Windows Explorer Previews all blank

[nabilalk]

Look over the attached screen shot. Is this what you are referring to?

Ok, there seems to be a great deal of confusion here. I'm not referring to the Thumbnail previews, I am referring to the new Preview Pane that can be accessed in Windows 7 Explorer by hitting Alt+P or by clicking on a this button

Preview pane working for pictures

Preview pane not working for PDF's, Word Docs, PowerPoint files

When looking at the screenshots, you will notice that with the picture screen, you get a preview of the photo. However, when trying to preview a PDF, .doc, or .ppt, the preview pane is blank. Double clicking on the blank area, opens the respective file in the default program for that file type.

In Windows 7, PDF's you should be able to preview PDF's, Word Documents, Powerpoint files, .Txt files among others. I cannot do that for some reason.

I hope that clears up the confusion. I don't have issues with Thumbnail previews, it is the preview pane that is new to Windows 7. Thanks!

 

[reghakr]

No offense, but thanks for finally giving us good directions>

I"m assuming you have Office installed, what version? if it's the latest beta, it is buggy as hell and only experienced office users should be testing it.

Are you using acrobat reader or Foxit Reader for your pdf files?

I would suggest you dump the security-ridden bloateware Adobe Aeader for Foxit Reader.

You can downoad it here
http://download.cnet.com/Foxit-Reader/3000-10743_4-10313206.html?part=dl-116442&subj=dl&tag=button/

 

[nabilalk]

No offense, but thanks for finally giving us good directions>

I"m assuming you have Office installed, what version? if it's the latest beta, it is buggy as hell and only experienced office users should be testing it.

Are you using acrobat reader or Foxit Reader for your pdf files?

I would suggest you dump the security-ridden bloateware Adobe Aeader for Foxit Reader.

You can downoad it here
Foxit Reader - Reviews and free Foxit Reader downloads at Download.com

No offense taken, I just want to fix this. I am using the latest Office beta, so that could be the issue with the Office docs. I will install Office 2003 and check. I have tried Adobe Reader, Acrobat Pro, and Foxit, and none of them will allow me to preview the PDF docs.

 

[reghakr]

Your system must be a mess after installing and uninstalling all that software>

I would take a guess and say your registry needs cleaning>

i use Registry Mechanic which is not free, but I have no other alternatives as I"ve been using Registry Mechanic for over 6 years now.

when uninstalling applications, I suggest you download Revo Uninstaller

http://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html?part=dl-6294459&subj=dl&tag=button

 

[nabilalk]

Your system must be a mess after installing and uninstalling all that software>

I would take a guess and say your registry needs cleaning>

i use Registry Mechanic which is not free, but I have no other alternatives as I"ve been using Registry Mechanic for over 6 years now.

when uninstalling applications, I suggest you download Revo Uninstaller

http://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html?part=dl-6294459&subj=dl&tag=button

I already use Revo, and I have not uninstalled Adobe Reader, Acrobat Pro, or Foxit. I have all of them installed. I also regularly use CCleaner to take care of left-over registry entries.

I also tried RegistryMechanic, ran the scan, removed all errors, did a registry defrag, and then restarted. That did not work either.

 

[Dom]

Try a system integrity scan (this seems to have worked for one other issue) by opening the Command Prompt as the administrator and type in:

sfc /scannow

Its a long shot, but see how it goes.

 

[nabilalk]

Try a system integrity scan (this seems to have worked for one other issue) by opening the Command Prompt as the administrator and type in:

sfc /scannow

Its a long shot, but see how it goes.

Trying that now. I will post back with feedback.

 

[Cato]

The only thing I've found that will enable .pdf files is a registry hack. I've never used it because the preview pane doesn't interest me that much, so I don't know if it really works.

If you're comfortable edit the registry, here it is. If not, I wouldn't mess with it. If you do, backup your registry before you start.


Here’s a manual fix: 1. Open RegEdit and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193} – there should be an existing AppID value, incorrectly set to {6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b} – change the AppID value to {534A1E02-D58F-44f0-B58B-36CBED287C7C}

The only files mine will preview is Wordpad, Notepad and any media files I have associated with Windows Media Player, i.e., .wmv, .mpg, .mp3, .flv, etc.

