Once again Power Toys fails in loading SVG thumbnails preview in File Explorer

[JarisGV]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.75.1

Installation method

GitHub

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

File Explorer: Thumbnail preview

Steps to reproduce

I really give up. The only reason I installed Power Toys is that it seems like Microsoft doesn't know how to handle a single feature so important for every graphic designer, web designer and every other Windows user. But since I installed the first version of Power Toys it never solved this problem. I installed other tools that Windows blocked every time the OS starts.

So if I really want to see the thumbnail preview of my SVG icons, I need to install third-party tools every time I start Windows, even if I install them with administrator rights...

I posted this issue to the Microsoft Community and Windows Hub some weeks ago, but I have not received a satisfactory response from any Microsoft technicians or other users.

✔️ Expected Behavior

Display SVG icons preview in File Explorer

❌ Actual Behavior

Power Toys never resolved the issue. I uninstalled and removed all its traces from my machine and installed the new version, but nothing happens.

Windows 11 22h2 x64 24GB RAM Intel Core i5 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX

Other Software

No response

[crutkas]

Hi @jarisgv, can you provide a /reportbug for us? that could help diagnosing.

Also if the files are on a cloud based folder vs actual downloaded on the disk, that could impact it as well.

[JarisGV]

PowerToysReport_2023-11-01-00-52-37.zip

[JarisGV]

Hi @crutkas Bug Report added in the comment above 👆🏽 All the files are saved in my machine.

[jaimecbernardo]

According to the logs, the looks like the svg thumbnail handler from PowerToys isn't even being called. Is the preview pane working for you for SVG files?

[jaimecbernardo]

Can you also please check if this registry key is set for you with this value? /needinfo

The {10144713-1526-46C9-88DA-1FB52807A9FF} is what connects to the PowerToys SVG Thumbnail provider. Perhaps this is being overriden by other software you have installed.

[JarisGV]

Yes. This is the value set to .svg in Registry

[JarisGV]

According to the logs, the looks like the svg thumbnail handler from PowerToys isn't even being called. Is the preview pane working for you for SVG files?

It works as expected in Preview Pane.

[JarisGV]

UPDATED: S O L V E D P A R T I A L L Y

Friends, @jaimecbernardo's comment about the Registry Key helped me get closer to solving the problem. When converting one of my SGV files to SGVZ I noticed that the thumbnail was displayed successfully. Then I copied the .svgz value {4CA20D9A-98AC-4DD6-9C16-7449F29AC08A} to the key {E357FCCD-A995-4576-B01F-234630154E96} which was not changed by any software and restored the .svg key, reset the IconCache and the thumbnails came back, HOWEVER, only until I restarted the system.

I appreciate your replies here. Thanks a lot.

[JarisGV]

Hi guys,

Unfortunately The problem was not solved completely. Actually I found some clues of what's happening. I don't know what is resetting my machine values for .svg thumbnail preview every time I start Windows. I uninstalled SVG See, the only third-party tool that was left in Windows. But it seems like it was not affecting the machine behavior once nothing changed after I removed it.

But scanning my Registry Keys I found this error associated to PowerToys:

[Intuos5]

I am having issues with the SVG preview too, it causes Affinity Designer to freeze when displaying SVG thumbnails for files. Uninstalling PowerToys or disabling the SVG preview removed the issue for me. I am on Windows 10.0.19045.

@Crutkas, what can I do to help diagnose the issue?

[jaimecbernardo]

Hi guys,

Unfortunately The problem was not solved completely. Actually I found some clues of what's happening. I don't know what is resetting my machine values for .svg thumbnail preview every time I start Windows. I uninstalled SVG See, the only third-party tool that was left in Windows. But it seems like it was not affecting the machine behavior once nothing changed after I removed it.

But scanning my Registry Keys I found this error associated to PowerToys:

Registry preview value there should end in "app.ico" and not "app.icote". No idea where that "icote" came from. But it's related to the Registry Preview utility and not the svg preview.

Regarding the svg preview, {4CA20D9A-98AC-4DD6-9C16-7449F29AC08A} is not related to PowerToys. The {10144713-1526-46C9-88DA-1FB52807A9FF} is what is related to PowerToys, and you can check it in Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{10144713-1526-46C9-88DA-1FB52807A9FF}\InprocServer32 :

Likewise, you can check which software {4CA20D9A-98AC-4DD6-9C16-7449F29AC08A} points to in Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{4CA20D9A-98AC-4DD6-9C16-7449F29AC08A}\InprocServer32

[jaimecbernardo]

I am having issues with the SVG preview too, it causes Affinity Designer to freeze when displaying SVG thumbnails for files. Uninstalling PowerToys or disabling the SVG preview removed the issue for me. I am on Windows 10.0.19045.

@crutkas, what can I do to help diagnose the issue?

@Intuos5 , can you please open a new issue with an attached bug report?

[JarisGV]

Okay @jaimecbernardo After your reply, I removed every trace of SVG See from my laptop, then I uninstalled PowerToys and removed all the 900+ files related to it in my machine, including those in %temp% and %prefetch% folders. I also removed every single registry trace from Regedit and then I installed it again with admin rights.

Again, the problem persists. No thumbnail preview.

Here's a screenshot from my Regedit:

And this is screenshot with the values for the key {8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}

[jaimecbernardo]

Hi @jarisgv , That's for the preview handler. For the thumbnail provider, it's on Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{10144713-1526-46C9-88DA-1FB52807A9FF}\InprocServer32

[JarisGV]

I found the following two 'Missing file/folder errors > 'File (folder) doesn't exist' even with PowerToys installed and working fine (unless for SVG icon preview).

[PaulCoddington]

Related: I have SVG thumbnails displaying in Explorer, but they are not the complete image, rather a thumbnail-sized top-left corner of the larger image.