Why are my Windows 11 MKV video files not displaying MKV video thumbnails?
Why are my Windows 11 MKV video files not displaying MKV video thumbnails?
I’ve been experiencing an issue with my Windows 11 PC where the MKV video files aren’t displaying their thumbnails correctly. Instead of showing a preview of the video’s contents, the thumbnails are either blank or show a generic icon. This is quite frustrating because thumbnails make it much easier to identify the video files without having to open each one. I’ve tried refreshing the folder, restarting the computer, and even adjusting some of the folder view settings, but nothing seems to work. This problem persists even though other video formats like MP4 display thumbnails perfectly fine. It’s making it really difficult for me to manage and organize my video library. Has anyone else encountered this issue, and what could be causing it?
10 Answers
I’ve encountered this problem before, and it turned out to be codec-related. Windows 11 sometimes lacks the right codecs to read MKV files properly. I fixed it by installing the K-Lite Codec Pack. You can find it online easily and following the installation steps is simple. After installing, thumbnails started showing up correctly for MKV files.
In my case, updating the graphics driver solved the thumbnail issue. Here’s the method:
1. Right-click the Start button, choose ‘Device Manager’.
2. Expand ‘Display adapters’.
3. Right-click your graphics card and select ‘Update driver’.
4. Choose ‘Search automatically for drivers’.
This update fixed the problem and thumbnails appeared correctly thereafter.
This issue might be due to the thumbnail cache being corrupted. Here’s a simple fix I used:
1. Open File Explorer, go to the ‘View’ tab.
2. Select ‘Options’, then click on ‘View’ in the Folder Options dialog box.
3. Click ‘Reset Folders’ to reset folder views.
4. Run Disk Cleanup and clear the thumbnail cache by selecting ‘Thumbnails’.
After doing this, my MKV thumbnails started showing up as expected.
An unlikely fix that worked for me involved tweaking Windows Media Player settings:
1. Open Control Panel, select ‘Programs and Features’.
2. Click ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.
3. Ensure ‘Media Features’ is checked and expand to include ‘Windows Media Player’.
4. Click ‘OK’ and restart.
Once completed, MKV thumbnails started displaying properly in my folders.
The fix might lie with the system registry settings. Be cautious with this advanced solution:
1. Open ‘regedit’ from the Start menu.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.mkv\ShellEx{e357fccd-a995-4576-b01f-234630154e96}.
3. Ensure the default value is set to: {BB2E617C-0920-11D1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}.
Restart your system, and the MKV thumbnails should show correctly.
I manage by using a third-party tool called Icaros, which is fantastic for creating thumbnails for various formats, including MKV. Here’s the process I followed:
1. Download and install Icaros from its official website.
2. Open Icaros Config.
3. In the ‘Thumbnails’ tab, check ‘MKV’.
4. Click ‘Activate Icaros’.
This effectively resolved the issue on my system and the thumbnails appeared correctly in no time.
When I faced a similar problem, I discovered that changing the default media player helped. Here’s what I did:
1. Right-click on an MKV file and choose ‘Properties’.
2. Under ‘General’, click ‘Change…’ next to ‘Opens with’.
3. Select a media player like VLC Media Player and click ‘OK’.
4. Click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’.
This made Windows Explorer display the thumbnails properly for all my MKV files.
I had a similar issue and solved it by tweaking VLC Media Player settings. Here’s what I did:
1. Open VLC Media Player.
2. Navigate to Tools > Preferences.
3. In the Video tab, ensure the ‘Video thumbnails’ option is enabled.
After making these changes and restarting VLC, the thumbnails for MKV files began to appear without any issues.
