Summary: Thumbs.db is a thumbnail cache used by Windows Explorer to speed up some types of folder displays. You can delete it and prevent more from appearing.
I've seen thumbs.db files in some of my folders. Are they safe to delete? How do I delete them?
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Thumbs.db is totally safe to delete. It's an automatically generated thumbnail cache.
I'll explain just what that is and I'm going to use this as an excuse to turn it off on my own machine, and show you how along the way.
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Thumbnails are the "little" versions of images that Windows Explorer displays in some folder views. You can see what an image is, in miniature, presumably so you can choose the right one for whatever it is you're doing.
Rather than create the thumbnail each time Windows Explorer displays the contents of a folder, it creates the thumbnails once, and then save them using thumbs.db. If the original file changes, the thumbnail would be updated, but other than that Windows Explorer doesn't need to recreate the thumbnail again, and can display the folder view more quickly the next time you take a look.
Thumbs.db is normally a hidden file, so we'll need to change a setting to view those. In Windows Explorer, click on Tools, and then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab, an scroll down to Hidden Files and Folders:
I make sure to set Show hidden files and folders, as well as Hide extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files. The later will give you a warning, but I prefer to see everything.
Now you'll see thumbs.db in various locations. If you like, you can right click on it and click on Delete:
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Thumbs.db is a nice little optimization, but if like me you don't use the icon or image view in Windows Explorer, it's just not that useful. Fortunately you can turn it off with a simple setting.
In fact, it was right above what we were looking at a moment ago:
Just check Do not cache thumbnails, and no new thumbs.db files should be created.
Article C3094 - July 23, 2007
Hi Leo, I wonder if you can help me since I can't seem to locate answers elsewhere. While trying to view certain video files on my harddrives, I get a Windows Explorer error message saying that a problem has occurred and Explorer needs to shut down. From what I have read, I'm pretty sure it relates to thumbs.db files. I copied videos from one harddrive to another and deleted the original ones to consolidate all videos. Some folders are unaffected and can still be viewed as thumbnails. I tried deleting the thumbs.db files and then letting XP recreate them the next time I chose to view as thumbnails, but to no avail. I told Windows not to cache thumbnails and searched for and deleted any thumbs.db files on my system but still have the same problem. Also, certain videos, when I try to play them, instantly give me the above-mentioned error message even if the folder is set to be viewed as tiles, lists, etc. But most are fine when the view is set to anything other than thumbnails. Originally, there was one subfolder that I had this problem with only. At the time, I didn't know that it was related to the view. I tried to copy the subfolder to a different folder and in the middle of the transfer I got the error message. Now both folders have the same problem. When I try to view these folders as thumbnails, thumbnails start to be produced but after a few seconds, the error message appears and Explorer shuts down. Thanks in advance. K.C.
Posted by: K.C. at July 22, 2009 10:31 PMHey, where did thumbs.db come from I am just now seeing it on my computer desktop. I have never seen it before now while I was trying to see why I can't close my yahoo.messenger. Don't remember opening any pitures recently. What is thumbs.db. Is it messing with my computer?
Posted by: Pramod Lodhi at October 25, 2009 1:57 AMPlease Help, I have a year old computer and for some reason it does not have a folder options anywhere on the system. so im completly stuck any ideas would be very helpful thank you
Posted by: emma at November 23, 2009 6:58 AMFor those of you receiving the 'cannot be deleted because it's in use' error try this:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/
It's a free program that allows you to end the thread and delete the file.
Posted by: Dave at December 23, 2009 3:39 PMNote: Use with caution and only delete the files you know are safe to.
Hi ..
Will it give any bad effect to our systems? I mean, do I face any kind of problem if I don't delete Thumbs.db from my PC? Please suggest.
06-Mar-2010
Posted by: Atul at March 6, 2010 4:53 AM