No images viewable from desktop

[Michael Ray Brown]

Whenever I double-click on a .jpg file on the desktop, a window briefly
appears, but Windows Picture and Fax Viewer fails to come up with the file
in view. If I right-click and select "Open with... | Windows Picture and
Fax Viewer," a window comes up with "No preview available." If I create a
new folder on the desktop, and move those files into that folder, then I can
view the images just fine. I've tried re-associating .jpg files with
"Windows Pictures and Fax Viewer," but that fails to solve the problem. Any
ideas?

 

[Keith Miller]

I've had the exact same problem: Image files on the desktop would not preview, but they would in any other folder.

The culprit turned out to be an invalid shortcut on my desktop. Apparently, Picture & Fax Viewer tries to resolve everything in the folder you're previewing from -- so you need to try to find the culprit.

First determine whether the culprit is in All Users desktop or your profile desktop. Open two Explorer windows, One to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop" and one to "C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Desktop" and try to preview an image in each one.

Once you've determined which folder to focus on, create a testing folder. You can either start with a clean folder where images preview properly and copy items from the problem folder over one-by-one, testing preview after each copy until the problem recurs. Or you can copy the entire contents of the problem folder to the testing folder and delete items one-by-one, testing preview between each deletion until the problem disappears. Once you've found the culprit, you can delete it from your desktop.

Keith

To

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

Keith,

Brilliant! I'd spent a couple hours searching various Windows solutions
sites on the Web, without success. Thank you for that solution! I can
again view images on my desktop.

--
Michael

I've had the exact same problem: Image files on the desktop would not
preview, but they would in any other folder.

The culprit turned out to be an invalid shortcut on my desktop. Apparently,
Picture & Fax Viewer tries to resolve everything in the folder you're
previewing from -- so you need to try to find the culprit.

First determine whether the culprit is in All Users desktop or your profile
desktop. Open two Explorer windows, One to "C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Desktop" and one to "C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Desktop" and
try to preview an image in each one.

Once you've determined which folder to focus on, create a testing folder.
You can either start with a clean folder where images preview properly and
copy items from the problem folder over one-by-one, testing preview after
each copy until the problem recurs. Or you can copy the entire contents of
the problem folder to the testing folder and delete items one-by-one,
testing preview between each deletion until the problem disappears. Once
you've found the culprit, you can delete it from your desktop.

Keith

To

 

[Keith Miller]

You're welcome. Glad it's fixed.

Keith

Keith,

Brilliant! I'd spent a couple hours searching various Windows solutions
sites on the Web, without success. Thank you for that solution! I can
again view images on my desktop.

--
Michael

I've had the exact same problem: Image files on the desktop would not
preview, but they would in any other folder.

The culprit turned out to be an invalid shortcut on my desktop. Apparently,
Picture & Fax Viewer tries to resolve everything in the folder you're
previewing from -- so you need to try to find the culprit.

First determine whether the culprit is in All Users desktop or your profile
desktop. Open two Explorer windows, One to "C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Desktop" and one to "C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Desktop" and
try to preview an image in each one.

Once you've determined which folder to focus on, create a testing folder.
You can either start with a clean folder where images preview properly and
copy items from the problem folder over one-by-one, testing preview after
each copy until the problem recurs. Or you can copy the entire contents of
the problem folder to the testing folder and delete items one-by-one,
testing preview between each deletion until the problem disappears. Once
you've found the culprit, you can delete it from your desktop.

Keith

To