Solved Photo Viewer registry edit didn't work, and now photos don't open up.

Bree said:

In an admin terminal prompt type:

DISM /online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
SFC /ScanNow

Then try again.

Click to expand...

I'm just realizing that you had the answer in here, too. But I mistakenly assumed that was one single command, so I copied it all into the terminal prompt. I noticed that it didn't show the DISM part as being ran, but thought that was just part of the process.

JRT10 said:

Thanks, the Dism cleanup/restore did it! It's not opening up to Windows Photo Viewer, but I'm not even going to mess with it past this point.


Edit* of all the things to fail, this was a deal breaker. If it had been an extra step to open up various sub folders I would have learned to deal with it. But photos? That's a deal breaker.
Thanks again!

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You may have to do the In-Place Upgrade.
It can pretty much fix ANY Windows problem.


It's pretty easy to do. It takes about 35 mins. on my comp.

An In-Place Upgrade "compares" what is installed on the computer, with the Windows ISO image.
Then, it overwrites any corrupted Windows files, with clean copies from the ISO image.
This is how it "repairs" Windows while allowing you to keep your programs and personal files.

Ghot said:

You may have to do the In-Place Upgrade.
It can pretty much fix ANY Windows problem.


It's pretty easy to do. It takes about 35 mins. on my comp.

An In-Place Upgrade "compares" what is installed on the computer, with the Windows ISO image.
Then, it overwrites any corrupted Windows files, with clean copies from the ISO image.
This is how it "repairs" Windows while allowing you to keep your programs and personal files.

Click to expand...

I might give that a try along the way, but for now i'm just glad that a 6 day ordeal with this pc is over.

I'm a little worried that it might want to reinstall OneDrive.

JRT10 said:

I might give that a try along the way, but for now i'm just glad that a 6 day ordeal with this pc is over.

I'm a little worried that it might want to reinstall OneDrive.

Click to expand...

If the In-Place Upgrade reinstalls OneDrive... just use REVO Uninstaller Free to remove it.
Generally, an In-Place Upgrade doesn't do things like that.

When you use REVO to uninstall something, a "Scan" button will light up as soon as the un-install is done.
Make sure to click on that... and remove everything it finds.

Ghot said:

If the In-Place Upgrade reinstalls OneDrive... just use REVO Uninstaller Free to remove it.
Generally, an In-Place Upgrade doesn't do things like that.

When you use REVO to uninstall something, a "Scan" button will light up as soon as the un-install is done.
Make sure to click on that... and remove everything it finds.

Click to expand...

I'm worried that removing OneDrive is what caused all of this.
I have the Dism option saved and the in place repair along with Revo, so when I get around to going at it, at least i'll have a fix for whatever occurs. But right now this is 6 long days of working on this pc, and I'm going to settle into being able to use it normally for now.

JRT10 said:

I'm worried that removing OneDrive is what caused all of this.
I have the Dism option saved and the in place repair along with Revo, so when I get around to going at it, at least i'll have a fix for whatever occurs. But right now this is 6 long days of working on this pc, and I'm going to settle into being able to use it normally for now.

Click to expand...

OneDrive can be safely removed, without causing problems.
I know this because I did it on Win 10 and Win 11.

Also, REVO's "Scan" button doesn't make mistakes.
I've used REVO for 15 years or so... never have I seen it make a mistake or cause problems.

Here's the tutorial for "disabling OneDrive.
If the In-Place re-installs OneDrive, disable it as soon as the In-place is done... then uninstall it with REVO.



Here's a screen shot of REVO... OneDrive will show up below the Windows Apps button at top left...
It doesn't show on this screenshot, because I uninstalled it long ago.





As I mentioned above... it probably "won't" get reinstalled.
I've done two or three In-Place Upgrades since I uninstalled OneDrive, and it hasn't been re-installed.



Here's another tutorial that may come in handy...

Ghot said:

OneDrive can be safely removed, without causing problems.
I know this because I did it on Win 10 and Win 11.

