How to make Windows 10 taskbar thumbnail previews bigger?

Question

The window previews in Windows 10 are too small to make any informed decisions. How can I increase the size of the thumbnail preview?

Note: This is not a duplicate of Is there any way to make taskbar icons bigger in Windows 10? which is about taskbar icon size. This question is regarding the preview/thumbnail size.

Solution

You can do this without any external programs by modifying the registry. According this video on how to Make Windows 10 Taskbar Thumbnails Bigger:

1. Open registry - Win + R and type regedit

2. Go to path:

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

3. Add new DWORD 32 Bit Value:

   • Key: MinThumbSizePx
   • Value: Number of pixels anywhere less than 500.
   • Note: Choose Decimal to set the number of pixels in integers, or convert to hexadecimal

Restart Explorer

To see the changes take affect, you must restart explorer with any of the following methods:

1. Longest - Restart Computer
2. Medium - Log off and then log back on
3. Shortest ³
   1. Ctrl + Shift + Right Click on Taskbar
   2. Select 'Exit Explorer'
   3. Pull up Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
   4. File > 'Run New Task' > Type explorer
   5. Voila! You've restarted explorer

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You can also save the following as a .reg file and double click on it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband]
"MinThumbSizePx"=dword:15e ; 350 (px)

Comments

[Azuraith]

Another fast way to restart explorer is to open up task manager. Find Windows Explorer right click > click restart. This only takes about 15 seconds total.