How to Make Windows Photo Viewer Your Default Image Viewer on Windows 10

Home windows 10 takes advantage of the new Pics app as your default impression viewer, but quite a few folks still desire the old Windows Image Viewer. You can get Photograph Viewer back in Home windows 10, though. It is just concealed.

Connected: How to do a Thoroughly clean Set up of Windows 10 the Easy Way

If you enhance a Computer jogging Windows 7 or 8.1 to Home windows 10, Home windows Photo Viewer will be obtainable, and you can set it as your default photo viewer if you want. Having said that, if you complete a clean up installation of Home windows 10 — or invest in a Laptop with Windows 10 now on it — you just can’t access Picture Viewer at all. The fascinating issue is that Photo Viewer is however there. It’s just hidden, and you’ll have to make a couple of Registry edits to have it exhibit up. After you do that, you can then set it as your default picture viewer.

Update: Windows Photograph Viewer wasn’t reduce from Home windows 11, and you can make Windows Image Viewer your default photograph viewer on Windows 11.

The Problem

For what ever motive, Microsoft opted not to involve the Registry keys that help obtain to Windows Photograph Viewer on Home windows 10. Those keys are kept in location if you upgrade from a past version of Windows, but they are not made in the course of the set up of Windows 10. Microsoft definitely wants you to open up all those image files in its new Images application instead.

Associated: How to Established Your Default Apps in Windows 10

If you navigate to the Default apps pane in Configurations, you won’t even see Image Viewer as an option. The outdated “Default Programs” Handle Panel app isn’t much assistance, possibly. Open it up, and you can only make Picture Viewer the default association for .tif and .tiff data files — not other styles of pictures.

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You also just can’t only place impression documents at a particular .exe file to affiliate them with Image Viewer, possibly. Image Viewer is essentially aspect of a DLL file named “PhotoViewer.dll” and does not have a individual executable file linked with it.

So, how do you get Photograph Viewer back again? By firing up our old good friend Registry Editor, of study course. And just after you do that, you can established it as your default photograph application.

Move One: Permit Picture Viewer in the Registry

We’ll want to include the exact same registry entries that had been existing on Windows 7 and 8.1 and are nevertheless present on techniques that upgraded from all those previous versions of Home windows. To make things simple, we have put with each other a Registry hack you can use to make these edits quickly for the reason that they’re a small cumbersome to make manually. Obtain and unzip the following file:

Activate-Home windows-Photo-Viewer-on-Home windows-10

Within, you are going to discover two hacks. Run the “Activate Home windows Photo Viewer on Home windows 10” hack to produce the keys and values in the Registry and activate Picture Viewer. And if you ever want to deactivate it, just run the “Deactivate Windows Photograph Viewer on Windows 10 (Default)” hack. Of study course, there’s no true have to have to deactivate it in the Registry. You can constantly go away it obtainable and just affiliate your picture files with a diverse app.

Take note: A major thanks to nexus in excess of at TenForums for locating the demanded registry options.

And try to remember — this move is only needed if you’re using a new Windows 10 procedure. If you upgraded from Home windows 7 or 8.1, you must be equipped to go forward and established Home windows Photograph Viewer as your default image-viewing software in all the regular approaches.

Action Two: Established Home windows Image Viewer as Your Default Graphic Viewer

To affiliate an graphic file with Picture Viewer, appropriate-click any kind of impression file — for example, a .png, .jpg, .gif, or .bmp file — and choose Open With > Opt for A different Application.

In the “How do you want to open up this file?” window, decide on Windows Photo Viewer. If you really don’t see it at initial, scroll to the base of what is detailed and simply click the “More apps” selection — it’ll demonstrate up. Pick out the “Always use this app to open .___ files” selection, and then simply click “OK.”

Update: If the “Choose A further App” alternative doesn’t operate for some rationale, here’s a further way you can do it: To start with, right-click on the form of image file you want to transform (for instance, a PNG, JPEG, GIF, or BMP file) and pick “Properties” to open the Properties window. On the Basic pane, simply click the “Change” button to the ideal of “Opens With” and choose Home windows Image Viewer.

Home windows Image Viewer will now be the default graphic viewer for that kind of graphic file. You will have to have to repeat this procedure for each and every variety of image file you want to use it with. In other phrases, anytime you open an image that opens in the Pictures application, just shut the Photographs app and use the “Open with” menu to affiliate that file type with Home windows Photograph Viewer. You will only have to do this the initially time you open each and every new variety of impression file.

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Clearly, we just cannot assure that Microsoft will continue to keep entry to Picture Viewer close to permanently. But for now, at minimum, it’s nevertheless there — even if you have to put in a tiny function to obtain it.