Windows 7: Thumbnails and previews for .jpg shortcuts missing

DrCheis · 19 May 2012

Hello, I'm new to Windows 7, and a Google search lead me to this site, as you had apparently helped somebody with a similar problem as mine.

I have a folder full of shortcuts to .jpg files, and I am trying to view that folder as "extra large icons." However, I am unable to see the thumbnails for these shortcuts, and the "preview" section of my window tells me "No preview available."

The thumbnails and previews for the .jpgs themselves load fine, but the shortcuts just give me generic .jpg icons. I was able to create a folder of shortcuts on Windows XP and view the thumbnails there, and I'm attempting to recreate this folder on my new Windows 7 computer (though I do miss filmstrip view).

Arc · 20 May 2012

Run the disk cleanup tool, checking the thumbnail cache. it might help.

Also try these things, too.
Icon Cache - Rebuild
Thumbnail Cache - Clear and Reset
Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore

let us now the results.

DrCheis · 20 May 2012

Hello, Arc.

I tried the first two solutions, but they had no effect. Running the third option, I was given the following error:

Quote:

Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application wil ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately.

The system cannot find the file specified.

Details:
See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The system cannot find the file specified
at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
at VistaArrowGone.Form1.btApply_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5456 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
FxVisor
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Frameworkx/Vista%20Shortcut%20Manager/FxVisor.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5456 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5456 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5458 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

Hitting Continue and logging off and back on did not have any effect on the thumbnails or previews, but did make the arrows appear and disappear.

By the way, is the behavior I'm trying to achieve (shortcuts having their thumbnails and previews display in Windows Explorer) even possible in Windows 7? This is my first time using it and I'd feel silly if it was like this for everybody, but it does seem like a feature you'd really expect it has.

[Update] Option 3 still functions despite the error, but has no impact on the thumbnails.

DrCheis · 20 May 2012

I just realized in my original screencapture, I did not have a shortcut selected, and thus the preview pane could be expected to be blank. This new screenshot shows that despite having a my shortcut selected, there is still no preview generated.

A Guy · 20 May 2012

Welcome to Seven Forums DrCheis. Do you have an application associated with .jpg files?

Start> In search box type Default programs> Enter> Click on associate a file type or protocol with a program> Scroll down to .jpg

What is the program associated with .jpg? I believe you will want Windows Photo Viewer associated unless you use a 3rd party image program.

Also make sure you have Thumbnails turned on.

A Guy

kado897 · 20 May 2012

You may also like to try restoring the default file associations for jpg using this tutorial. Default File Type Associations - Restore

DrCheis · 20 May 2012

Thanks, A Guy, and Kado 879. I tried both of your solutions, and restarted my computer and now I have thumbnails for my shortcuts! I just wish I had tried them one at a time so I knew which one had fixed the problem.

An interesting observation though, when using the Set Associations option, the icon displayed for Windows Photo Viewer is a "set of gears" rather than an icon that I would have expected to belong to that application. (See screenshot). The default was already set to Windows Photo viewer when I opened up Set Associations. I wonder if that was related to my problem?

I'm just about to mark the thread as solved, but I do notice that although thumbnails are working again, the "preview" pane does not display a preview for my shortcuts (it works normally for the actual .jpeg files). (See the other screenshot.) Is there any way to show previews of shortcuts, or is Windows 7 unable to do this? I'm happy with the thumbnails, but the preview pane would be nice too.

kado897 · 20 May 2012

Glad its sorted DrCheis. I don't get previews for shortcuts either.

By the way I wonder why you have a folder of shortcuts. If you are just trying to collect them together from different locations a library would be better.

DrCheis · 20 May 2012

The reason I have a folder of shortcuts is because the project I've been working on, creating pictures of rare monsters from the game World of Warcraft, sorts the pictures by the geographical regions within the game that they can be found in. There are probably hundreds of pictures categorized through maybe 50 or so folders. The shortcuts folder points directly to small number of those with certain traits in common (in this case, monsters that have been removed from the game) and groups them together without removing them from the directories corresponding to where they could be found.

I started the project on my old computer, which ran Windows XP and moved it to my new computer on Windows 7. I like being able to view the pictures as large thumbnails (I used to use filmstrip view for that, but oh well) rather than navigate to them through a menu, but I'll admit that being new to Windows 7 I don't have much experience with what Libraries are or how they work, beyond the default Libraries Windows provides for you.

Thanks to everybody in the thread for their assistance!

kado897 · 20 May 2012

It sounds like you have a good solution for your situation. Libraries are intended for collecting together from disparate locations not for extracting subsets.

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