I have just installed Vista Home premium and miss Windows Picture & Fax
Viewer for printing pictures. It seems that one has to first save them as an
XPS file and then use MS XPS printer to actually print the pictures. A
retrograde step it seems to me!
Judging by the volume of requests on this topic, I think there are lots of
people who agree with you that Vista took a step backwards when it comes to
Windows Picture and Fax viewer.
But it’s not as far a step backwards as you might think.
And even if it is, there are many alternatives.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
The default image viewer is Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
From what I can tell, it’s one of those love-it or hate-it applications.
Personally, I’m in the later camp and never use it. But I know many people love
it, are very happy with it, and use it regularly.
In Windows Vista, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer has been replaced by
Windows Photo Gallery:
It’s the same, only different. (And for the record, I’m not fond of it
either.) It appears to have most of the same functionality as the older Windows
Picture and Fax Viewer, but it’s … different.
Windows Vista, just Windows Photo Gallery.”
If it’s not already the default image viewer, you should be able to right
click on any picture in Windows Explorer and say “Open With…” and choose
Windows Photo Gallery to view your image.
And to address the issue that lead your question: you can print directly
from within Windows Photo Gallery.
•
I spoke of alternatives…
Copying Windows Picture and Fax Viewer from a Windows XP system is
not an option. Windows Photo Gallery is implemented in the same file:
shimgvw.dll, and the registration protocol has apparently changed between the
two.
So you can’t get Windows Picture and Fax Viewer on Windows Vista, just
Windows Photo Gallery.
The alternatives I’m speaking of are third party tools that work on Both
Windows Vista and Windows XP, and quite frankly, are far more powerful than
either of the built-in Windows tools.
A reader recently recommended FastStone Image Viewer:
FastStone has quickly become my favored replacement for my long-loved, but
now defunct Firehand Ember.
Another very popular image viewer is IrfanView:
Both Irfan and FastStone offer standard image viewing options, slide shows,
thumbnail browsing, full screen view, and much more. In addition they both also
include basic image editing tools such as cropping, resizing, and more.
And best of all, both are free.
So if you’re frustrated with the transition from Windows Picture and Fax
Viewer to Windows Photo Gallery, my recommendation is that you actually check
out these alternatives. They are suitable replacements that work well on both
Windows Vista and XP.
I prefer the ‘Free for personal use’, XnView from
http://www.xnview.com . But even if you chose another program to use as your default picture viewer. Windows will not give up it’s own without a fight. If you double click on an image to view, the ‘Windows Picture and Fax Viewer’ will automatically open. I Hate IT!!
To disable it: Click on ‘Start’, then ‘Run’ and type in:
regsvr32 -u %windir%\system32\shimgvw.dll
The downside – you might have trouble changing the picture on your sign-in accout.
shimgvw.html
The feature I miss most with the loss of Windows Picture and Fax viewer is the loss of support for animated GIFs. I have other image editors/viewers, but none of these actually show the animated GIF’s animations either, so I end up using the browser.
Other than animated GIF support, Windows Picture and Fax viewer didn’t have much going for it.
the feature i love best in the windows picture and fax veiwer was being able to print sizes other than fulL page[ WALLET SIZE ETC as we can not in the vista version wish wome on could find a way to us e it .. think i may UPGARDE back to xp for many reasons!!
Hi buddies, i m sure there must be a good solution for it in vista…i think its possible to put WPandFv even in Vista…just let me experiment it for some days coz i m too missing it in Vista.
I’ve used windows picture and fax viewer to print my faxes using a fax to email service where I get my faxes as e-mails. Now with Vista it uses windows photo gallery. Now my faxes are too wide and am forced to foreward them to my old xp computer. Can someone tell me how to fix this problem, and it’s not a landscape and portrait problem.
YOU CAN run both the traditional windows picture and fax viewer AND Office Picture Manager in Vista and you can run them simultaneously. Unfortunately, I have NO idea how to do this :). I bought a new PC with windows vista home premium installed and immediately began hunting for a new image viewer where I could easily crop and resize images (what I liked best about the old version – but resizing doesn’t seem to be offered in office picture viewer).
Here’s all I can tell you – I bought a new PC tower, unistalled all the trial software including office 2007. I then installed my 2003 office xp and after a reboot when I right click on an image and select “Open with” the older office and picture viewer is right there!
