How to Turn of Thumbnails in Details Pane?

I just did a reinstall of XP Pro and am having trouble with video files being "in use" when trying to move/delete them (only a several second lag, but it is annoying me). It has to do with a preview being generated in the details pane in the bottom left corner of Explorer. I eventually figured out how to turn off the preview option on my last install but have forgotten how I did it. Under folder options I have "do not cache thumbnails" unchecked. Is this the setting I need to change? Or is it somewhere else? It seems to me I need an option to not show a preview in the details pane.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

I haven't done an XP install, but I have had problems like yours. Here is how I fix them without reinstalling, in case it may help? (The instructions may be different for XP.)

Thumbnails are used as icons when the folder is in Thumbnail view. This is usually not the problem, since they are usually cached after the first time. I turn them off by getting the Properties window for that folder. (I just go to the parent folder and right-click on the folder there, then choose Properties.) Then in one of the tabs, I find the Enable thumbnail view option and uncheck it. But, again, this is probably not the problem.

The preview thumbnail (actually, the whole details pane) can be turned off by unchecking View as Web Page in the View menu in one folder. Or, you can turn it off for all folders by going to View menu > Folder Options > General tab > choose Custom, then click the Settings button and in the View Web Content in Folders section, choose Only for folders where I select "as Web Page" [View menu]

If I want the details pane, but not the preview, I edit the HTML of the window. I don't know if you want to try this, it can be confusing, but here's what I do, just in case:
I right-click on the detail pane (or you can use the View menu), and click Customize this Folder... then choose create or edit HTML document. This allows me to customize that details pane. To remove only the worst case files from the preview, I see if I can find "var wantMedia" in the document (near the top) and change it to
var wantMedia = false; // cool, but may hinder media file manipulation

Or, I just delete the thumbnail code which looks like:
// try to generate a new thumbnail asynchronously, and delay the status message one second
if (size && (size < 10000000) && Thumbnail.displayFile(items.Path))
timer = window.setTimeout('document.all.Status.style.display = ""', 1000);

But don't delete the </script> tag afterwards.

If I ever want to undo all the changes I've made, I just go to Customize this Folder again and choose remove customization before clicking next. However, this also resets folder settings including the background picture.

If the HTML is edited wrong, the scripts may not work, and you'll get error messages. When that happens, I just remove customization and start over. I don't know if you want to get into all that HTML stuff. I like the control it gives. I hope you find something that works.

 

PC-XT, thanks for your detailed reply. Unfortunately, my menus don't appear the same as yours. I don't think you can edit the HTML on XP or at least that is what I saw somewhere in my reading. When I click on the details pane it just minimizes/maximizes it. I think the second option has jogged my memory on how I did it before but I can't quite remember how.

My General tab doesn't have Customize as an option and I can't find View Web Content. But, I think I remember seeing a View Web Content option somewhere, at some point in the past, maybe Desktop Plus? I don't have Desktop Plus on this computer but for some reason, I am thinking that disabling web content may be the key. I'm going to keep looking. :major

I know I've done it at least twice before because I was at my parents house today and saw that I had turned it off on their very slow computer when I was over there a lot last year during my mother's illness. It can be done!

Thanks again for your suggestions and any new thoughts

 

Maybe you could find something in your help system by searching for web folder view. here is what I get:

If it tells how to turn it on, you could probably turn it off also.

 

Thanks PC-Xt and plodr,

This is bugging me because I have fixed the problem on my Dad's computer but can't remember how I did it. His computer keeps the WebView and the Details pane and shows a preview of jpg, bitmap files but ignores avi or wmv files. This is what I want. Avi files take too much time to generate a preview.
I have used TheUnlocker and see that it is Explorer.exe that is causing the problem. Unfortunately, Windows settings options don't seem to lead me to the correct place to change this behavior. It must have been a registry fix for Explorer that corrected things. Perhaps an "explorer.exe -A, -B, -C" sort of thing? I'm not sure but I am going to keep looking. Google has let me down on the " XP preview"; "XP details" search. I've copied registry entries for Explorer from his PC to my PC to try to find the differences.

I'll post back when I find the key.

 

Thanks for helping me work through this PC-XT and plodr! Your replies got me thinking and remembering.

I figured out a registry fix for my computer Xp Pro sp2. I had to manually edit each file type for which I did not want a preview to appear. In my case just .avi and .wmv as I rarely manipulate .flv or .mov files.

I went to :

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.avi\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]

I highlighted Default and deleted the value data "{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}" leaving the data field blank.

I repeated for .wmv and, of course, could do the same for any file type replacing .avi above with any other file type, ,mpg, .mov etc., as long as the value data I am removing is "{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}".

Now, Windows Explorer does not pause to create a preview in the Details pane when I highlight an .avi or .wmv file for moving or deletion. It still generates previews for image files which I find useful.

Thanks again for your great ideas and suggestions!

 

I think the step below would accomplish the samething

To remove media preview, Start > Run > regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll

If you want to readd media preview, Start > Run > regsvr32 shmedia.dll

Steve

 

Where the Heck were you, when I needed you? :cry

Perfect. Wonderful! Does exactly what I needed but I couldn't find it anywhere using "XP", "Preview", "Details", "Pane" in Google.

How do you know this?

What keywords should I be using?

Thanks for the tip, I'm saving this on disk for the future...and making backup copies of backup copies, thanks again!

 

It's one I had saved LOL, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=84115&highlight=regsvr32+/u+shmedia.dll

Steve