After Creators Update 2 thumbnails cache keeps auto-deleting

windows8thumba said:

Tried this but my problem is that the thumbnails would disappear in "real time." I have a folder of around 30,000 pictures. When I scroll down to generate thumbnails, I seem to be able to generate maybe a couple thousand thumbnails and then the earlier thumbnails reset before new ones can be generated. There seems to be a hard limit about the number of thumbnails I could have. I've posted about this problem before (like a long time ago) and it seemed to be fixed, until the windows update brought it back!

I don't think there is a size limit for thumbnail cache maybe thumbnail cache is corrupted in your computer use the batch script i have attached to this post to rebuild thumbnail cache.

I can confirm that @windows8thumba is right, it's happening for me too - thumbnails appear to delete in real-time rather than a restart of the system. I have tried everything in this thread and it just happened again. I am now lost for ways to fix it, and just like everyone else its ever since the last major windows update, since I had windows 10 before that well over a year it never happened before since I had always followed this tutorial: Thumbnail Cache - Prevent Windows from Deleting - Windows 7 Help Forums and it worked fine, that now though also appears to not work anymore

I think I may have figured out the problem. I rebuilt the cache and opened C:\\Users\\<YOUR NAME>\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Explorer, to see how the thumbnail cache folder increase in size as I started to rebuild thumbnails in various folders.

In the beginning I could see the size of the folder and the number of files in that folder increase nicely as I rebuild thumbnails. However, the thumbcache_96.db file (which for me seems to be the picture thumbnails) tops off at around 349 MB. That's when the generated thumbnails for picture files start to reset in real-time to make way for new thumbnails. The other file "thumbcache_1280.db" stores thumbnails for video files and that one still increases in size fine, although I don't now what the upper limit for that file is (mine is at only 137 MB now).

So there you have it. I think there's some sort of thing preventing the thumbnail cache file from increasing in size. Is there a fix for this?

Brink said:

How about: Rebuild Icon Cache in Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

Hey Brink, thanks for the reply - is this the same as what FreeBooter put on post #5 if not then I can try this too.

Thanks :)

It seems there is more than the one issue. Size issues of the thumbnail cache if too many pictures are in 1 folder. And then the thumbnail cache being deleted during auto maintenance. My issue is the latter, whereby every single thumbnail is reset whether it be pics, videos, office docs etc. I have applied the DWORD suggestion on both my machines today and will monitor my thumbnails closely in the coming days. I am a little wary of side effects from changing the DWORD from its default setting. Hopefully it will quietly prevent the thumbnails regenerating and not interfere with the other aspects of automatic maintenance such as disk cleanup, deleting windows.old, etc etc. It sounds like it will do the trick. I wonder if anyone else who has applied this registry edit can confirm automatic maintenance is still doing its job ok?

thanks, Wayne

FreeBooter said:

First of all try to reset thumbnail cache folder so that it starts storing thumbnail cache files from scratch. Execute the batch script attached to this post.

If the deleting thumbnail cache files method doesn't work for you, try following:

Windows 8 and later operating systems come with a new Automatic maintenance service which regularly deletes unnecessary files and performs system optimization tasks. This service might also delete thumbnail cache files.

. Press Win+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box, then type taskschd.msc in RUN box and press Enter. 2. It'll open Task Scheduler program. Now go to:
Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> TaskScheduler
3. In right-side pane, you'll see following 4 tasks:

• Idle Maintenance
• Maintenance Configurator
• Manual Maintenance
• Regular Maintenance

4. You need to disable following 3 tasks:

• Idle Maintenance
• Manual Maintenance
• Regular Maintenance

To disable them, right-click on the task and select Disable option.


5. Sometimes "Maintenance Configurator" task may re-enable the other 3 tasks. In such case, you'll need to delete all 4 tasks. Click on each task and press Delete key.


But Windows will not allow many users to delete these tasks right from Task Scheduler program. If you also face this problem while deleting those tasks, do as following:


5. a. Type tasks in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It'll show permissions related message, click on Continue button. It'll open C:\Windows\System32\Tasks folder which stores all tasks listed in Task Scheduler program.

5. b. Now go to Microsoft\Windows\TaskScheduler folder and delete all 4 tasks files. If you face any permission related issue, take ownership of the files as mentioned in this guide and then delete the task files.

6. That's it. Now you have disabled Windows automatic maintenance service and it should fix the automatic thumbnail cache deletion problem.

If you use CCleaner or other temp file cleaning utilities, make sure to uncheck options to delete thumbnail cache files.

I don't see any of the 4 tasks listed.

Scottyboy99 said:

It seems there is more than the one issue. Size issues of the thumbnail cache if too many pictures are in 1 folder. And then the thumbnail cache being deleted during auto maintenance. My issue is the latter, whereby every single thumbnail is reset whether it be pics, videos, office docs etc. I have applied the DWORD suggestion on both my machines today and will monitor my thumbnails closely in the coming days. I am a little wary of side effects from changing the DWORD from its default setting. Hopefully it will quietly prevent the thumbnails regenerating and not interfere with the other aspects of automatic maintenance such as disk cleanup, deleting windows.old, etc etc. It sounds like it will do the trick. I wonder if anyone else who has applied this registry edit can confirm automatic maintenance is still doing its job ok?

thanks, Wayne

Yes, automatic maintenance still starts, but you don't have to wait for it if you don't want to. You can go to 'Control Panel,' 'System and Security' and 'Security and Maintenance.' Then click on the 'Change Security and Maintenance settings.' In the area where it says Maintenance messages check Automatic maintenance.

After that, go back to the 'Security and Maintenance' tab, then on the Maintenance drop-down you can start automatic maintenance. It's been working for me for 4 days.

Thank you, that sounds positive. It’s good that I can manually start it but I just want to make sure it also runs automatically still. I’ve got that huge windows.old folder after fall creators update on all our machines. It’s been 11 days since installation, I thought it would delete via automatic maintenance but so far it hasn’t. I’ll be very interested to check after this folder auto deletes whether the thumbnails are still ok

cheers, Wayne