I’ve downloaded FastStone and I love it – a terrific substitute, so thanks Leo. But Vista is sulking in a subtle way – all the jpegs I have stored now appear with different icons, and when I double click to open one from My Documents (having set FastStone as my default jpeg viewer), I get a box with an error message saying the file is not a valid Win32 application. Any idea how to fix this?
By the way, opening the files from FastStone is fine, but I shouldn’t have to settle for that, should I?
Whoops, never mind. Just discovered I made an error when re-setting things in the Default Programs section of Control Panel. Apologies – all fine now.
Your recommended alternatives don’t provide the printing options. As one of the comments stated, Pix and Fax Viewer gives the user a multitude of printing options. What if I want to print all my pix in 3 by 5 format? It’s not the photo editing I miss, it’s the printing options.
I don’t have any problem in printing everything the way it was under XP. The only difference is that you can’t print several pictures directly from photo gallery. But if you select the pictures you want to print under explorer and the print by right clicking on them you have what you want. Once you get used to the way vista does it, you can do pretty much everything with it (also cropping, adjusting contrast and other things)
thanks thanks, now i can see my pictures gip. without using internet explorer, i downloaded faststone and i love it, i like every feature faststone had, thankyou for the program recommendation!!!
Thanks a million. Can view my clip art thumbnails
for the first time since going with Vista.
Wonderful! Helen.
Thanx u!!Been searching for an alternative to the old xp’s image and fax viewer. This one is amazing, and I really appreciate it;) THANX:)
I used to use the Picture and Fax viewer which was great as it allowed me to only print certain pages of the fax. It seems that this option is no longer available with the new Photo Gallery, I have to print all the pages even though in most cases I only want one or two out of twenty. Does anyone know if this can be done with Photo Gallery? I can do it with Irfanview but it often cuts the edge of the pages off without a heap of messing around.
After being a die-hard mac-head since buying the original 128k Mackintosh in 1984, I finally switched to Windows for a number of pragmatic reasons relating to business. But what turned me on about the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, which I don’t find with Windows Photo Gallery is that the thumbnails showed the actual images without opening them, which made it extremely fast to find the desired image without having to open each one for review. What I am seeing with Photo Gallery in thumbnail mode is a mountain/ocean/sky scene. Can this be changed?
Guys you are talking about windows photo gallery that it is same as windows fax and picture viewer but it does not support gif images. The images that are in gif format are still in windows photo gallery. So please tell me how to view gif images in windows vista..
Sadly you can’t view .gif images with the vista image viewer anymore, Microsoft purposely did this because of personal reasons.
You can view them in internet explorer or firefox or use one of the above image viewer replacements.
it is easier to use XP. I can’t set the GIF format in the Desktop background in Vista but it is possible in XP and thats a major thing. I can’t even open GIF format it in photo gallery. it is better to use windows pic and fax viewer.
I have issues with the new image viewer on Vista; I can’t see animations on images that have them. Windows Picture and Fax View enabled this so that, were I to view an animated gif, I would see it in its full, animated glory. However, with the programs on Vista, all I get is the first frame and no change to the other frames. The only way I can view animated gifs now is to open them in Internet Explorer and I find that rather tedious. Are there any good image programs for viewing animated pictures?
You may also use Microsoft Office Picture Manager from Office 2007. It is quite similar with Windows picture and fax wiewer, you can view gif files and you can print multiple photos from the same directory. It also have a thubnail display option.
Hey, this article is great, i understood all the necessary information about image viewing.
Thank You!
I encoutered a problem that in vista some of the pictures downloaded from mail can not be viewed why? It shows update your WPG, when i go for update I got the message that my system WPG is updted alredy what to do?
I have windows vista and regularly use the photo gallery for viewing my pictures. The computer is pretty fast, however when i do ‘view as slideshow’ if i want it to pan in and out its really slow and jerky. Any idea why this might be? It has been like this since i got it, I have restored it back to when i got it and its the same.
Actually, yes you can view .gif files via vista image viewer, however, you can’t open them with it. To view, simply right click your .gif file, and select Preview. It’s a bleeping pain in the rear, but seems to work.
