Issue with media files displaying weirdly in Windows 11

Hi everyone,

Apologies in advance it's hard to describe. So I have this issue where media files in Windows 11 display weirdly. So the thumbnail preview of the media file shows a random program at the bottom right of the shortcut. Today for example it is showing Outlook (see screenshot) but another day it could be Discord logo or Winzip etc, it's so random. If I do a reboot this issue normally resolves itself. But the issue returns after being idle for an hour or more.

I've tried deleting the thumbnail cache, using the SFC repair prompt, reinstalling Win 11 with a new image, and using a different media program (currently using VLC but it doesn't change anything). In addition, the same thing happened in Win 10 prior to using Win 11.

It's more annoying than anything else. Everything else is working smoothly. So I'm at a loss at what to try next.

Hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.

File associations could be the cause of the problem re-associations may help with the problem.

FreeBooter said:

File associations could be the cause of the problem re-associations may help with the problem.

Changing Default File Associations in Windows 10 and 11 | Windows OS Hub

In this article, we’ll look at how to manage the default File Type Associations (FTA) on Windows 10/11 and Windows Server 2022/2019/2016. As an example, we will show how to…

woshub.com

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Thanks, I forgot to mention I've played with file association. It doesn't seem to matter if I'm using VLC, KMC Player, or Windows Media Player the same issue persists. Thanks for the suggestion.

Which file extension these media files from posted picture have?

A note: In File Explorer I go to the 3 dots ... on the menu bar then Options then the View tab and Uncheck the Hide file extensions item, always see what the extensions are for the files.

FreeBooter said:

Which file extension these media files from posted picture have?

Click to expand...

If I toggle the view from "media sized icons" to "Details" it displays the correct media Program VLC Player (see screenshot). If I double-click on the file it loads correctly. It's purely a thumbnail issue.

Berton said:

A note: In File Explorer I go to the 3 dots ... on the menu bar then Options then the View tab and Uncheck the Hide file extensions item, always see what the extensions are for the files.

View attachment 77599

View attachment 77600

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Hey, thanks for the idea. Just tried that and now it's showing a new icon WinZip (see screenshot). Its so random.

Try attached batch script to delete thumbnails and let us know the result.

Good luck!

FreeBooter said:

Try attached batch script to delete thumbnails and let us know the result.

Click to expand...

Hey, I used this batch script before (but I think I used the Win 10 version prior to the upgrade). I will try it again you never know. Thanks for the help by the way.

FreeBooter said:

Good luck!

Click to expand...

It has worked for now. But I won't get too excited as it's only been minutes. The issue normally arises after a reboot and the PC being idle for a couple of hours. I will report back later

Okay, hopefully its resolved!

FreeBooter said:

Okay, hopefully its resolved!

Click to expand...

It wasn't even an hour and its back. This time it's Excel. Hmmm I guess there isn't much else to try? May just have to live with it.

Right click one of the thumbnails and select open with, select VLC player, and select always if the option is showing.

Fabler2 said:

Right click one of the thumbnails and select open with, select VLC player, and select always if the option is showing.

Click to expand...

I like your thinking, and I've tried this before. It does work but after a short period of time the issue will return.

You could try running in CMD admin

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

followed by

sfc /scannow

Reboot if it asks or not. See if those repairs help.

Fabler2 said:

You could try running in CMD admin

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

followed by

sfc /scannow

Reboot if it asks or not. See if those repairs help.

Click to expand...

Thanks for trying. In my original post I've tried SFC and I've done a reimage/reinstall of Win 11.

I can only think that it has to be a third party app you've installed that's doing it.

Fabler2 said:

I can only think that it has to be a third party app you've installed that's doing it.

Click to expand...

This looks like Windows 11 issue to me.

When you reinstalled Windows did you also re-install your apps? It works ok for a time then gets corrupted again. That's why I'm thinking it's something installed that's doing it. Try testing out with a clean boot for a while.