Media and Video Thumbnail Preview in Windows XP

Windows XP automatically generate thumbnail preview for images, pictures, photos, videos, HTML pages and other media clips with format supported by the operating system. The image or media preview is shown in the Details pane on the left of Windows Explorer, or when the files are viewed in Thumbnails view.

However, some users may not want or prefer the automatic preview and thumbnail generation when browsing files list. The preview hide the icon of the files, and doesn't allow users to instant know the format or extension of the files, such as whether a video is of .avi, .wmv or .mpg format. Beside, the process to show the thumbnail preview may slow down the file listing process when opening folder with video files. Beside, the preview on no codec or corrupted movie or video clip (i.e. no index from a partial download) may cause system problems such as Windows XP stops responding or freezing with 100% CPU utilization, and prevent users from deleting, renaming or moving the file until the file is completely loaded. The error happens because Windows needs a proper codec in order to correctly and validly create a thumbnail for video media. Without codec, or codec is broken or buggy will have problem.

To turn off, remove or disable video and media thumbnail preview in Windows XP, and fix above issues relating to video (AVI) problems, simply issue the following command in a Command Prompt window. To open Command Prompt window, type "Cmd" in Start -> Run box.

regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll

It's important to note that once the command above is run, the thumbnail preview will be disabled and will not be shown or displayed for all video, movie and other media files. And, users also lose the ability to see the summary properties in the tooltip and file properties dialog for AVI, WMA, WMV, ASF and WAV files.

To re-enable, or turn off the media preview again, use the following command:

regsvr32 shmedia.dll



Image Preview Thumbnail and Disable Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows XP

Windows XP displays thumbnail style of preview for images, pictures and photos in Windows Explorer's Details section on left pane when users select a pic. The preview will also automatically created and displayed when users browse and view a folder in Thumbnail view. Beside, when open or double click on a format associated with popular graphic formats, the photos or pictures will open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer instead of user preferred or favorite image viewer or editor, due to the fact that the default action on image file is to preview it using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

In order to turn off and disable thumbnail preview feature of images, photos, graphics, and pictures in Windows XP, and to disable the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and remove graphic files format associations with the default viewer comes with XP, open Command Prompt window (type Cmd in Run command box) and type the following command, follow by 'Enter':

regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll

shimgvw.dll known is Windows Picture and Fax Viewer Library shimgvw. After running above command, all photos and images will be displayed as just icons, and double click to open a graphic will launch your personal favorite default image viewer instead.

To re-enable image preview and turn off Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, run the following command and hit 'Enter' key:

regsvr32 shimgvw.dll

If the above trick doesn't work, it's also possible to achieve the same result to disable image preview and Windows Picture and Fax viewer via system registry. To do so, run Registry Editor by typing "regedit" in Run command box from Start Menu, and then navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\
ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\ShellImagePreview

Note: Wrap to 2 lines for readability.

Before performing the next step, it's wise to backup by exporting the registry key. To do so, simply right click on ShellImagePreview and choose Export, and save it to a file. Then in the right pane, double click on (Default) registry value name, and clear the value of the "(Default)" so that the new value data is blank (empty space). Original value is defaulted to "{e84fda7c-1d6a-45f6-b725-cb260c236066}".