I need someone with knowledge of vista to help me out. I used to be able to see my pictures in ‘my pictures’ section when opening up. The drop down menu that allows you to see ‘lists, small icon, or large icon’ is clicked to icon but still no image. I did download a program and after that happened I can no longer see images. It is hard to pic out my images now because I can not figure out how to view the preview. Can someone help me turn it back on or make it so I can view the small icons again? All I can think is that a program I am using is stopping it from showing up. Or is there a setting I am not aware of? HELPPPP I had to download acdsee so I can view my pictures now but it is a hassle to go back and forth. Help much appreciated!
The XP viewer had amazing blow-up functionality and on the fly too. You could enlarge quite small images without getting too much pixelization. The Vista viewer sucks at this.
Like the few ppl here, i can not get animated images to work in windows photo gallery. they took that ability away for vista. grrrrr.
is there anyway to get animiated gifs to wrk with photo gallery, since irfan viewer doesnt have a speed control on its animated images.
Hi Leo,
Thanks for this article, I am now using IrfanView on Vista and am very happy with it. I personally like Windows Photo Gallery but not as the default image viewer as I prefer something with a cleaner user interface for this task. Once again thanks for this.
Regards,
Costa
I like Photo Gallery for its “lightness”, the metadata editing (-on-the-fly) and for the Control’s visual similarity to WMP. But the Print function has indeed taken a mile-long regressive step. Too bad!
“But if you select the pictures you want to print under explorer and the[n] print by right clicking on them you have what you want…”
NOT! The selection is loaded / printed in random (unpredictable) order! In XP Picture/Fax Viewer, if you first pre-sorted your folder listing/view by a column in Explorer (e.g. file name), then opened the first desired image using the Viewer, printing a selection of multiple files would guarantee they were printed in the same order as the file listing. Not so in Vista/Photo Gallery!
I use(d) XP Picture/Fax Viewer to print a bundle of PNG images from my Scanner as PDF booklets (one image per page). This allows me to first correct each image for rotation, edge/cropping and contrast issues (if needed) before proceeding to PDF. Do any of your recommended tools (IrfanView e.g.) allow to print an ordered list of image files, cropped/stretched to fit exactly one per page? thanks …
HOW CAN I VIEW INCOMING FAXES ON VISTA
Hi , i too liked fax and pic viewer better than photo gallery I think because i can use fax and pic as my newsreaders default viewer and it opens images in the same window , something i cant seem to make any of the other programs do. Is it possible to configure any of the mentioned programs to just open images in the same window instead of opening a new window for each image. Its a pain to have to backtrack through the images to get back to a fresh window. Thank You , Eric
Hi Leo,
windows photo gallery is obviously a better one than pic and fax viewer..but i need to view some animated pics in vista which i couldnt view in windows photo gallery..so pls help me out..
Hi,
I am a beginner with Vista. I read your article on the replacement of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows Vista. I tried it, and I can see the TIF docuemtn, but only the first page; I am not able to advance to the follwing pages and the document has 12 pages…(I checked in my old Win XP computer).
On another subject. my computer does not come with a Fax software, to send and receive faxes; the old PC with Win XP had a software for that; any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Santiago
Hi. Yes I too lament the loss of Windows Picture & Fax viewer. I have downloaded Flatstone but still cannot replicate the facility of prining several different photos on one page. Any ideas?
Thanks
For Ian’s (at March 27, 2009 2:54 AM) question …. You can do with selecting the set of images(to be printed) in Windows Vista explorer and execute the print command. It will give all the multiple image printing solutions for you.
vista’s zoom sucks, you can’t use scroll wheel in vista like xp, pixilation in vista is horrible, even on good quality images. there is absolutely no comparison, vista takes the normal image and zooms in with the same pixal quality as the 1:1 image, not re-rendering the image (jpg) respectively.
Thanks Leo
I had a problem printing a document I’d scanned in from a book. I saved it as a JPG and displayed it with Windows Photo Gallery. When I printed it, it cropped the image even though I’d checked “Fit picture to frame” and selected “Full Page Photo”.
I miss the print wizard that came with WPAFV. It was good.
I read this article and so now with Vista I’ll use IrfanView.
Peter
Hello Leo
I’ve been looking for a program to just easily touch up my home photos for an age, I downloaded Fastone and it’s worked like a charm for me. Thanks
I don’t like the photo gallery cause you can’t preview gifs. It will show the first frame of the image and that is it.
I have a new pc w/Vista…how can I open and print a fax sent with a .tif ext. It could have been opened and printed in readable form thru WPFV but not with WPG. Help!!
My main issue with Windows Photo Gallery is viewing images from a CD.
