Thumbnail previews for .mp4's not showing but all other formats are

[icekool]

Hi to everyone on here.

I know it's not a big problem, but for me this is for some strange reason, important. I recently tried 'Registry Mechanic" by PC Tools and it seems to be ok, but I will possibly stick to just CCleaner from now on.

My issue is that all video (wmv & avi) and image files are displaying in their folders correctly with nice thumbnails but now mp4's don't have thumbs anymore, just an icon. they were showing fine until recently.

I would really like to get them back if possible, so if anyone can help me I would be very grateful indeed. I am quite sure the folder options are all ok because all the other usual formats are displaying the thumbs correctly.

(Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit, fully updated, no system errors at all so far)

 

[Maguscreed]

The first thing I can think of is attempting to restore file association for mp4 files.
go to this link
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html
and use the mp4 fix linked in that thread.

Get back to me if after using that and refreshing the screen you still have no thumbnails.

Edit: if that doesn't help have a look at this thread.
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/70552-no-more-thumbnails-mp4-shortcuts.html

 

[icekool]

Hi Maguscreed, thanks for your reply. Just before I try your suggestions, perhaps I should explain that the file association, as far as I can see, is perfectly ok. In that, any mp4 file opens and plays perfectly fine with WMP, so the 'association' is there already (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Secondly, your second link points to a solution for someonw who had probs with "shortcuts to" .mp4's, in my case I dont have the thumbs showing for the actual files themselves.

So, bearing this in mind, should I still try your 1st registry re-association step??

 

[icekool]

I tried your above suggestions and it is stil the same, as I said in my second post above the files (.mp4's) are opening and playing with wmp ok, i'm just not getting thumbs showing.

I have attached a screenshot.

 

[Maguscreed]

Here's an additional thought this will install support for windows to use codecs that aren't included with windows support (like mp4)
Give it a shot at fixing the problem.
Free-Codecs.com : Download FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 2011-06-29, FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 2011-03-28 and FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 2011-05-12 SSE : FFDSHOW is a DirectShow decoding filter

 

[icekool]

thanks very much for your quick reply. The thing is, mp4 support must have been there before because I had the thumbs showing until my use of registry Mechanic, and they do open & play perfectly. i didnt install any additional codecs previously, only VLC which I believe has its own all self contained.

 

[icekool]

Maguscreed,

Just got a big surprise, I re-installed Windows Live Movie Maker + Live Photo Gallery and ALL thumbs are back!!

I guess I was wrong to assume it was anything to do with Registry Mechanic, I didnt think that it might be something to do with uninstalling both of the above (I did that because i got hold of a copy of Movie Maker 6 and found it to be a better version so ripped out the live version previously)

Hopefully if anyone else does as I did and loses their mp4 thumb previews, they can try this.

Thanks for your efforts anyway Maguscreed.

 

[Maguscreed]

Actually reinstalling those apps would have replaced any registry keys potentially deleted by the registry app.
More and more I'm seeing a consensus that those apps cause more problems than they solve with win 7, which actually manages its registry much better than the previous versions to begin with.
Some time those 'blank keys' are actually needed.

 

[icekool]

Good point. Yes, I'm going to just stick to CCleaner from now on as it doesn't go anywhere near as 'deep' into the registry as the other more heavy duty paid reg' cleaners seem to. Never had a prob before just using CCleaner.

I am wondering if my situation was caused by uninstalling the above apps alone or was it down to using Registry Mechanic after??, or maybe the combo of both?, I guess I wont know but I do know that I will stay with what i've got now as all is working well.

Regards

 

[Maguscreed]

The only problem I know of with ccleaner specifically is, that if you have an nvidia graphics card it intentionally puts some blank registry entries that are actually used now and then. And ccleaner will sometimes try to remove those entries. If you just block them the first time you use it you should generally be alright.

 

[icekool]

thanks again, I'm fine re gpu as I have a core i3 with integrated so no worries there.