Also, REVO's "Scan" button doesn't make mistakes.
I've used REVO for 15 years or so... never have I seen it make a mistake or cause problems.

Here's the tutorial for "disabling OneDrive.
If the In-Place re-installs OneDrive, disable it as soon as the In-place is done... then uninstall it with REVO.

Enable or Disable OneDrive in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the OneDrive feature for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. OneDrive is built-in to Windows 11 by default. With OneDrive, you can sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere -...

www.elevenforum.com

Here's a screen shot of REVO... OneDrive will show up below the Windows Apps button at top left...

View attachment 106832



As I mentioned above... it probably "won't" get reinstalled.
I've done two or three In-Place Upgrades since I uninstalled OneDrive, and it hasn't been re-installed.

Click to expand...

It was easy to use, and I don't think it made a mistake. I just think that OneDrive controlled so much that maybe removing it took some deep level functionality with it.
This was a fresh download of the media creation tool that I used to download the OS from Microsoft. Maybe something has changed recently? I mean what else would have caused the the photo viewer to stop working?
Anyway, nothing to worrry about now, the pc is running fine. Thanks again.

JRT10 said:

It was easy to use, and I don't think it made a mistake. I just think that OneDrive controlled so much that maybe removing it took some deep level functionality with it.
This was a fresh download of the media creation tool that I used to download the OS from Microsoft. Maybe something has changed recently? I mean what else would have caused the the photo viewer to stop working?
Anyway, nothing to worrry about now, the pc is running fine. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Exactly.
Which is why I recommended the In-Place Upgrade.

The IPU will "fix" whatever might have been accidentally removed.
That's what it does, that's all it does.



In case you forgot...

An In-Place Upgrade "compares" what is installed on the computer, with the Windows ISO image.
Then, it overwrites any corrupted Windows files, with clean copies from the ISO image.
This is how it "repairs" Windows while allowing you to keep your programs and personal files.

The IPU doesn't really re-install Windows. It just "fixes" any broken Windows files.
It doesn't replace things you may have uninstalled.


Below is a pic of all the Windows Apps, I have removed.
The 2 or 3 IPU's I've done, haven't brought any of them back....






I've also done this, long ago... (disabled the App's auto update)



This won't stop you from updating Apps manually. But it will stop them "automatically" updating.

Ghot said:

Exactly.
Which is why I recommended the In-Place Upgrade.

The IPU will "fix" whatever might have been accidentally removed.
That's what it does, that's all it does.

Click to expand...

Ok, so I ran into another file association headache, I can't double click a video to open it.
And I can't select "choose anothr app". When I click on it, it does nothing. So I ran the repair program. I selected the version that downloads it, then does the install. Well that didn't fix anything at all. Still no ability to double click a video or even choose another app to do so. I also don't have the option of selecting where I save notepad documents. It shows document, with no ability to change it. I thinking of just doing a windows reinstall. Run the Revo uninstaller and see where it gets me. But first, i'll run Aomei backupper just in case, then run Revo.

JRT10 said:

But first, i'll run Aomei backupper just in case, then run Revo.

Click to expand...

Smart move. ^^





Here's my short version...

When a time comes that I "must" install Windows... I do it like this....

1. Have all my necessary drivers on a storage drive.
2. Create the Windows install media.
3. Physically disconnect the internet (wifi as well if you have it), and all "other" drives.
4. Install Windows and skip, disregard, uncheck, anything MS offers.
5. On desktop for the 1st time, I install all the drivers.
6. I then do any major tweaks that I want done.
7. Install backup software, and create it's bootable media.
8. Then I make a fresh full OS backup.
9. The I disable drivers included in WU (tutorial), reconnect the internet, and do any WUs that are available.
10. Then I install the very few programs that I want on my Windows drive.
11. Then I make another full OS backup.
12. After that I really only concern myself with chipset or BIOS updates. The other drivers... updated only if needed.