I am an a fine art painter, in a happier time, after photographing my subject I would burn a cd w/ about 200 images and then insert the disk, and view them using Window Picture and Fax Viewer, and voila, there they were, I could rotate them easily and the cd itself was quiet.
However, on my new computer, Photo Gallery, will not rotate images from a CD, and the CD spins endlessly making all sorts of noise. I’m aware I could import them to the hard drive and then they will rotate and not make noise, but I work with far too many images to practically do this.
Im actually considering taking my new computer to a local shop and having them remove Vista altogether, in order to reinstall the old XP just to have the old Pictures and Fax viewer again.
It has been very frustrating and a total inconvenience. If anyone knows of any programs that will read the images off of a cd and allow you to rotate let me know.
Thanks!
16-Jul-2009
Your advice got me just what I needed. I wonder why Microsoft didn’t have Photo Gallery as one of the default options. Thanks, Ron Willing
Hi Leo , is there a way to configure win.photo gallery to open each image in the same window instead of several windows? Thanx
I am sorry for my previous post, I had not checked properly.
I am now using irfan view and it works perfectly for what I want.
Thanks
The XP picture and fax viewer had OCR capabilities. This new program. Does vista have anything doing OCR to replace it?
What makes XP Picture viewer superb is that it is able to open large WMF (Windows Meta Files) images which Win Photo Gallery along with other image viewers recommended here are not. Also, XP Picture viewer is able to view very large images with great details without loss of quality. I have never found any other imageviewer that makes the job as XP Pic viewer.
I am a Realtor and have just got a new PC at home that has Windows 7 Home Premium on it. I have just discovered that I can no longer open up .tif files that come into my e-fax and print them out full size because I no longer have Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. I have read all your responses, but what is the best free download for opening up and printing out .tif docs????? I’m not worried about the photo part.
Which of the above recommended programs will actually PLAY .gif files ?? I really miss that fuctionality of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. I just cannot get any .gif images to play under Vista !!
IHI
I need that Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and where to download it free.
Regards
16-Feb-2010
I like the Windows Vista picture viewer slideshow which has the zoom in and zoom out effect while the slideshow is going on but nobody seems to bother about asking about it and I cannot find any information on it for several months so I thought I’d give it a try here.
How do I get that zoom in and zoom out effect while the slideshow is going on? Is there any other program that does it? Is there an external plugin for that slideshow effect onto any of the programs you recommended? I need it on my xp!!!
i am unable to set Windows VISTA so that when i double click on a photo, it will just open up on windows photo gallery. While, if I right click on the photo and then choose PREVIEW from the drop list it does.
I have gone into OPEN WITH… and then choose WINDOWS Photo gallery, but it just opens up the gallery and show me the pre-exist photos that comes with the WINDOWS VISTA.
anyone know how to set it, so that it opens my photo straight away when i double click on the photo?
thanks
Well is not about “the same but different”! it is not about fact that looks diffrent but there is lot functionality lost, like for example to be able to print fax (tif files), those files are streatch so they looks realy bad… you can’t really read them …have a try and you will see… and there is no other way you can print them (as fax file .tif can have many pages…)
I have win pict and fax viewer, but want it on my desktop. So that whenever I receive a picture that needs some minor alterations such as orientate it upright, i can directly click on it. Setting it as my default, is also not acceptable, as most pictures i receive are pdf’s. I hate to open pictures with r/click + open with + pictfaxviewer, it is too cumbersome.
i try ( image viewer ) program that has better functions and easy to use on site: ( Esftp.com )
Hi, I have Windows 7 and I dont have Windows Picture and Fax Viewer anymore only Windows Photo Gallery, is there option in Windows Photo Gallery to save the picture? and to send the picture for editing? like what i used to have in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer?
what really seems to me to be rubbish is the lack of scrollbars. Yes, I sometimes like the grabbing hand method of scrolling, but not all the time.
With this new system, you can’t use the cursors or page ip/page down either.
Does Microsoft pay people to sit around thinking of useful features they’d like to remove in their next release? It seems to happen all the time. You couldn’t be that stupid by accident, could you?
Well, The XP viewer had amazing blow-up functionality and on the fly too. You could enlarge quite small images without getting too much pixelization. The Vista viewer sucks at this.
Well, The XP viewer had amazing blow-up functionality and on the fly too. You could enlarge quite small images without getting too much pixelization. The Vista viewer sucks at this.
