Disable Thumbs.db file in Windows 11 or Windows 10

The thumbs.db file is a database file. It contains information about the little one miniatures of icons that you see in Windows Explorer.

The thumbs.db file is a hidden file by default and will only become visible if you delete all shows hidden files in Windows.

are cached in the thumbs.db icons saved so that Windows Explorer does not have to regenerate these icons (“thumbnails”) every time.

If you want to delete or disable the thumbs.db file, you can do so in a number of ways. This article explains how you can disable or delete the thumbs.db file via the Windows registry or via an app.

Disable or delete Thumbs.db file in Windows 11 or Windows 10

Delete Thumbs.db file

Open the Windows registry. In the left part open the following folder structure:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

Then right-click on the “Windows” folder and click New and then Key.

Give this key the following name “Explorer”. Then right-click on “Explorer” again and click on New and then on “DWORD value 32-bit”.

Name this DWORD 32-bit value “DisableThumbsDBOnNetworkFolders”. Double-click it and change the value to “1”.

Below you can see the result.

Click OK and restart your computer.

Remove Thumbs.db file with app

Thumbs Remover searches for Thumbs.db files on entire hard drives (internal or external), USB devices or in single folders and subfolders; afterwards you can browse through all found Thumbs.db files and then choose whether you want to delete them or not.

Thumb Remover can also enable or disable the Thumbs.db creation process in Windows for both local and remote folders (only for remote folders in Windows Vista and later), it supports integration into the context menu of Windows Explorer, when you right-click clicks on a folder or drive.

Download Thumbs.db remover.

Click Start to search for old references in the thumbs.db file.

I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!