How to Prevent Windows 10 from Deleting Thumbnail Cache
Windows keeps a copy of all your folder, 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 scan and slowly load them each time.
Starting with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Windows keeps automatically deleting the thumbnail cache after a restart or a shutdown, so File Explorer has to recreate the thumbnails again.
The Automatic Maintenance feature is responsible for this when enabled. One of many tasks Automatic Maintenance performs is to remove temporary files in your %TEMP% directory, temporary Internet files, old driver versions, and the thumbnail cache. It is called "SilentCleanup" and launches the Disk Cleanup tool with a special command line argument, /autoclean. This makes the cleamgr.exe tool read the cleanup presets in the Registry. For every enabled preset, the app performs cleanup on the system drive.
If wanted, you can disable the thumbnail cache preset to stop the thumbnail cache from automatically being deleted by Automatic Maintenance whenever it performs a "SilentCleanup".
This tutorial will show you how to allow or prevent Windows 10 from automatically deleting the thumbnail cache after a restart or shutdown as part of Automatic Maintenance.
You must be signed in as an administrator to allow or prevent Windows 10 from automatically deleting the thumbnail cache.
The thumbnail cache for each user is stored as .db files located in the hidden folder below.
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
(C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer)
Here's How:
The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD in the registry keys below.
(32-bit and 64-bit)
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache
(64-bit only)
HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache
Autorun DWORD
0 = Prevent
3 = Allow
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below for your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10, and go to step 4 below.
32bit-Allow_Windows_10_to_delete_thumbnail_cache-DEFAULT.reg
Download
OR
64bit-Allow_Windows_10_to_delete_thumbnail_cache-DEFAULT.reg
Download
A) Click/tap on the Download button below for your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10, and go to step 4 below.
32bit-Prevent_Windows_10_from_deleting_thumbnail_cache.reg
Download
OR
64bit-Prevent_Windows_10_from_deleting_thumbnail_cache.reg
Download
4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.
5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.
7 Restart the computer to apply.
8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn
Related Tutorials
- How to Clear and Reset the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10
- How to Change Automatic Maintenance Settings in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Automatic Maintenance in Windows 10
- Set Disk Cleanup to Have All Items Checked or Unchecked by Default in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Automatic Maintenance to Wake Up Computer in Windows 10
- How to Specify Automatic Maintenance Time to Run in Windows 10
Prevent Windows 10 from Deleting Thumbnail Cache
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New #3
Hi, is this still valid for build 1909?
I went to "HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache" and my "Autorun" value is 3 instead of 0 or 1.
This is why I prefer to ask before making any change.
Thanks!
P.S. I made a clean install of W10 yesterday, Windows hasn't deleted my thumbnail cache yet, but I'd still like to prevent it from doing that in the upcoming months.
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New #4
Hello @steferrari,
It looks like the default value to allow had changed to "3" for the "Autorun" DWORD.
The tutorial has now been updated. Thank you for letting me know.
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New #5
My pleasure!Hello @steferrari,
It looks like the default value to allow had changed to "3" for the "Autorun" DWORD.
The tutorial has now been updated. Thank you for letting me know.
So nothing else to do after changing it to 0 then?
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New #7
Thanks for this solution @Brink
I do have a question realted to this: Are thumbnails for a folder or within a folder only generated once the folder is accessed?
I have an internal HDD with a lot of digital photos sorted in folders and subfolders with thumbnail preview. The thumbnails for the folders and photos insed are only built once accessed. So when i go to a folder i have to wait (how long depends on how many photos) until all the thumbnails are generated (for images: black borders removed). I don't remember this being a problem in win 7
Is there a way to generate all thumbnails in folder and subfolders in one go?Last edited by Damun; 27 Apr 2020 at 08:19.
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New #8
Hello Damun,
Correct. Thumbnails are only generated (loaded) once the folder is opened for the first time, and stored in the thumbnail cache to help load faster next time instead of loaded from scratch. Any new thumbnails in a folder will also be generated and added to the cache for the open folder.
Usually, the thumbnails show almost instantly unless you have a lot of image files and/or large size image files in a folder that could cause it to take longer to show them.
I'm not aware of a way to generate all thumbnails at once in a folder and subfolders.
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Prevent Windows 10 from Deleting Thumbnail Cache
How to Prevent Windows 10 from Deleting Thumbnail CachePublished by Shawn BrinkCategory: Performance & Maintenance
04 Apr 2020
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