I HAVE WINDOWS 7 AND IT HAS THE SAME PROBLEM AS VISTA. WITH WINDOWS PICTURE AND FAZ VIEWER YOU COULD SEE YOUR ANIMATED BITMAP (GIFS.) IMAGES WITH ALL THEIR SHINE BUT NOT NOW, THEY ARE NOT ANIMATED AT ALL AND THE SPARKLES ARE GONE. THERE IS NO OTHER PROGRAM THAT DOES IT.
Leo, you don’t have to use alternatives.
You can use XP Image viewer within your Windows 7
I am listing the complete details how below.
You need 3 things for this to work:
– XP Rundll32.exe
– XP Shimgvw.dll
– .Reg file to import the settings
_________________________
I have listed the entire .reg file needed for this to work below the line.
Copy everything between Start & End into Windows notepad & save as XPViewer.reg
This includes the compatibility mode switch as well as support for .BMP/.GIF/.JPG/.PNG/.TIF
It also includes the proper Default Icon settings for each of these.
__________(Start)__________
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.BMP]
@=”BMPImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document]
“EditFlags”=dword:00010000
“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,69,00,6d,00,67,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,36,00,00,00
“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000000
“BrowserFlags”=dword:00000008
@=”BMP Image”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell]
@=””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\open]
“MuiVerb”=”@shimgvw.dll,-550”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\open\DropTarget]
“Clsid”=”{E84FDA7C-1D6A-45F6-B725-CB260C236066}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\printto]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\printto\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1,ImageView_PrintTo /pt \”%1\” \”%2\” \”%3\” \”%4\””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.GIF]
@=”GIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document]
“EditFlags”=dword:00010000
“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,69,00,6d,00,67,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,36,00,00,00
“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000000
“BrowserFlags”=dword:00000008
@=”GIF Image”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-71″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell]
@=””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\open]
“MuiVerb”=”@shimgvw.dll,-550”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\open\DropTarget]
“Clsid”=”{E84FDA7C-1D6A-45F6-B725-CB260C236066}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\printto]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\printto\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1,ImageView_PrintTo /pt \”%1\” \”%2\” \”%3\” \”%4\””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.JPG]
@=”JPGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document]
“EditFlags”=dword:00010000
“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,69,00,6d,00,67,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,36,00,00,00
“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000000
“BrowserFlags”=dword:00000008
@=”JPG Image”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-72″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell]
@=””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\open]
“MuiVerb”=”@shimgvw.dll,-550”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\open\DropTarget]
“Clsid”=”{E84FDA7C-1D6A-45F6-B725-CB260C236066}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\printto]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\printto\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1,ImageView_PrintTo /pt \”%1\” \”%2\” \”%3\” \”%4\””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PNG]
@=”PNGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document]
“EditFlags”=dword:00010000
“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,69,00,6d,00,67,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,36,00,00,00
“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000000
“BrowserFlags”=dword:00000008
@=”PNG Image”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-83″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell]
@=””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\open]
“MuiVerb”=”@shimgvw.dll,-550”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\open\DropTarget]
“Clsid”=”{E84FDA7C-1D6A-45F6-B725-CB260C236066}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\printto]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\printto\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1,ImageView_PrintTo /pt \”%1\” \”%2\” \”%3\” \”%4\””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.TIF]
@=”TIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document]
“EditFlags”=dword:00010000
“FriendlyTypeName”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,69,00,6d,00,67,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,30,00,36,00,00,00
“ImageOptionFlags”=dword:00000000
“BrowserFlags”=dword:00000008
@=”TIF Image”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell]
@=””
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\open]
“MuiVerb”=”@shimgvw.dll,-550”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\open\DropTarget]
“Clsid”=”{E84FDA7C-1D6A-45F6-B725-CB260C236066}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\printto]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\printto\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1,ImageView_PrintTo /pt \”%1\” \”%2\” \”%3\” \”%4\””
__________(END)__________
Drop the 2 files you got from your XP system, rundll32.exe & shimgvw.dll into C:\Windows.
Right-click the registry file & choose merge.
You should now have XP image viewer working in Windows 7 as default image viewer.
You may have to save the .Reg file for importing under other user accounts as well.
