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.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - Where is Windows Explorer?
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Ask Leo! - How do I get Windows Explorer to display details by default?
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Ask Leo! - How can I get Windows Explorer to default to open on a directory of my choosing?
Article C3094 - July 23, 2007
I'm using windows vista and I cannot see the Do Not Cache thumbnail.I wsa to get rid of the thumbs.db permanently
Posted by: Kajal at June 27, 2008 10:35 PMLeo,
Posted by: Joel at October 22, 2008 1:09 PMI was trying to delete an old folder that had some pictures in it. When I went to delete it, Windows would not let me delete the Thumbs.db file. I am able to delete everything in the folder (word files and picture files) but cannot delete the Thumbs.db file. Windows keeps telling me that it cannot delete Thumbs.db files and that another program or person is using it. Only there are no other programs open and no other people logged on. I can see the hidden file, but Windows will not let me delete it. I'm stumped, can you help me? Thanks!
I still get a message that the Thumbs.db cannot be deleted, nor moved, because it is "being used by another program." It isn't... with the exception, possibly, of an unseen piece of the Windows Explorer program that might be snuggled in some cache someplace. This is something new to my environment as I have heretofore been able to delete folders at will. It may be a firewall thing, I'm not sure.
Posted by: Phil at December 21, 2008 9:11 AMLeo, I will grant that the checkbox "Do not cache Thumbnails" was there when you wrote this article, but several people (and now myself) have observed that it is no longer there.
Perhaps SP1 removed it?
Please check this out and update the article, if possible?
19-Feb-2009
Hi Leo,
I'm did back up with my drives and after I copied the contents of 1 drive to another, I deleted the contents of first drive and I accidentally deleted thumbs.db
Can I get the file back? How to do that?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by: Melissa at March 5, 2009 3:00 AMMy picture files have been backed up and I'm about to delete them from the pc -but this error pops up:
"The file 'Thumbs.db' is a system file.
If you remove it, your computer or one of your programs may no longer work correctly. Are you sure you want to delete it?"
From reading your webpage it doesn't sound like a big deal to delete the thumbs.db files, yet this error message has me frozen. What if I bring back my pictures and find that something has been screwed up & they can't be read, anymore?
Posted by: Anna at March 12, 2009 11:47 PMI have one or more folders with only a Thumbs.db file in them that will not delete using the instructions provided here. Note they appear with a capital T. The folder name cannot be modified or the folder deleted. It says being used by another person or program. Please comment or help. Thanks.
Posted by: jj at April 20, 2009 2:56 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?
24-May-2009
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 AM