Thumbs Database File
Heartbreak Writhe
A thumbs.db file may occasionally keep Windows from letting you delete a folder, simply because Windows is keeping the thumbs.db file open. On a network, where multiple computers are accessing the same folders, this can become a major problem.
In Windows, thumbs.db files are database filescontaining the small images displayed when you view a folder inThumbnail view (as opposed to Tile, Icon, List, or Detail view). Thesefiles are automatically generated by Windows, and there is no harm indeleting them or excluding them from system backups.
What are Thumbs.db files for? I've seen them mostly in picture folders. Wherever pictures like icons and wallpapers are located, a Thumbs.db is automatically generated. I've deleted them many times, but they just appear again after some time.
On Microsoft Windows operating systems (starting with Windows 2000), athumbnail cache is used to store thumbnail images for WindowsExplorer's thumbnail view. This speeds up the display of images as thesmaller images do not need to be recalculated every time the userviews the folder.
As an addendum to the other answers, to prevent creation of thumbs.db in Windows Vista and above (7 etc) you should not go into folder options and disable thumbnails, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Thumbs.db is nothing but the cache file for thumbnails view. Anytime thumbnails view is enabled or has been enabled in Microsoft Windows the hidden file thumbs.db is automatically created in the same directory as where the thumbnails have been viewed. This file contains the information required by Windows to display the thumbnails for each of the icons and will be placed in every folder thumbnails are viewed.
All the time I have the problem that I cannot delete - move - rename folders in Windows 7 (also applies to windows 10) on network drives because of the thumbs.db file. It complains: "The action can't be completed because the file is open in Windows Explorer."I found something in a long thread that works for me.
I accidentally came across a slightly easier fix for this bug. Instead of setting "Turn off the display of thumbnails and only display icons on network folders" to Enable, I simply changed the Windows Explorer display setting from "Details" to "Content". Then I was able to delete my Thumbs.db files without any complaints from Windows 7, even though I have thumbnails enabled. After deleting the offending file(s), I just restore the display to "Details" again.
I had this issue, but the file was on a Windows network share. Changing the view didn't allow me to delete the file. What I was able to do was to cut and paste the folder containing the Thumbs.db file to my local machine. Once I did that the folder and its Thumbs.db deleted without issue.
I see part of this is a known, old issue: -files-folders/Thumbs-db-files-stops-uploading-process/m-p/17...
But since its reply/solution was ludicrous, i.e., that one should delete files named thumbs.db prior to uploading, I thought I'd bring it up again. Plus, the same thing happens with files named 'desktop.ini'
I did not read the thread linked to in that old thread's so-called solution. Why not? Because I DON'T CARE what Dropbox's reason is!
What I do care about is that I'm paying GOOD MONEY for this service. I also care that I have hundreds of thousands of files, spread across thousands of sub-directories on assorted computers and devices.
Being a Linux-only person, and really good at shell scripting, I'm perfectly capable of writing a script to recursively find, and delete [rename, move, etc.], all files named 'thumbs.db' and 'desktop.ini' [with all variations of case, since *nix is -truly- case sensitive]. But I WON'T do that.
Whatever asinine reason Dropbox has for not accepting thumbs.db and desktop.ini files, doesn't make -my- thumbs.db and desktop.ini files expendable. They cannot arbitrarily be deleted just because a service I'm PAYING for has deemed them forbidden.
Assuming Dropbox uses files named 'thumbs.db' and desktop.ini as part of its processing, and doesn't want conflicts with customers' files with the same name, what they should do is change the name of THEIR file. Instead of the common 'thumbs.db' and 'desktop.ini' use something unique to Dropbox, like dropbox_0123456789_abcdefg.db [in other words, something so unusual, so bizarrely unique, the odds of a customer ever having a like-named file are infinitesimal]. Better that odd chance of a one-in-a-billion occurrence than forcing PAYING CUSTOMERS to delete files before uploading.
What about users who aren't very computer savvy? What if they have no idea how to write a script to automate deletion/renaming? What if, like me, they have hundreds of thousands of files? And, like me, their thumbs.db and desktop.ini files aren't expendable?
