Disable taskbar preview in Windows 10

Question

I have already tried adding the registry entry in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced as ExtendedUIHoverTime with a value of 30000 seconds but it doesn't work. It still shows the Microsoft damned thumbnails, any idea?

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 14 '18 at 11:38

9

I used this method:

In:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband

In the right-hand pane, right-click and choose New – DWORD (32-bit) Value . Give it the name NumThumbnails. You’ll create the 32-bit DWORD whether you have 32-bit or 64-bit Windows. By default, it should have a value of 0, which is what we want.

edited Jun 14 '18 at 11:38

bertieb

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answered May 03 '18 at 10:42

Anadrol

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This doesn't work. Win10 2004. – Coxy Sep 22 '20 at 05:31
It works in Win10 20H2, after restarting explorer or rebooting – golimar May 06 '21 at 11:59
Doesn't work win10 22h2. – Artem P Dec 15 '22 at 01:14

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '18 at 11:40

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@anadrol's answer is correct and doesn't involve installing any potentially unwanted software. Here's a powershell answer:

New-ItemProperty HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband -Name "NumThumbnails" -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord"

Then restart explorer:

ps explorer | kill

Thumbnails will be replaced with a window list:

answered Jun 14 '18 at 11:40

mikemaccana

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not working, maybe because my Windows is better than yours hahaha just kidding, if it was better it should do what I need. – user33276346 Jun 15 '18 at 23:29
@user33276346 what happens after you run each command? 'Not working' doesn't really help anyone. – mikemaccana Jun 18 '18 at 09:43
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added the value, the command says it is already there, restarted explorer, seen it restart, the preview is still there, laughing at me :) maybe windows had some updates. – adrianTNT Nov 15 '18 at 11:47
It doesn't work for me either. I'm on the "April" version of Windows 10. The Powershell script executed correctly and the entry is present in the Registry editor. Explorer restarted correctly. I've also restarted the computer, with Hibernate off. But the evil previews (tiny screenshots) are still glaring at me when I hover over open windows on the taskbar, such as an explorer window or Firefox. Anything else I could try? – Cerberus Jan 02 '19 at 15:42
I manually added to registry and it worked for me. – Chris Persichetti Aug 25 '20 at 19:37

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered May 03 '18 at 10:53

7

7+ Taskbar Tweaker can disable taskbar thumbnails. It's very lightweight and supports a lot of other useful customizations.

answered May 03 '18 at 10:53

gronostaj

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It's nice, but it only works while the program is running.. It doesn't actually change something in the regedit or Win options. Do you know the entry that it changed it in the registry so it can be done manually? – Mike Dec 14 '18 at 03:11
@Mike The idea of 7+TT is to keep it running and it's built with this in mind. It works by patching Windows components in memory, so it doesn't waste CPU and uses negligible amount of RAM. No reason to worry that it's running in the background. Just install it, configure it, forget about it. – gronostaj Dec 14 '18 at 08:02
Thanks for the prompt reply.. but what is the actual patching that happens in the memory or temp. registry edit that it's actually done by it? II tried to look using "Regfromapp", but I couldn't find it. – Mike Dec 14 '18 at 09:51
@Mike It doesn't edit anything in the registry. Most of 7+TT's features aren't available as registry tweaks. It patches Windows's code to achieve these effects. – gronostaj Dec 14 '18 at 13:01
OK, what's that patch then? Do you know of a way to find it? Thanks. – Mike Dec 15 '18 at 00:14
@Mike Just use 7+TT. Whatever you're trying to do is not worth it. It's a ready-made solution that does exactly what you need. – gronostaj Dec 15 '18 at 09:26
This is the only solution that works for me. Thanks! – Cerberus Jan 02 '19 at 15:49

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 28 '21 at 02:12

Some of the instructions I found online seem to miss the detail of setting the Base type (Hex vs Decimal). It defaults to Hexadecimal which may have unexpected results depending on what value you enter.

These steps worked for me to effectively disable the taskbar "preview thumbnails" from popping up in Windows 10:

Open Registry Editor.
Paste into regedit's "address bar" (under the menu bar), then hit Enter:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
In the right pane, if ExtendedUIHoverTime already exists, right-click and delete it.
In the right pane, right-click a blank spot and choose New → DWORD.
Paste in the key name: (ExtendedUIHoverTime) and hit Enter.
Double-click the new ExtendedUIHoverTime entry to open it.
Under Base, click Decimal.
In the Value data box, enter the delay desired before the preview pops up, in milliseconds.
For example, entering 60000 makes it so you need to hover on the taskbar for a full minute before the annoying preview window pops up.
Click OK and close the Registry Editor.
Reboot Windows to make the change take effect.
^{(Keyboard shortcut to reboot: +X→U→R)}

This works and doesn't require reboot, just explorer restart. — Artem P, Dec 15 '22 at 01:20

Disable taskbar preview in Windows 10

4 Answers4