Folders on desktop not showing what's inside

bru · 30 Jun 2011

This one has me vexed. I want the folders on the desktop to show the contents. At one time they did show the contents but now they don't. In fact yesterday I got the folders to show the contents. I think I did it by restoring defaults under "folder options" in Control Panel. But today they are again just the folder.

I think I know why the folders changed, due to CCleaner cleaning out the thumbnail cache. So how do I get the contents to show again?

Screenshots show how the folders look on desktop and the same two folders in Explorer with the contents showing. But now of course after messing around even the Explorer folders aren't showing contents.

Does it have to do with Aero or desktop theme? Confused.

Brink · 30 Jun 2011

Hello Bru,

It looks like you may have thumbnail previews turned off. You could double check through the options in the tutorial below to make sure that they are enabled to see if that may help afterwards.

Thumbnail Previews - Enable or Disable

Hope this helps,
Shawn

bru · 30 Jun 2011

I definitely have that box unchecked. But still no joy. This is really frustrating.

Brink · 30 Jun 2011

Please double check through all of the options in the tutorial to make sure that each one is set to allow them. If one is off, it could override the others.

Is this just on the desktop, or also in Windows Explorer (medium icon view and above)?

bru · 30 Jun 2011

OK I think I did it. Within Explorer I went to the desktop. I right clicked on each individual folder--properties-->customize-->change icon-->restore defaults. A couple of them I had to change the folder icon to something else then restore the defaults but eventually I got it.

Here is my desktop right now. Will it stay that way is the question?

Brink · 30 Jun 2011

You would only want to use the enable REG file options (recommend the all users one), and not the disable ones. If you disable it, then it will not show the thumbnail previews. Be sure to restart the computer afterwards.

As a side note that you probably already know, if the folder is empty, then it will not have a thumbail preview for it.

Afterwards as a test, create a new administrator account to see if you have thumbnail previews while logged on to it.

bru · 30 Jun 2011

Now how about CCleaner? If I have "thumbnail caches" checked under Windows Explorer it currently finds 6 files, 14,000KB. I bet if I clean those my desktop and maybe Explorer folder previews (for desktop) will disappear. Thoughts?

Brink · 30 Jun 2011

No, that would only clear the thumbnail cache so that the thumbnails will reload the next time you view them. It will not turn off thumbnail previews.

How did it go with the new administrator account to see if it may just be some issue in your current user account?

bru · 02 Jul 2011

This problem is still present and very perplexing. At some times out of the five folders I have on my desktop there may be one or more that DON'T show the previews. Seems like it should be all or none.

I use the method I mention above to get the previews to appear (essentially restoring the folder icon to default) but even that has become hit or miss.

I definitely have the right things checked in folder view so I am at a loss. So was my PC manufacturers' support, but that wasn't a surprise.

Brink · 02 Jul 2011

Did you ever try to change the default folder icon used by all folders, or use some sort of custom theme that may be the cause of this?