How To Restore The Missing Windows Photo Viewer Windows 10

The Windows Photo Viewer is a very famous and popular app built in Windows operating systems to help users view photos and images. However, things have changed in Windows 10 - users can’t find Windows Photo Viewer anymore. The new Photos app is used for photo viewing. Can they restore the Windows Photo Viewer? How to set it as the default photo viewer in Windows 10?

Windows 10 Users Want to Restore Windows Photo Viewer

What is Windows Photo Viewer? It’s the built-in photo viewer in Windows systems since Windows XP and considered as the best Windows 7 image viewer.

At first, the photo viewing app is called Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
Later, Microsoft renamed it to Windows Photo Viewer.
In Windows 10, the new Photos app appears to replace the previous Windows Photo Viewer.

However, many Windows 10 users don’t like Photos, though many image and video editing features are added to it. Users need the previous Windows Photo Viewer back since they are not satisfied with Photos: the Photos app loads images very slow; the Photos app crashes now and then; etc.

Can you restore Windows Photo Viewer? What are the steps to restore Windows Photo Viewer Windows 10? These questions will be answered in the next part.

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How to Get Windows Photo Viewer Back in Windows 10

If you really like Windows Photo Viewer, you must want to restore it immediately when you find Windows 10 photo viewer missing. But how to bring back the classic Windows Photo Viewer to Windows 10? Do you need to install Windows Photo Viewer manually? Let’s check out.

[Solved] Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open This Picture Error.

Windows Photo Viewer

Set Windows Photo Viewer as Default Windows 10

It’s very easy to bring back the Windows Photo Viewer if you have upgraded to Windows 10 from either Windows 7 or 8. The older Windows Photo Viewer is not removed from Windows 10 yet; it’s just not set as the default photo viewer for Windows 10.

Steps to make Windows Photo Viewer default Windows 10:

Open Settings app directly by pressing Windows + I.
Select Apps (Uninstall, defaults, optional features) displayed in the window.
Choose Default apps from the left pane.
Find Photo viewer from the right pane.
Click on the Photos option under it.
Select Windows Photo Viewer in the pop-up Choose an app window.
Wait a few seconds for the change to take effect.

Set Windows Photo Viewer as default

How To Set Default Programs/Apps In Windows 10?

Restore Windows Photo Viewer Windows 10 with a Registry File

Things become more complicated for users who have finished a clean install of Windows 10 but find Windows 10 photo viewer missing. But luckily, you can still restore Windows Photo Viewer by following steps.

Step 1: create a registry file.

Right click on any empty space on the Windows 10 desktop.
Navigate to the new option.
Choose Text Document.
Copy & paste the registry file content (given at the end) into the new txt file.
Click X in the upper right corner.
Select Save.
Right click on this document and choose Rename.
Give it a name and change .txt to .reg.
Press Enter and click Yes to confirm.

Step 2: run the registry file.

Double click on the registry file you created.
Click Run.
Click Yes if you see a User Account Control window.
Click Yes again in the pop-up Registry Editor window to continue.
Click OK when another Registry Editor window appears to inform you that the keys and values are added successfully.

Run the registry file

Continue to adding information

Keys and values are added successfully

Step 3: choose Windows Photo Viewer for images.

Right click on the image you want to open.
Navigate to Open with.
Click Choose another app.
Select Windows Photo Viewer from the list.
Click OK.

To open all photos, images, and pictures using Windows Photo Viewer, you need to set it as the default photo viewer in Windows 10. How to make Windows Photo Viewer default Windows 10? Please follow the steps mentioned in the previous part.

[2021 Guide] 16 Best Photo/Image Viewer For Windows 10.

Registry file content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Restores Windows Photo Viewer to Default Programs in Windows 10

;Includes complete association settings for file types handled by Windows Photo Viewer

;http://www.winhelponline.com/blog

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications]

“Windows Photo Viewer”=”Software\\Microsoft\\Windows Photo Viewer\\Capabilities”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Photo Viewer\Capabilities]

“ApplicationDescription”=”@%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Photo Viewer\\photoviewer.dll,-3069”

“ApplicationName”=”@%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Photo Viewer\\photoviewer.dll,-3009”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Photo Viewer\Capabilities\FileAssociations]

“.tif”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff”

“.tiff”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff”

“.jpg”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Jpeg”

“.wdp”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Wdp”

“.jfif”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.JFIF”

“.dib”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap”

“.png”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Png”

“.bmp”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap”

“.jpe”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Jpeg”

“.jpeg”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Jpeg”

“.gif”=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap]

“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000001

“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,\

00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,\

77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,\

00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\

65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,35,00,36,00,00,\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap\DefaultIcon]

@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-70″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap\shell\open\command]

@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\

00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\

6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\

00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\

25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\

00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\

6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\

00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\

5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\

00,31,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Bitmap\shell\open\DropTarget]

“Clsid”=”{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.JFIF]

“EditFlags”=dword:00010000

“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000001

“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,\

00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,\

77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,\

00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\

65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,35,00,35,00,00,\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.JFIF\DefaultIcon]

@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-72″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.JFIF\shell\open]

“MuiVerb”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,\

69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,\

00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,\

72,00,5c,00,70,00,68,00,6f,00,74,00,6f,00,76,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,\

00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,34,00,33,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.JFIF\shell\open\command]