Even after manual installation, no thumbnails appear in Windows Explorer

[ThomasLandsberger]

I downloaded the installer and ran it, and appeared to succeed, but still no webp thumbnails in Windows Explorer. Then I tracked down the install location and did a manual installation according to the ReadMe, but no change. See attached screenshots. Running on a developer machine with Windows 10 Pro and Visual Studio installed. Any idea what could be going wrong?

[winseros]

Hi, @ThomasLandsberger. Could you share one of the images that don't show up?

[SingingDalong]

I'm experiencing the same problem. Windows 10 LTSC 2021
https://we.tl/t-k0wtzLC3NT

[winseros]

The link in your post leads to an unknown junk site so I'll consider your message fishing.

[SingingDalong]

The link in your post leads to an unknown junk site so I'll consider your message fishing.

The link is just a webp file.

[winseros]

Ok then. Just want to clarify: do you have any applications, that associate the .webp extension with themselves?

[SingingDalong]

Ok then. Just want to clarify: do you have any applications, that associate the .webp extension with themselves?

It's Chrome.

[winseros]

Give me some days - I'll make the installer more aggressive so it would override any existing .webp associations.

[SingingDalong]

Give me some days - I'll make the installer more aggressive so it would override any existing .webp associations.

Thank you for your effort.

[winseros]

Hi. Having tested in different environments, I figured out the latest Windows 10 builds have native .webp support. So there is no more need to use any extensions. I tested on a number of builds starting from 20H1.

[SingingDalong]

Hi. Having tested in different environments, I figured out the latest Windows 10 builds have native .webp support. So there is no more need to use any extensions. I tested on a number of builds starting from 20H1.

I use 21H2 (LTSC 2021). However, Edge deleted it. Do I need to install Edge?

[winseros]

Nope. Edge is not responsible for preview. You can check the system registry - the thumbnail handlers are configured there.

There should be a key and value

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.webp\ShellEx\{e357fccd-a995-4576-b01f-234630154e96}]
@="{C7657C4A-9F68-40fa-A4DF-96BC08EB3551}"

[winseros]

Here is a registry script that should activate native support of .webp if the machine is capable of it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp\ShellEx]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{3F30C968-480A-4C6C-862D-EFC0897BB84B}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp\ShellEx\{e357fccd-a995-4576-b01f-234630154e96}]
@="{C7657C4A-9F68-40fa-A4DF-96BC08EB3551}"

You put it into a text file with the .reg extension (i.e. file.reg) and execute the file. System restart might be required for the changes to get applied.

[ThomasLandsberger]

I ran the script, got confirmation that the keys were added to the registry, and then restarted my machine. Unfortunately, .webp files are still not previewed in Windows File Explorer, just showing the IrfanView cat as before. My system is running Windows 10 Pro 21H1, OS Build 19043.1348.

[winseros]

IrfanView - that's another story. That guy must be pulling the blanket over and applying its own configs. If you could provide how the registry for the .webp extension looks, I'd be able to give more details.

[ThomasLandsberger]

Following your instructions, this is what I get: [also updated the system to 21H2, but no change]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp]
"ContentType"="image/webp"
@="webpfile"
"Content Type"="image/webp"
"PerceivedType"="image"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\OpenWithList]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\OpenWithList\PhotoViewer.dll]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\OpenWithProgids]
"ChromeHTML"=""
"MSEdgeHTM"=""
"webpfile"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\ShellImagePreview]
@="{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\ShellEx{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{3F30C968-480A-4C6C-862D-EFC0897BB84B}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.webp\ShellEx{e357fccd-a995-4576-b01f-234630154e96}]
@="{C7657C4A-9F68-40fa-A4DF-96BC08EB3551}"

[winseros]

Seems mostly valid. A silly check then. Is this checkbox enabled?

[ThomasLandsberger]

Yep, that's checked, and image files like png, gif, jpg are displayed as thumbnails, but not webp

[winseros]

I'm running out of ideas. Thumbs cache cleanup?

[ThomasLandsberger]

No effect. Sigh.

[winseros]

Well.. I found a machine with Windows 10 21H1 with native .webp support not working - quite like yours.

What I did to make things work:

1. Ensured no WebpPreviewForWindowsExplorer is installed or manually registered.

2. Run the script to clean the registry:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp]
   @=-
   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\.webp]
   @=-
   

3. Run the CCCleaner Thumbnail cache cleanup.

   

4. Installed the WebpPreviewForWindowsExplorer using the installer

5. Runned the CCCleaner again.

And it worked

[ThomasLandsberger]

Your dedication is exemplary, Nikita. Unfortunately CCleaner fails to install on my system (it quietly fails even though I tried as admin; no trace of it in Windows Security, so it wasn't being blocked, just failed to install). So I tried your steps with regular Disk Cleanup of thumbnails, but that did not give me webp thumbnails. Thanks for trying!