Windows Server 2008 Image thumbnails not showing

This is easy to fix, do the following:

Click Start and Right-Click on "Computer" and choose "Properties", (or if like me you like your "Computer" icon on your desktop then just Right-Click on the computer icon on your desktop).

Under "Tasks" on the left hand list of options click "Advanced System Settings"

On the "Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" group, click "Settings"

On the "Visual Effects" tab find and tick the following option "Show thumbnails instead of icons"

Click Ok

You should now be able to browse your images as thumbnails again.


OR

Previews of media files are disabled by default in Windows Server 2008. In this article we will enable it so we get the small previews back again!

1. Open the Start menu and click Run. Now enter SystemPropertiesPerformance and click OK. In thePerformance Options window at least check the Show thumbnails instead of icons option. If you are using themes you should also check the Use visual styles on windows and buttons option to keep you theme.

2. If we now browse to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpapers as a test we can see that we now have previews for pictures! Previews should also work for most movie files. Note that you have to set the View toSmall Icons, Medium Icons, Large Icons or Extra Large Icons in order to see the previews.