_________________________
Additional Info:
I automated the process using Winrar 4, & there are a few things you have to do such as dumping all 3 files (rundll32.exe/shimgvw.dll/XPViewer.reg) into %SYSTEMROOT% (Same as C:\Windows, but relative path works better for finding your system drive). I used the SFX function for that.
Then I had to set it to run:
%SYSTEMROOT%\Regedit.exe /s %SYSTEMROOT%\XPViewer.reg
_________________________
You have to specify the location of regedit, as the /s switch to silently import it just won’t work in Windows 7 without it.
I also used the XP icon located in the XP Shimgvw.dll file by dragging it onto Batch Icon Extractor (Better icon extractor than any I used so far).
You too, can automate the process using the info above. If something doesn’t work, you either have a commandline switch incorrect, or you can’t import due to malware/viruses/security problems on your machine.
_________________________
I had a few settings wrong earlier, & I had to experiment to find out how to pull off having all 5 main pictures set as default, with proper icons, as well as importing the correct compatibility setting so that it will work with no further user intervention.
That’s it! Have fun! Enjoy your XP Viewer!
Change HKEY user to the Local Machine key so it runs under all users without having to “reinstall” it.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
Found that you need both of these for it to work:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
Just be sure to copy & paste it in, & you only have to have them listed once a piece, but be sure both are included.
I had registry keys on my machine that I had to delete to test this out more completely, & now I have done this on multiple machines & it still works.
Enjoy!
can this work with windows 7?
31-Jan-2012
@Just Me
My Windows 7 machine has both “Windows Live Photo Gallery” and “Windows Photo Viewer” each with slightly different options. You can certainly use Faststone and Irfanview on Windows 7.
actually, yes this does work on W7. I gathered the required files from internet sources, created the .reg file with the changes suggested, Simply copy the files to your Windows folder, clik the reg, merge. all set. A windows picture and fax view on W7. works perfectly.
They should never have taken it out.
And I never really like any of the replacement programs available.
i had downloaded and tried both Irfanview and FastStone . Yes, it does work, but; I can’t upload any pictures from my computer to any web sites. Any recommendations?
09-Apr-2012
You can use XP Picture & Fax in Windows 7, but you need 2 files.
1) Copy XP shimgvw.dll to C:Windows
(As long as it is the XP version, it WILL work!)
2) Import the registry key below. (Copy everything below _(Start)_ & above _(End)_ to a new notepad document, then save it as XP7.reg
Before you grab this & import it, please note that this will ONLY work in Windows 7. If you want it to work in Vista, you will have to change both occurrences of VISTARTM to WINXPSP2 & save the changes.
This registry key will cause XP Image viewer to run in your Windows 7 machine as the default image viewer for: BMP/JPG/GIF/PNG/TIF & has the correct default icons selected as well.
3 reasons to use this over Windows 7 image viewer are:
1) Animated GIF files actually play.
2) Pictures smoothly enlarge, not grainy like 7.
3) You can edit TIF files.
MAKE SURE YOU OBEY STEP 1 & import the XP version of shimgvw.dll file into C:Windows on your Windows 7 machine before importing the registry key, or this will NOT work. The registry key will be looking at this location for this file.
__________(START)__________
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionAppCompatFlagsLayers]
“C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionAppCompatFlagsLayers]
“C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.BMP]
@=”BMPImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTBMPImage.DocumentDefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTBMPImage.Documentshellopencommand]
@=”C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe C:\Windows\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.GIF]
@=”GIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTGIFImage.DocumentDefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-71″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTGIFImage.Documentshellopencommand]
@=”C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe C:\Windows\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.JPG]
@=”JPGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTJPGImage.DocumentDefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-72″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTJPGImage.Documentshellopencommand]
@=”C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe C:\Windows\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.PNG]
@=”PNGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTPNGImage.DocumentDefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-83″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTPNGImage.Documentshellopencommand]
@=”C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe C:\Windows\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.TIF]
@=”TIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTTIFImage.DocumentDefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTTIFImage.Documentshellopencommand]
@=”C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe C:\Windows\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
__________(END)__________
Edit: I know I posted earlier, but I experimented & this key is 75% smaller than the original, & works better. This is the MINIMUM needed to run XP image viewer as default for the 5 file types listed above, as well as the correct default icons & using shimgvw.dll to open the picture types.
I also noted that both App Compat locations are needed, because one is for the current user, while the other is for All Users (sets XP image viewer as default for all users.)