From then on... I just leapfrog from backup to backup. With so little data on my Windows drive, backups and restores are fast.
I only make new backups before (and after) major changes, and ofc before patch Tuesdays.

@Ghot none of that will help.
It occurred to me last night that I should look up any changes that Microsoft might have made with OneDrive, and in June of this year they started forcing it on new installations. I've said all along in my two threads on this that something changed, well it did and recently.
Window installations are simple, don't except any of Microsoft's offerings during the install and everything will work out fine. That is until now.



So now I'm going to find an older install disc for windows 11 and start over again.

JRT10 said:

@Ghot none of that will help.
It occurred to me last night that I should look up any changes that Microsoft might have made with OneDrive, and in June of this year they started forcing it on new installations. I've said all along in my two threads on this that something changed, well it did and recently.
Window installations are simple, don't except any of Microsoft's offerings during the install and everything will work out fine. That is until now.

Windows 11 starts forcing OneDrive backups without asking permission

Microsoft really, really wants you to back up files and folders to OneDrive.

www.pcworld.com

So now I'm going to find an older install disc for windows 11 and start over again.

Click to expand...

OneDrive has been forced on us since Win 11 was first released.
This is one of the many reasons, we disconnect the internet before installing Windows.

It gives us time to un-install any Windows Apps we want to, and to do the Block the Automatic update of Windows Apps. We also use this time to block the driver updates included with Windows Updates.

THEN, we hook the internet back up to do the Windows Updates.

These aren't the DSL days.
If the internet is at all accessible, MS will use it even before we get the chance to login.

The clean install tutorial doesn't advise disconnecting the internet and the other drives, for no reason. ^^




Ofc, you can do whatever you want. A clean install is just a troubleshooting step.
Make a backup of your current install, then do a clean install.
If the problem still exists... then you have a hardware issue.

If the problem doesn't still exist... then you've solved it. It will have been a software issue.

You still haven't filled out your computer specs in your ElevenForums profile, so it's hard to advise you of other options.

This is the fourth day since you started this topic. A clean install would have taken you about 20 minutes, say 30 minutes on a slow computer.

Ghot said:

OneDrive has been forced on us since Win 11 was first released.
This is one of the many reasons, we disconnect the internet before installing Windows.

It gives us time to un-install any Windows Apps we want to, and to do the Block the Automatic update of Windows Apps. We also use this time to block the driver updates included with Windows Updates.

THEN, we hook the internet back up to do the Windows Updates.

These aren't the DSL days.
If the internet is at all accessible, MS will use it even before we get the chance to login.

The clean install tutorial doesn't advise disconnecting the internet and the other drives, for no reason. ^^




Ofc, you can do whatever you want. A clean install is just a troubleshooting step.
Make a backup of your current install, then do a clean install.
If the problem still exists... then you have a hardware issue.

If the problem doesn't still exist... then you've solved it. It will have been a software issue.

You still haven't filled out your computer specs in your ElevenForums profile, so it's hard to advise you of other options.

This is the fourth day since you started this topic. A clean install would have taken you about 20 minutes, say 30 minutes on a slow computer.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately by the time I got to setting file download locations, I'd already spent a significant amount of time on this build. A simple fix would have been a lot better of a move vs a reinstallation.
But regardless of when Microsoft innitiated OneDrive or at what level, it had never hijacked any of my file download locations until now.

JRT10 said:

Unfortunately by the time I got to setting file download locations, I'd already spent a significant amount of time on this build. A simple fix would have been a lot better of a move vs a reinstallation.
But regardless of when Microsoft innitiated OneDrive or at what level, it had never hijacked any of my file download locations until now.

Click to expand...

Yes. That is new.
Before, OneDrive was just installed but not started with the desire to copy everything to OneDrive.

That's one of the reasons we unhook the internet. It prevents things like that from happening.

I know... a clean install of Windows is a pain.
That's why I suggest making a backup of the current install, first. Then doing the clean install.

