 for Windows 11/10 lets you reset the thumbnail cache. You will find the fix under the System fixes tab.
2] Upgrade your hardware
When Microsoft released Windows 11 for users, it also released notes for supported hardware. However, there are ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. If you have installed Windows 11 on your system with unsupported hardware, you will experience performance issues. In this case, you need to upgrade your computer hardware.
According to the Microsoft processors list, the processor on my HP laptop is not supported by Windows 11. However, I managed to install Windows 11 on it. After that, I started experiencing performance issues. The thumbnails also started loading slowly. To fix performance issues on my HP laptop, I installed an SSD. This fixed the performance issues on my HP laptop and the thumbnails’ slow loading speed.
How to speed up Thumbnail Loading in Windows 11
If your system has supported hardware to run Windows 11/10, and despite that thumbnails are loading slowly on your system, you can speed up the thumbnails loading via:
- The Local Group Policy Editor
- The Registry Editor
- Windows 11 Settings
1] The Local Group Policy Editor
If Windows 11 thumbnails are slow to load, you can speed up this process via the Local Group Policy Editor. The Local Group Policy Editor is not available on Windows 11 Home Edition. Therefore, Windows 11 Home users can skip this method.
The following instructions will guide you on this:
- Open the Run command box and type gpedit.msc. Click OK.
- Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.
- Double-click on the Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files option.
- Select Enabled.
- Click Apply and then click OK.
Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
2] Fasten the thumbnail loading speed via the Registry Editor
This method includes Registry modification. Incorrect modifications in the Windows Registry can make your system unstable. Before you proceed, we recommend you create a System Restore Point and back up your Registry.
Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache
For easy navigation, copy the above path, paste it into the address bar of the Registry Editor, and hit Enter.
Make sure that the Thumbnail Cache folder is selected on the left side. Double-click the Autorun entry on the right side and enter 0 in its Value data. Click OK to save the changes.
Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.
3] Windows 11 Settings
Let’s see how to speed up thumbnail loading in Windows 11 via Settings. The following steps will guide you on this:
- Open Windows 11 Settings.
- Go to System > About.
- Expand the Device Specifications tab.
- Click on the Advanced system settings link.
- The System Properties window will appear. Select the Advanced tab.
- Click Settings under the Performance section.
- Select the Show thumbnails instead of icons checkbox.
- Click Apply and then OK.
That’s it.
How do I fix Thumbnails not loading?
If the Thumbnail preview is not loading in File Explorer on your system, you can try clearing the thumbnail cache. There are many ways to clear the thumbnail cache. You can also try to rebuild the thumbnail cache.
Why do Thumbnails take so long to load?
Sometimes, the thumbnail cache gets corrupted, so Windows cannot load the thumbnails or loads the thumbnails slowly. In such a case, deleting the thumbnail cache fixes the issue. Another reason for this problem is slow hardware.