You can use another compatibility mode, but the ones listed work best, because they eliminate the Windows prompt each time you want to run the XP image viewer.
You don’t have to import the rundll32.exe file like before, because I found that using the built in rundll32.exe file works fine. I experimented & found that although you could not right-click the Windows 7 rundll32.exe file & edit the properties to make it compatible, you could just reference it with a registry key with pre-applied compatibility modes, & it will work great!
Will someone please follow the instructions above, then post back up here that this DOES work? I admire LEO, but he is wrong on this. I have used this trick on about a hundred times to verify that it always works, & it DOES work on every machine I tried, so long as the instructions are properly followed.
It really is not half so hard as it seems, but I just included lots of helpful hints in case you wanted to try or do other things.
Please, try this out, & post back your experience, so LEO can finally stop saying it is IMPOSSIBLE to import XP Image Viewer into Windows 7.
I used to believe that was true, but I have experimented a lot, & found that this is an outright lie. It does & WILL work if you follow the instructions above.
NOTHING is impossible with the right knowledge, & I worked very hard to ensure that this does work & is accurate. I also worked hard to make sure it used the minimal effort required to make it work.
Please DO post your experience here, because we need more people to understand. THIS ISN’T IMPOSSIBLE!
Thank you!
Hi Dr. Anonymous –
I’ve tried following both sets of your instructions several times and had no success at all.
Could you provide your RAR self extracting install file?
Ovann86, I help users on Piriform’s CCleaner website fairly often.
Go here: http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=34812
It should give you complete instructions, & you should be able to view a sample photo what it looks like.
It works for my 32 Bit 7 (And I presume that it also does for 64 Bit, but I am not certain).
If you are attempting to do this in Vista, you will need to change both occurrences of VISTARTM to WINXPSP2 in order for it to work.
I have been thanked by several for helping them get XP image viewer running in Windows 7, so if you still cannot get it working, join Piriform (free) & message me. I will guide you step-by-step & answer any questions you have via email if you so desire.
You can reach me by messaging Super Fast
Has anyone successfully got this method (use XP Viewer to on Win 7) to work in User Account? I tried in User Account but failed. Works in Admin account.
Yes, its possible there is a way to replace Windows 7’s Photo Viewer to Windows XP’s Picture and Fax Viewer.
Step 1 : Note for those who have both Windows XP and 7 follow this first step if you don’t hhave WIndows XP computer skip Step 1 then start at (Alternate Step 1) below. Use XP for this Step: Go to C:\Windows\System32 then search for Shimgvw.dll file. Copy Shimgvw.dll file then paste it at Windows 7 (You need to connect to a network). Put Shimvw.dll file using network. In XP it’s called My Network Places. In 7 it’s called simply Network.
Alternate Step 1 : Note for those who doesn’t have WIndows XP computer Download Shimgvw.dll file here originaldll.com/download/4673…. (what is shimgvw.dll file? It is Microsoft WIndows XP’s Picture and Fax Viewer File)
Step 2 : Copy and Paste Shimgvw.dll file in C:\Windows folder
Step 3 : Open a new notepad
Step 4 :Copy this, then paste it in the notepad
__________(START)__________
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
“C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe”=”VISTARTM”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.BMP]
@=”BMPImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BMPImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.GIF]
@=”GIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-71″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GIFImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.JPG]
@=”JPGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-72″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\JPGImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PNG]
@=”PNGImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-83″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PNGImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.TIF]
@=”TIFImage.Document”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\DefaultIcon]
@=”%SystemRoot%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-70″
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\shell\open\command]
@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe C:\\Windows\\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1″
__________(END)__________
Step 5 : then save the file as “XP7.reg”
Step 6 : right click XP7.reg then click Merge
Step 7 : then click yes
Step 8 : click ok
Step 9 : Restart your computer or Log off your computer then log on again
That it Voila!!! Please DO post your experience here, because we need more people to understand. THIS ISN’T IMPOSSIBLE! LET’S PROVE EVERYONE WRONG AND GIVE THEM JUSTICE!!!!
3 reasons to use this over Windows 7 image viewer are:
1) Animated GIF files actually play.
2) Pictures smoothly enlarge, not grainy like 7.
3) You can edit TIFF files.
Enjoy using your Windows XP’s Picture and Fax Viewer on Windows 7!!!!! :)
Thank you!