The documentation is very thin, with no explanation for some options, so I figured trial and error would eventually get me what I wanted. But when I was not satisfied with what the folder icon looked like, I found I could not change the icon by running WTG again. I tried with and without Clear Icon Cache, and completely exited File Explorer and restarted it.

I thought I could fix the problem by editing desktop.ini, but here's the weird thing. Desktop.ini says to use the local thumb.ico, and that file is the changed version. It's just not being picked up by File Explorer. How can I get the displayed icon to correspond to the current thumb.ico?

Most of all, I'm hoping the next release will be soon, and use the existing folder.jpg for the icon, as in Windows 10. I'm also hoping to be able to use the entire space on the folder for the icon.

Currently, it says in the wiki that you should
"Download the application from the Releases page."

on that page, there exists
a zip file for the source code
a zip file for "publish"
and a zip file for "publish console"

WHICH of these "applications" should we download and install?
what are the differences between them?

One thing I noticed is that when I run the Generator, it will also update the folder modification time. That means it will affect the sorting if I want to sort by date modified.

I want to schedule hourly run for the generator within one folder so that it will automatically generate the folder thumbnail. However, I can't do it right now because it will mess up the modified time and the sorting will be all wrong.

Is that anyway you can update the folder thumnail without touching the modified time?

just like win10 auto generated folder thumbnail sometime not exactly what I want to see.
So I also put each folder inside a picture is for thumbnail.
In win10 inside folder if you named picture as folder.jpg it will auto use as folder thumbnail.
Hope you can add this good feature back

Hi, this software worls flawlessly! However, one of the folders I added the thumbnail to appeared in my file explorer Quick Access menu, and it looks a bit funky.
I think the small icon size should not have thumbnail previews, as they are generally too small to make out the images they contain.

This could be solved by adding the "small" size to the .ico files that are generated. Small icons have a slightly different shape compared to their bigger counterparts: for example, they have more rounded corners, and a more prominent folder handle. The current icons that are generated seem to be missing this size, so Windows just resizes the bigger sizes to a smaller one.

Thank you for this software, it's incredibly useful!

First of all thanks so much for your work! Thumbnail Generator is a nesesary and very usefull tool in order to manage easily big asset libraries as i do for my work.

I have some thoughts on the design which would make the generated preview feel more in tune with Windows 11 design language and at the same time give more space for the thumbnail image. My suggestions are:

• Include a small offset of same width on the preview image, on the top and the sides and keep the rounded corners in the thumbnail
• Generate a smaller more transparent shadow just above the front cover folder in order for the thumbnail to be clearer
• Another alternative is the option to remove completely the front cover but keep the small offset and round corner in order to maximize the view of the thumbnail

Please see the image below that gathers my thoughts visually:

I can also send you the PSD file if you like.

PS: I agree with the comments that its important to have an option to generate thumbnails based only in the folder.image inside each folder to respect the already made folder structrure that users might had from previous Windows versions.

Thank you!

I know it's probably hard to create a software like this and since it's the only one available online too. But any chance it can have 2 most wanted improvements like applying it at once for all folders and making a better preview thumbnail?

Thank your for this wonderful tool, since Microsoft is taking so long to fix that issue, if they will ever do it.

I don't know how hard it is to do; but it would be nice to have the option to work with folder.jpg, like converting those specific images to icons; more or less as an option to customise the folders' appearance.

Not sure If supported by ImageMagick but should be essentially the same as mp4.

How might one clean out all thumbnails and start over (not using the clear cache option). If I decide to not want thumbnails for some directories. I can see why MS changed its focus, because having thumbnails takes a lot of cycles to show and would like to remove them from some of those directories.

having an option to maximize the visible Thumbnail area by completely removing the cover image (lower yellow bar) would be very useful, especially in combination with the requested feature of parsing existing folder.image entries.

Hello!
Is-it possible to rollback? With recursive effect?
I think that Windows Thumbnail Generator creates a desktop.ini file in each folder + 1 ico image file.
Best!

If I chose the icon for the folder myself (from %SystemRoot%\System32\SHELL32.dll), will the WindowsThumbnailGenerator replace this folder icon with thumbnails icon or not?

Is it possible to add command line support so I can add a context menu item for all directories?

Something like right click -> "Refresh/generate thumbnails"

Thumbnail_Generator.exe "path to directory" /Recursive /MaxThumbnails: /MaxThreads: /ClearIconCache /SkipExisting /UseShorterCover

Where it just runs and exits without showing UI? No need to press Start?

It would be AMAZING if you could show folder thumbnails in flat XP style. 4 images shown side by side. No fancy overlapping or angled views.

Small icon is working but big icon is not working
I checked inside of both (working and not working) folders, but I can't find any difference. .ini and .ico files are being well in both folders
I tried to restart Explorer, Windows. But nothing happened.

I just open it, nothing happens and that's all

List and Details view icon a bit smaller than other folders. Can you make it bigger? Add the yellow folder "padding" like a border on all sides of the thumbnail preview so it looks nicer.

It says it needs .Net run time, I have installed it but still won't launch. Keep throwing the same error, even when I have .Net RunTime INstaled from here: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0/runtime?utm_source=getdotnetcore&utm_medium=referral

I have a question.
After using this program, I want to restore it to its original state. What should I do in this case?
tell me how
i will wait for your reply

As I upgraded my PC I have ended up with Windows 11 and I miss having PDF files show up in Folder Thumbnail, can you add support for them? I do hope I am doing this right as I just joined to ask this.

win 11 build 22471.1000

Tried the latest build and it could only create thumbnails for some music folders in a directory, either by checking recursive box or browsing to the folder. Clearing icon cache didn't work either. And yes, I ran the application as admin.

OS info: Windows 11 Home Single Language build 22000.348

Great job and I know you've got a list of things to work on but it would be cool if there was a way to register it as a preview handler HK CLASSES ROOT\Directory and have it render/update when a folder is opened

I know this is not new and see that someone requested to choose with folder.jpg/gif. But I'm wondering if there is a way to work around that for the moment. How does the generator choose the file for thumbnail? I was trying to see if it was choosing by most recent file but that does not seem to work. Seems to be random or does anyone know?

Hello,

First, thank you very much for providing this great complementary functionality app.

Would it be possible to create in addition to the yellow default folder, a "Blue" one ?
I could recommend you asking @Mr4Mike4, who made a very nice "Fluent Blue" color for 7-Zip files, to provide the template for you.

Original request from ElevenForum