In this post I am going to show you how you can get back the old Windows Photo Viewer if the new one isn’t for you.
So you are using the new Photo App from Windows 10 to view your photos but you have problems with it? Maybe it takes a lot of time for the app to start or you don’t like the design? Well, there’s a solution.
You may remember the old Photo Viewer on the older Windows versions. Sadly, Windows 10 has this program disabled so that you will use the new Photo App. But still you are here looking for a solution on getting the old program back. Here you go:
There is a solution that requires you to go to the Windows registry and change it permanently to the old Windows Photo Viewer. But playing around with the registry is dangerous. That’s why we have this other solution, which is not only risk free but also very easy to do.
So, first you should open up Notepad. You can do this by searching the name in the task bar search menu. If it has opened, copy and paste this code below.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open] "MuiVerb"="@photoviewer.dll,-3043" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command] @=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 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget] "Clsid"="{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command] @=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 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget] "Clsid"="{60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"
Now save the file on your desktop as a dot reg file. For example, rename it register.reg. And if you’ve done that, double click on it. This will ask you if you want to add the code to your registry. Click yes.
After that, you can right click and image and go to “Open with” and choose Windows Photo Viewer.
Have fun using the old program again!
