How to Enable Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11 | GearUpWindows Tutorial

How to Enable Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11?

With the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has made the Photos app as the default image viewer. On Windows 11, Microsoft is still using the Photos app to open the default image viewer. However, if you are not happy with the default Photos app on Windows 11, you can use the classic Windows Photo Viewer. That means Windows Photo Viewer is still part of Windows 11, and you just need to enable it on your PC.

Microsoft has removed the default file association for images from Windows Photo Viewer and associated them with the Photos app. That means, after right-clicking on any image, you will not find the Windows Photo Viewer app to open them. You need to add the relevant entries to the Registry under the FileAssociations key.

How to Enable the Classic Windows Photo Viewer app in Windows 11?

Then, extract its contents using any archiver tool such as WinRAR or WinZip.

Click the Yes button when prompted.

Once done, the file association part is completed. Now you can open .bmp, .dib, .jpg, .jpe, .jpeg, .jxr, .jfif, .wdp, .png, .gif, .tiff, and .tif files with the Windows Photo Viewer app on your Windows 11 computer.

But, you need to select Windows Photo Viewer every time you open the image file.

So to just open the image with a double-click, you need to make this app the default image app.

How to make Windows Photo Viewer the default image app on Windows 11?

To make Windows Photo Viewer the default image app on Windows 11, locate an image file (for instance .png or .jpeg).

Right-click on it.

Select Open with and then Select Choose another app

Click on the Windows Photo Viewer in the list of available apps and select the option Always use this app to open.

Click the OK button.

That’s it!

When you double-click on a .png or .jpeg file, it will open with the Windows Photo Viewer app.

You need to repeat the steps for .bmp, .dib, .jpg, .jpe, .jpeg, .jxr, .jfif, .wdp, .gif, .tiff, and .tif image files.

How to Disable the Classic Windows Photo Viewer app in Windows 11?

Click on the Yes button when you are prompted.

Now, the Windows Photo Viewer app is disassociated, and it is no more the default image viewer.

Now, right-click on the image file (for instance .png).

Select Open with and then Choose another app option.

Select the Photos app.

Click the option Always use this to open.

Then, click on the OK button.

You need to repeat a similar process for other image files when you open them the first time.

Once you have associated the Photos app, you can view them in the Photos app by double-clicking on them.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
00:54 How to Enable the Classic Windows Photo Viewer app in Windows 11?
02:12 How to make Windows Photo Viewer the default image app on Windows 11?
03:11 How to Disable the Classic Windows Photo Viewer app in Windows 11?

#gearupwindows #windows #windows11 #howto #windows #growupwindows #risewindows

[MillyMeDesigns]

Wow exactly what I was looking for ....finally my old & simple photo viewer restored which comes close to screen matching when I want to print pictures with my canon pro-200 printer imho! Many thanks for this tutorial!!! Life saver for me. (worked dec.2023)

[tobiasreaper]

awesome, exactly what I needed since my win11 decided on it's own to switch default image viewer

[missjerseyz]

Easy as stated. I subscribed and liked. Thanks!

[bubblefish]

Thank you so much, so good to see Windows Photo Viewer back on my Win 11 lol!!

[gschnuuget]

My company laptop does not have any photo viewer but open pictures with Paint (OMG...) and I have no admin rights to change the registry. GOSH I'm so lucky that I bought a MacBook in my private life !

[Hounddoggy]

This stopped working for me. I only noticed today. Perhaps a Windows 11 update is to blame?

[codeP]

I'M NOT DOWNLOADING ANYTHING THAT'S GONNA TWEAK MY REGISTRY, FFS. SHOW ME THE STEPS