Step by Step: How to Restore Old Photo Viewer in Windows 10

"

As part of the boost that Microsoft wants to give to its ecosystem of universal apps, in Windows 10 we find that several of the basic system utilities, such as the calculator, and the photo viewer, have been replaced by new appsof this type, which promise to be faster, offer better features, and update more frequently."

However, some of these modern applications, such as the Photos app, are still a bit immature in the eyes of some of us. users, who would rather be able to go back to using the old photo viewer, at least until the new Photos app improves enough.

Unfortunately, Windows 10 does not allow you to set this viewer as the default app to open photos. If we try to do this from Settings, the classic photo viewer just doesn't show up as the default app option.

Therefore, in the following we will show you an alternative method to be able to use the Classic Photo Viewer as the default photo application.

Step One: Modify the Windows Registry

"For some reason, in Windows 10 Microsoft removed registry entries needed to be able to use Photo Viewer by default. To restore them it is necessary to open the notepad (Start > write notepad > press Enter) and copy and paste the following code there:"

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

"[email protected], -3043"

@=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

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

@=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

"

Clsid={60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"

"

@=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"

Once saved, double-click on it to apply the changes to the Windows registry.

Important: Making changes to the Windows registry is not a risk-free procedure, therefore, if we are going to modify it, it is It is recommended to activate System Restore and create a restore point before, as explained here.

Second step: associate image files to the Photo Viewer

"Now we must go to the Default Programs> section write default programs> press Enter), and once there, click on the second option: Associate a file type or protocol with a program. "

"

Then you have to find some image formats, such as .jpg, .jpeg and .png, and associate them with the Photo Viewer. To do this you have to select the format, and then press the button Change program…>"

Pressing the button should display a box like the following. Photo Viewer may not immediately appear in the list, but in that case we can find it by clicking the More apps button at the bottom of the list.

You have to repeat this process for about 3 or 4 image file extensions. As we said before, it is best to do it with the most common formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .png, etc.

Step Three: Set Photo Viewer as Default Application

Then, within the notepad, go to File > Save As, select the location you want, and save the file using the extension reg (example trick.reg). Here it is important to select the All files option in the Type section, as shown below

Via | Tenforums