 

[nabilalk]

The only thing I've found that will enable .pdf files is a registry hack. I've never used it because the preview pane doesn't interest me that much, so I don't know if it really works.

If you're comfortable edit the registry, here it is. If not, I wouldn't mess with it. If you do, backup your registry before you start.


Here’s a manual fix: 1. Open RegEdit and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193} – there should be an existing AppID value, incorrectly set to {6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b} – change the AppID value to {534A1E02-D58F-44f0-B58B-36CBED287C7C}

The only files mine will preview is Wordpad, Notepad and any media files I have associated with Windows Media Player, i.e., .wmv, .mpg, .mp3, .flv, etc.

The problem is, my Windows 7 install can't preview Wordpad, Notepad and any media files I have associated with Windows Media Player, i.e., .wmv, .mpg, .mp3, .flv, etc.

By the way, when you preview a .wmv or .mp3 what do you see in your preview pane, a screenshot of the video, album cover of the mp3, or can you actually play the video or music file within the preview? Thanks for the registry hack, I will look into that.

 

[Cato]

Previewing .wmv files shows me a scene from the video, .flv shows the windows icon as does an .mp3 file. But they can be viewed by clicking on them.

When you've had something working in the past and it quits, the first thing you want to do is find out why. In this case, I can't give you a "why", yet, but I'll keep studying in case it happens to me.

Sooner or later someone will come up with the answer.

 

[nabilalk]

Previewing .wmv files shows me a scene from the video, .flv shows the windows icon as does an .mp3 file. But they can be viewed by clicking on them.

When you've had something working in the past and it quits, the first thing you want to do is find out why. In this case, I can't give you a "why", yet, but I'll keep studying in case it happens to me.

Sooner or later someone will come up with the answer.

I tried the Acrobat registry hack and that didn't work. Perhaps I should reinstall Acrobat and see if that restores the file preview.

 

[nabilalk]

Try a system integrity scan (this seems to have worked for one other issue) by opening the Command Prompt as the administrator and type in:

sfc /scannow

Its a long shot, but see how it goes.

"Windows Resource protection did not find any integrity violations" No dice there either. Thanks for the idea though.

 

[reghakr]

I have not uninstalled Adobe Reader, Acrobat Pro, or Foxit. I have all of them installed.

That's not a good idea right there.You néed to choose one application.

What is the default application for opening the pdf files?

Do you have a full license for Acrobat Pro and Registry Mechanic?

 

[nabilalk]

I have not uninstalled Adobe Reader, Acrobat Pro, or Foxit. I have all of them installed.

That's not a good idea right there.You néed to choose one application.

What is the default application for opening the pdf files?

Do you have a full license for Acrobat Pro and Registry Mechanic?

I have the full license of both Acrobat Pro and Registry Mechanic. And, Acrobat Pro is set as the default PDF reader.

 

[reghakr]

The reason I asked is because Registry Mechanic will not fix the scan only if it's a registered copy and you have to go back and scan again for it to remove the entries.

 

[nabilalk]

The reason I asked is because Registry Mechanic will not fix the scan only if it's a registered copy and you have to go back and scan again for it to remove the entries.

Its a registered copy.

 

[reghakr]

No problem,

thanks for purchasing.

 

[nabilalk]

No problem,

thanks for purchasing.

Unfortunately, Registry mechanic didn't solve the issue. I'm removing all PDF apps now (Acrobat Pro, Adobe Reader, and Foxit). Then, I will reinstall Foxit, and see if that fixes the PDF preview pane issue. I dont know why I can't scroll the .RTF and .TXT files though. I will post back with results.

 

[reghakr]

My PDF or doc files are not working either. The .txt, .mht, .reg, ,.ini, .xml,.rtf, .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png, .htm, .html, etc are working.

 

[nabilalk]

My PDF or doc files are not working either. The .txt, .mht, .reg, ,.ini, .xml,.rtf, .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png, .htm, .html, etc are working.

What does the preview of your .txt files look like? I am assume you can scroll through the .txt document?