How to see RAW picture thumbnails in Windows 8?

Tseg

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Jun 11, 2013
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I recently exchanged a new Windows 8 computer that did not meet my needs for a newer one that does meet my needs (hardware-wise). On the old Windows 8 system my RAW picture files displayed as thumbnails. Also, my external drive where I have RAW pictures saved shows them as thumbnails, but with my new Windows 8 system my 2 internal drives just show icons, but the USB external drive continues to convert the RAW files to thumbnails... in fact when the folder opens icons are displayed and I can see sequentially the system converting them to thumbnail pics right before my eyes. I have gone into a variety of menus and have made sure the "display as icons instead of pictures" box is unchecked trying to get my new computer to display properly, but no luck so far.

The fact my external drive shows these .ARW (Sony) thumbnail files but inside my computer only the icon shows perplexes me. I also have a home network drive, and in fairness, I've never gotten those RAW files to display as thumbnails.

I have to believe this is a settings issue but I have not yet cracked the code.



  • I've already tried Control Panel/Systems/Advanced Settings/Performance and ensured the icon box was unchecked
    I've ensured the folders show Large Icon view vs. List

Any more suggestions would be appreciated.
 

Tseg

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Ultimately I could not find an answer within Windows 8 that worked (have latest updates, etc...) so ended up buying FastPictureViewer Codec. It works pretty awesome and now I see my RAW images everywhere but the stinkin' Windows 8 Photo App.
 

Tseg

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Thanks for the response. I just converted from Win 8.1 Preview to Win 8.1 and no longer have issues seeing RAW images without 3rd party support. I suspect my RAW format was initially unsupported by MS and now it is. BTW, it looks like that icon check box option I mentioned above is not present in WIN 8.1.
 

ertonyst

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Nov 18, 2013
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hey how did u get the arw files to show up in the photos app? i updated to 8.1 and still cant. iew them. :( email me pls! ertonyrn@gmail.com



 

Tseg

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The win 8.1 photo app is a mess that I no longer use. Cannot access Flickr pictures there anymore, etc... It does not even identify the folder that has all my ARW files located. There is an App called File Brick that I purchased to see all this now.

My original issue was I could not see ARW files in my file browser, but now can. Can you?