Windows Photos App Image Preview borked?

Greetings!

I have a bit of an issue with my Windows Photos App whose Image Preview of the first few rows of Images seems to be broken after messing around with the location of the Files:

• If I scroll like 2-3 Screens worth of Images down the Previews of the Images coming into view will be there.
• The missing Images will eventually generate if I leave the App open for like 60seconds ( AND scroll the Window ).
• If a new Image is added to the Scanned Folder it'll immediately appear as the newest Image with a working Preview.
• Closing and reopening the the App will have the Images again lose its Preview ( including the newest added ) until Condition 1 or 2 come into play.

I've tried to Repair, Reset, Reinstalling the App but none of them work permanently.
Resetting & Reinstalling the App will fix the issue for the first opening of the App ( Previews will show up as expected ) but break again once the App is being closed and reopened.

Any Ideas / Suggestions how to fix this?

Durahl said:

seems to be broken after messing around with the location of the Files:

Click to expand...

Exactly what did you do in your messing around.

Not sure if clearing the thumbnail cache will have any effect

Also, what is the default folder location for your pictures folder. Right click on pictures folder>select properties>location tab.
Note if using the new context menu, select show more options first, then properties.

In Windows settings Privacy & security, scroll down to Pictures. Check that “Pictures library access” & “Let apps access your pictures library” are both on.

glasskuter said:

Exactly what did you do in your messing around.

Click to expand...

I tried getting the OneDrive Pictures Folder off C:\ because things started to get cramped but couldn't because of an Error.
The only way I was able to get it off C:\ was by resetting Win11, changing the folder preemptively and then moving the Files into the Folder which since produced this error even when reverting it all back to the previous location via another Win11 reset.
So, in essence - Even with reinstalling Win11 this error keeps reproducing.

The only thing I could essentially try is reinstalling Win11 from scratch instead of a Reset but I'd rather see this as a last resort option because of how agonizing the synchronization of OneDrive is

antspants said:

Not sure if clearing the thumbnail cache will have any effect

Clear and Reset Thumbnail Cache in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to clear and reset the thumbnail cache for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows keeps a copy of all your picture, video, and document thumbnails in a cache so they can be reused to quickly display when you open a folder instead of having to manually...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Been there, done that ( using the Disk Clean Utility ) - Thumbnails work fine ( Explorer and such ) just not the first 2-3 Screens worth of Tiles in the Photos App until the 60sec timer has passed.

glasskuter said:

Also, what is the default folder location for your pictures folder. Right click on pictures folder>select properties>location tab.
Note if using the new context menu, select show more options first, then properties.

Click to expand...

I'd like to think it being the default folder: C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Pictures
At least that's where an active OneDrive with linked PC seems to default to

antspants said:

In Windows settings Privacy & security, scroll down to Pictures. Check that “Pictures library access” & “Let apps access your pictures library” are both on.

Click to expand...

They're both enabled.

Just to clarify - It's not like the Photos App Preview Generation doesn't work at all!
After immediately opening the Photos App if I scroll down 2-3 Screens worth of Tiles it'll happily start showing Previews of them

And again after like 60sec of waiting ( and scrolling even just a single row up or down ) it'll then also populate the previously missing ones until the App is being closed and opened again and the story repeats itself.

Durahl said:

And again after like 60sec of waiting ( and scrolling even just a single row up or down ) it'll then also populate the previously missing ones until the App is being closed and opened again and the story repeats itself.

Click to expand...

Well, to me it’s an obvious case (As @glasskuter mentioned) of lost links to the originals. As you have discovered.

Durahl said:

So, in essence - Even with reinstalling Win11 this error keeps reproducing.

Click to expand...

At a guess, you would need to remove the original folder from the photos library and add the new folder to the PHOTOS library.













I apologize if you have already tried doing this.

I believe your problem to be 2-fold,
(1) you did not unlink your PC from Onedrive before attempting this. When messing with Onedrive, you have to always unlink first
(2) While one can move the entire C:\Users\username\Onedrive folder I do not think one can pick only one child folder out of that Onedrive parent folder to move, in this case C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Pictures.

TBH, I'm not sure the proper way to tell you how to deal with this other than attempt to manually direct the default folder location of the child folder back to where it was and then move the entire parent Onedrive folder the proper way by unlinking from onedrive first. Also TBH, I have no way of knowing if you can or what's going to happen to the files inside this folder when you do. @Brink, any advice here?

Move or Restore Default Location of OneDrive Folder in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to move or restore the default location of the OneDrive folder for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. With OneDrive in Windows, you can sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer...

www.elevenforum.com

Hello,

In addition, you could try removing and adding the locations back for Gallery like below to see if that may refresh it to show them properly again.

Pretty sure you just unlink OneDrive as you would remove folders as in the settings (left menu) of the Photos App as in the above screenshots

Otherwise

• Open Regedit and navigate to:

• In the right pane, double click My Pictures, then change the value from the older folder to the new preference you want to replace it with (example)

• Again in the right pane

• Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC

If you need to, move all your Photos to the new location you set.

But unlinking folders in Photos is an easy process, I'd be surprised if my previous post above doesn't work.
And as per usual, I am quite happy to be ignored.

antspants said:

View attachment 116642

Click to expand...