Most backup software has it's own bootable rescue media.
You can boot from this to access your backups.

If the clean install "doesn't" fix the problems you're having, then you know you have a hardware issue.
Then... you have the option to restore the old backup if desired.

But without your computer specs... I don't even "know" if you have the hardware capabilities to make a backup.


Everyone "wants" a nice easy fix for their problem.
Sometimes that's not always possible.
Sometimes you have to troubleshoot outside the box.

My gut instinct says, you have a software issue.
A clean install will fix that, or at least allow you to fix the problem.

If it's a software issue, it could be a Windows issue, a driver issue, some 3rd party app or program that's causing the problem.

IF... you do a clean install, and the problem disappears, then we know it was a Windows issue, rather than a driver, 3rd party app, or hardware issue.


99% of the regulars on here use backup software, because it gives us a lot of alternate troubleshooting options.
It takes me 1.5 minutes to make a backup and 2 minutes to restore a backup.

When I have a problem, I have a lot more options to use when troubleshooting.
The easiest being... just restore to an earlier backup, and then find out what changed since that backup, or what I changed since that backup.

uninstalling onedrive does not effect any photo or video files. plus post-this install you removed it without signing into it (per your other thread), which means it has zero impact on your files/folders. your associations for video and image types could have gotten compromised in many, many other ways depending on what else you did post-install. installing an earlier build of windows won't make a difference. you'd be better off fixing this issue.. which, based on all posts, i'm assuming is a registry issue.

@JRT10

The methods we suggest on these forums are methods that have worked 100's of times before.
Most of the regulars on here, were regulars on TenForums before this.
Some even on SevenForums before that.

dacrone said:

uninstalling onedrive does not effect any photo or video files. plus post-this install you removed it without signing into it (per your other thread), which means it has zero impact on your files/folders. your associations for video and image types could have gotten compromised in many, many other ways depending on what else you did post-install. installing an earlier build of windows won't make a difference. you'd be better off fixing this issue.. which, based on all posts, i'm assuming is a registry issue.

Click to expand...

I assumed it was some such issue, as well. But a LOT of fixes were offered up for settings that I followed regardless of whether I thought it could work. Mainly because I understand how convoluted that troubleshooting is sometimes.
I've been installing various windows versions for 20 years across quite a few builds, I didn't make a mistake. I only removed OneDrive after it was mentioned in one of my two threads. This is a brand new build, and I am 100% certain that none of this ever happened on any other installation, using the exact same procedures.
File locations have been hijacked, and that is absolutely positively an issue with OneDrive.
Installing an earlier build without the internet will get me exactly back to where every single one of my installations (prior to this one) have taken me, which is to say file locations not being highjacked.
Once I do that, i'll follow one of the walkthroughs here on disconnecting OneDrive before I access the internet.

Ghot said:

@JRT10

The solutions we suggest on these forums are suggestions that have worked 100's of times before.
Most of the regulars on here, were regulars on TenForums before this.
Some even on SevenForums as well.

Click to expand...

Yes, and that's exactly why I posted threads here. I've been a member here since Windows 7 days, and prior to this i'd never encountered a problem that wasn't easily repaired.
But I posted a link that showed a recent change with Microsoft forcing OneDrive functionality on the end user, and it happened coincidentally since my last installation, late last year. I build two computers and reinstalled Windows on this machine all in a couple of weeks. If the motherboard hadn't failed, I would have left it alone.

JRT10 said:

Yes, and that's exactly why I posted threads here. I've been a member here since Windows 7 days, and prior to this i'd never encountered a problem that wasn't easily repaired.

Click to expand...

Good luck.

Ghot said:

Good luck.

Click to expand...

This issue, being a new one, is something no one here could have foreseen. I've absolute confidence in this site when it comes to things like this, and when I redo this build, I'll follow the information on disconnecting OneDrive before the uninstall (after using an older install disc).