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?

Solution 1

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

Solution 2

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.

Solution 3

@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:

Comments

[user33276346]

not working, maybe because my Windows is better than yours hahaha just kidding, if it was better it should do what I need.

[mikemaccana]

@user33276346 what happens after you run each command? 'Not working' doesn't really help anyone.

[adrianTNT]

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.

[Mike]

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?

[gronostaj]

@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.

[Mike]

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.

[gronostaj]

@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.

[Mike]

OK, what's that patch then? Do you know of a way to find it? Thanks.

[gronostaj]

@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.

[Cerberus]

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]

This is the only solution that works for me. Thanks!

[Arun]

I manually added to registry and it worked for me.

[stewsters]

This doesn't work. Win10 2004.

[SuperSafie]

It works in Win10 20H2, after restarting explorer or rebooting