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I accidentally enabled the tool to provide blender image preview files in Windows 10 but wanted to disable it. (I've attached a picture of what I'm talking about)

I've tried uninstalling blender and installing it again but it keeps showing up.

(I'm using blender 3.0)

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ This is a function of your operating system not of Blender, however see these instructions for Windows 10. $\endgroup$
    – John Eason
    Commented Dec 18, 2021 at 17:18
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    $\begingroup$ On further investigation there was an option to disable the saving of preview images in Blender before version 3.0 under Edit > Preferences > Save & Load > Save Preview Images, but that checkbox seems to have been removed for version 3.0. $\endgroup$
    – John Eason
    Commented Dec 18, 2021 at 17:31
  • $\begingroup$ @JohnEason (this print was taken on the desktop) but I didn't want to take all thumbnail previews on the desktop I just wanted to take the blender previews on the desktop $\endgroup$
    – user138484
    Commented Dec 18, 2021 at 17:36
  • $\begingroup$ No idea in that case I'm afraid. The section on Blender file previews is here in the Blender manual but it doesn't really help much. It even mentions that checkbox which appears to have been removed in despite the fact that the manual is for 3.0. $\endgroup$
    – John Eason
    Commented Dec 18, 2021 at 17:44
  • $\begingroup$ @JohnEason when I first installed "blender 3.0" the Blend-File previews didn't appear, but I don't know how I activated the tool that allows the system file browser to show these previews as file thumbnails. had found this video link which shows how to disable but it didn't work $\endgroup$
    – user138484
    Commented Dec 18, 2021 at 17:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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How to disable blendfile thumbnails

First let's unregister Blender's DLL that generates thumbnail. For that, we will use a tool integrated in Windows: Regsvr32, which is designed to unregister DLLs.

Open the command prompt and type this command:

Regsvr32 /u BlendThumb.dll

This should popup if successful:

unregister success

Then, to get rid of the thumbnails that have already been generated, the simplest way is to reset Windows' entire thumbnail cache. Still in the command prompt, write these lines one after the other:

cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
attrib -h thumbcache_*.db
del thumbcache_*.db

After that, you can restart Windows and you should not see Blender's files thumbnails anymore while other files' thumbnails will be remade as you go.

If you want to keep the thumbnails off, do not use Blender's installation executable anymore, install new Blender versions only via the compressed zip files.

How to get the thumbnails back

If you install Blender via its executable MSI file, this process includes the registration already.

Alternatively, you can open Blender, go to Edit menu > Preferences... > System tab > Operating System Settings and hit the Make Default button:

make default button

Or, if you like command lines:

path/to/blender.exe -r

And if like me you use Dotbow's Blender launcher, just to RMB RMB > Register Extension:

blender launcher

No need to reset the thumbnail cashe, you might need to just refresh your current opened folders with F5 but the new thumbnails will be generated on the go.

Sources:

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