{"id":9454,"date":"2018-02-27T20:54:08","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T03:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/stage\/?p=9454"},"modified":"2019-05-05T12:42:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T19:42:53","slug":"how-to-bring-back-windows-photo-viewer-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/how-to-bring-back-windows-photo-viewer-in-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Bring Back Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Those of us who have used <em>Windows Photo Viewer<\/em> in earlier versions of Windows miss not having it in Windows 10. The new Photos store app from Microsoft is a replacement for Windows Photo Viewer. The app is pretty nice and gives you the ability to setup a slideshow, collection of photos, albums, and more, but it&#8217;s more of a photo manager. If I want to quickly view images without other distractions, I prefer Windows Photo Viewer over Photos. I can also open the files in another photo application easily within Windows Photo Editor for editing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_01.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9458\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_01.png\" alt=\"Windows Photo Viewer\" width=\"449\" height=\"154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_01.png 449w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_01-300x103.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One reason that I prefer Windows Photo Viewer over Photos app is that I am used to it. However, I am not suggesting that you start using Windows Photo Viewer instead of the Photos app. I am just pointing out my preference and if there are folks out there who want to use\u00a0Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10, I want to show them how they can bring back the application.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Step-By-Step Procedure<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the step-by-step procedure for using the\u00a0Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color: #fffec4; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>WARNING!<\/strong><\/span> The following procedure requires modification to the registry, which should only be done by trained professionals who know how to work with Windows registry. Working with Windows registry is like doing a brain surgery on your Windows computer. Follow this procedure at your own risk.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ol>\n<li>Log in to Windows 10 with an account that has administrative privileges.<\/li>\n<li>In Windows 10 search box type <strong>regedit<\/strong> and press <strong>Enter<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_02.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_02.png\" alt=\"RegEdit\" width=\"381\" height=\"143\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_02.png 381w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_02-300x113.png 300w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_02-1320x500.png 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>When prompted if you want to allow the app to make changes to your device, select <strong>Yes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>First you should backup the entire Windows registry. Highlight the blue Computer icon in the top left-hand corner, then right-click and select <strong>Export<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_03.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9461\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_03.png\" alt=\"Exporting registry\" width=\"251\" height=\"179\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Name the file something like Full Registry Backup. The exported file will have the extension .reg. Click <strong>Save<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Download this text file called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/docs\/windows10\/WindowsPhotoViewer.txt\">WindowsPhotoViewer.txt<\/a>. Thanks to Edwin for providing this code on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tenforums.com\/software-apps\/8930-windows-photo-viewer-gone-2.html#post290818\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tenforums.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Next you need to rename the file to something like WindowsPhotoViewer.reg, but if you don&#8217;t see the file extension .txt at the end of the file, you may need to unhide the file extensions in Windows File Explorer.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9463\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05.png\" alt=\"Unhide file extensions\" width=\"966\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05.png 1165w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05-768x417.png 768w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_05-1024x556.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 966px) 100vw, 966px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>In this example, let&#8217;s rename the file to WindowsPhotoViewer.reg.\u00a0At the rename warning click <strong>Yes<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_04.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_04.png\" alt=\"Rename warning\" width=\"436\" height=\"147\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_04.png 436w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_04-300x101.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 436px) 100vw, 436px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Double-click the WindowsPhotoViewer.reg file to import the data into the registry and create the necessary keys and values.<\/li>\n<li>At the registry editor warning, click <strong>Yes<\/strong> to continue.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_06.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_06.png\" alt=\"Updating the registry\" width=\"559\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_06.png 559w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_06-300x103.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>You will see a message that the keys and values contained in the WindowsPhtoViewer.reg have been successfully added to the registry. Click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In the Windows Search box type <strong>Default App Settings<\/strong> and press <strong>Enter<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In the Choose default apps section click <strong>Photos<\/strong> under Photo viewer. Your default may be set to a different photo viewer instead of Photos. Clicking this app allows you to change the default app.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Windows Photo Viewer<\/strong> from the list.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_07.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9466\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_07.png\" alt=\"Windows Photo Viewer\" width=\"728\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_07.png 728w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_07-300x246.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Now when you double-click on a photo, it will open in Windows Photo Viewer by default.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><strong>What to Do if Windows Photo Viewer is Missing from the List<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If for some reason you don&#8217;t see the\u00a0 Windows Photo Viewer application in step 13 then try this technique. Let&#8217;s say most of your files have .JPG extension and you want them to open in Windows Photo Viewer.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Open Windows File Explorer and right-click any .JPG file on your computer, move your mouse over<strong> Open with<\/strong> and select <strong>Choose another app<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_08.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_08.png\" alt=\"Selecting another app as default\" width=\"509\" height=\"545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_08.png 509w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_08-280x300.png 280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 509px) 100vw, 509px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Scroll down and click <strong>More apps<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_09.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9468\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_09.png\" alt=\"More apps\" width=\"396\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_09.png 396w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_09-225x300.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Windows Photo Viewer<\/strong> in the list, check the box <strong>Always use this app to open .JPG files<\/strong>, and then click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_10.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9469\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_10.png\" alt=\"Windows Photo Viewer\" width=\"400\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_10.png 400w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer_10-227x300.png 227w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Now all your .JPG files will open with Windows Photo Viewer by default. If there are other common files, e.g. .PNG files, that you want to open with Windows Photo Viewer, simply pick a .PNG file and repeat the above steps. The .TIF and .TIFF files are automatically associated with\u00a0Windows Photo Viewer by default so you don&#8217;t need to worry about them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color: #e3e3e3; text-align: left;\">Thanks for reading my article. If you are interested in IT training &amp; consulting services, please reach out to me. Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ZubairAlexander.com<\/a> for information on my professional background.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;\">Copyright \u00a9 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattlepro.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SeattlePro Enterprises, LLC<\/a>. All rights reserved.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those of us who have used Windows Photo Viewer in earlier versions of Windows miss not having it in Windows 10. The new Photos store app from Microsoft is a replacement for Windows Photo Viewer. The app is pretty nice and gives you the ability to setup a slideshow, collection of photos, albums, and more, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,43,11,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applications","category-articles","category-tips-tricks","category-windows-10"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/WindowsPhotoViewer.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}