Dropbox needs to fix this.
I can't imagine by what 'logic' they decided that making millions of people plod through their files, deleting those with certain names--even if they're needed--before uploading, made better sense than THEM using a unique name! My time is valuable. Will DB reimburse me for time used shuffling files around so they'll upload?
So I'm a basic file user, and my database that I'd like to copy for DropBox storage includes about 51k files (52gb), of which 1.3k files are thumbs.db, or something else that is prohibited from uploading to DropBox.
So, I'd like to have this situation looked at. I also pay good money, on a yearly basis; and would definitely appreciate the ability to "drag and drop" files from a hard drive to DropBox for cloud storage, without the hassles of worrying about what types of files are acceptable to my paid storage.
Agree with the above posters. Although I'm backing up old Windows files, I never know which files Dropbox won't accept (other than .ini and thumbs.db files) so it makes me a bit nervous since we can't see exactly which files are NOT going to get uploaded without a lot of manual work. This should and could be fixed easily on Dropbox's side. Thanks!
The hidden file thumbs.db is a database file containing a small JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) representing each of the thumbnails in a folder. Thumbs.db files are required by Windows to display a thumbnail for each icon. They are created automatically in the same directory as the thumbnails being viewed.
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, starting with the Internet Explorer 4 Active Desktop Update for Windows 95 to 98,[1][2] a thumbnail cache is used to store thumbnail images for Windows Explorer's thumbnail view. This speeds up the display of images as these smaller images do not need to be recalculated every time the user views the folder.
Windows stores thumbnails of graphics files, and certain document and movie files, in the Thumbnail Cache file, including the following formats: JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF, AVI, PDF, PPTX, DOCX, HTML, and many others. Its purpose is to prevent intensive disk I/O, CPU processing, and load times when a folder that contains a large number of files is set to display each file as a thumbnail. This effect is more clearly seen when accessing a DVD containing thousands of photos without the thumbs.db file and setting the view to show thumbnails next to the filenames. Thumbnail caching was introduced in Windows 2000;[2] wherein the thumbnails were stored in the image file's alternate data stream if the operating system was installed on a drive with the NTFS file system. A separate Thumbs.db file was created if Windows 2000 was installed on a FAT32 volume. Windows Me also created Thumbs.db files.[2] From Windows XP, thumbnail caching, and thus creation of Thumbs.db, can optionally be turned off. In Windows XP only, from Windows Explorer Tools Menu, Folder Options, by checking "Do not cache thumbnails" on the View tab. In other versions of Windows, thumbnail caching can be turned off via Group Policy. Under Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows XP, a context menu command to force refreshing the thumbnail is available by right clicking the image in Thumbnail view of Windows Explorer.
Beginning with Windows Vista, thumbnail previews are stored in a centralized location on the system. This provides the system with access to images independent of their location, and addresses issues with the locality of Thumbs.db files. The cache is stored at %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer as a number of files with the label thumbcache_xxx.db (numbered by size); as well as an index used to find thumbnails in each sized database.
However, when browsing network shares with write permission, Windows Vista and Windows 7 store a Thumbs.db file in the remote directory instead of using the (local) central thumbnail cache. This can cause issues when deleting remote shares, as the directory will become locked for a period of time when selected as Windows Explorer automatically creates a remote Thumbs.db file.
Law-enforcement agencies have used this file to prove that illicit photos were previously stored on the hard drive.[6] For example, the FBI used the "thumbs.db" file in 2008 as evidence of viewing depictions of child pornography.[7]
In 2013, research was conducted that focused on the Digital Forensic implications of thumbnail caches and recovering partial thumbnail cache files. It identified that whilst there is a standard definition of a thumbnail cache the structure and forensic artifacts recoverable from them varies significantly between operating systems. The work also showed that the thumbcache_256.db contains non-standard thumbnail cache records which can store interesting data such as network place names and allocated drive letters.[8][9]
EDIT: You can also use a program like FastStone Image Viewer that has a built in thumbnail viewer, and doesnt save the index files to the directory. It also supports a very large assortment of formats
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