The Photos App doesn't utilize any Folders other than the OneDrive one as such there's nothing to remove and add under "This PC"

glasskuter said:

I believe your problem to be 2-fold,
(1) you did not unlink your PC from Onedrive before attempting this. When messing with Onedrive, you have to always unlink first
(2) While one can move the entire C:\Users\username\Onedrive folder I do not think one can pick only one child folder out of that Onedrive parent folder to move, in this case C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Pictures.

TBH, I'm not sure the proper way to tell you how to deal with this other than attempt to manually direct the default folder location of the child folder back to where it was and then move the entire parent Onedrive folder the proper way by unlinking from onedrive first. Also TBH, I have no way of knowing if you can or what's going to happen to the files inside this folder when you do. @Brink, any advice here?

Move or Restore Default Location of OneDrive Folder in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to move or restore the default location of the OneDrive folder for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. With OneDrive in Windows, you can sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I did try the whole unlinking thing before resetting the PC.
From when I started this whole thing until now I've even gone so far as to wiping the Pictures from both the Local as well the Cloud OneDrive itself followed by moving the Copy of the files back to the Local OneDrive Folder to have it again uploaded to the Cloud OneDrive.

Brink said:

Hello,

In addition, you could try removing and adding the locations back for Gallery like below to see if that may refresh it to show them properly again.

Add or Remove Folder Locations for File Explorer Gallery in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove folder and drive locations to see in your File Explorer Gallery collection for your account in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 version 22H2 KB5030310 Build 22621.2361, Microsoft is introducing Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed...

www.elevenforum.com

Add and Remove Folders in Photos app in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add and remove folders for your collection in the Photos app for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The Microsoft Photos app included in Windows is a rich media experience that empowers you to do more with your photos and videos. View, organize, and...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

antspants said:

Pretty sure you just unlink OneDrive as you would remove folders as in the settings (left menu) of the Photos App as in the above screenshots

Otherwise

• Open Regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders​

• In the right pane, double click My Pictures, then change the value from the older folder to the new preference you want to replace it with (example)

%USERPROFILE%\Pictures​

​

• Again in the right pane

Double click {0DDD015D-B06C-45D5-8C4C-F59713854639}, then set its value data to your folder preference and click OK​

%USERPROFILE%\Pictures​

​

• Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC

If you need to, move all your Photos to the new location you set.

But unlinking folders in Photos is an easy process, I'd be surprised if my previous post above doesn't work.
And as per usual, I am quite happy to be ignored.

Click to expand...

For now, let's ignore the me previously trying to move the Local OneDrive Folder to another Drive - I'll be dealing with that issue another time.

The more pressing issue right now is the Photos App not working properly despite everything being a freshly installed ( reset ) Win11 PC with default OneDrive Settings.

Durahl said:

despite everything being a freshly installed ( reset ) Win11 PC with default OneDrive Settings.

Click to expand...

Did you do a reset and keep my files? FYI Unless you did a reset and remove everything, it's not a completly clean installl, only a reinstall of the OS. It did not reinstall your user account. Any file corruption in your user account would still be there along with any problems existing in that account. You can prove whether your user account is corrupted by creating another LOCAL user account to test with. Create the account, change it to an administrator account. Restart and log into the new account.
Put some photos in its Pictures folder. If the Photos app works, the problem is NOT is Windows, but your user account is corrupted.

glasskuter said:

Did you do a reset and keep my files? FYI Unless you did a reset and remove everything, it's not a completly clean installl, only a reinstall of the OS

Click to expand...

It was the remove Everything one but...

... just without a Deep Clean ( the one taking hours ) and only on the Windows Drive C:\

The only way I can imagine an even cleaner Reset would be to unplug the E:\ & F:\ Drive ( safety first ) wiping the entire C:\ & D:\ RAID and start installing ( not resetting ) Win11 from Scratch which I find kinda hard to imagine being the solution to my woes Perhaps installing an older 22Hx version of Win11 instead of the current 23H2, getting everything running again and then updating may be the solution?

Assuming the problem indeed being a User Account one ( haven't tested it yet ) - How would one even fix such an issue?

Btw, the PC was setup to be restored from a BackUP ( Microsoft Online Backup ) instead of as a new one - Any thoughts on this perhaps negating any intentions of getting it up and running normally again?

Durahl said:

he PC was setup to be restored from a BackUP ( Microsoft Online Backup ) instead of as a new on

Click to expand...

This is confusing to me. How can it be reset and remove everything yet you say it was an online backup. Are you talking about your onedrive files?

Durahl said:

It was the remove Everything one but...

Click to expand...

If you indeed removed everything, when the machine booted, you would have been required to create your account again, so if the trouble still exists, I would not think it would be account corruption in the windows installation. If that is what you did and you set it back up with a MS account, and haven't made any changes (no moving or changing folders after the reset), the photos that were in onedrive should be seen in your pictures folder. After a reset and remove everything, and you created the same MS account after the reset, Onedrive is the only commonality left to the old installation.

Do one other thing for me. Login to onedrive on the web. Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive
In the bottom left corner you will see STORAGE. What does it say about the amount of your onedrive usage.?


Here's how to make a local account if you still want. Settings>Accounts>Scroll down and click on Other Users.
Select add account>select I don't have this person's signin information

In user name box name the account and assign a password.
Very Important- Make the new user an administrator. Once account is created, to the right of the new user name click down arrow. Select Change account type.
Click arrow to right of standard user and select Administrator
Restart to login to the new account. The new desktop will be created. All personal folders in this account will be located on your system drive.
A local account is not linked to Onedrive unless the user manually sets up backup and sync.