How to Fix Photos App Slow, Crashing, or Not Opening Images on Windows
Windows Photos app takes forever to load images, crashes when opening large files, or doesn't open at all? Fix Photos app performance, file association issues, and thumbnail generation.
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Main Troubleshooting Guide
How to Fix Microsoft Store Not Working →Complete symptoms, causes, and step-by-step solutions
Symptoms
You might be experiencing this problem if you notice:
- •Photos app takes 10+ seconds to open an image
- •App crashes when opening RAW or large JPEG files
- •Double-clicking an image opens the wrong app or nothing
- •Photos app thumbnails not loading in library view
- •"Choose an app" popup every time you open an image
- •Photos app using high CPU when idle (indexing)
Common Causes
- âš Photos app indexing a large photo library in the background
- âš App cache bloated with thumbnail data
- âš File association for .jpg/.png not set to Photos app
- âš Missing codec for RAW image formats (CR2, NEF, ARW)
- âš GPU hardware acceleration causing crashes with certain images
- âš Photos app needs update or repair
Solutions
Solution 1: Fix Photos App Performance
- 1Open Photos app > Settings (gear icon)
- 2Disable "Indexing" if you don't need the library feature
- 3Disable "Hardware-accelerated video encoding" if experiencing crashes
- 4This reduces background CPU usage significantly
- 5For faster single-image viewing: consider setting a lighter app as default
- 6Right-click an image > Open with > Choose another app > IrfanView or Windows Photo Viewer
Solution 2: Fix File Associations
- 1If images don't open in Photos (or open in the wrong app):
- 2Go to Settings > Apps > Default apps
- 3Search for ".jpg" and set Photos as the default
- 4Repeat for .jpeg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .webp
- 5Or: right-click any image > Open with > Choose another app > Photos > check "Always use this app"
- 6This restores Photos as the default image viewer
Solution 3: Repair or Reset Photos App
- 1Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Photos
- 2Click Advanced options > Repair
- 3If still slow: click Reset (clears cache but doesn't delete your photos)
- 4For RAW file support: install "Raw Image Extension" from Microsoft Store (free)
- 5For HEIF/HEIC support: install "HEIF Image Extensions" from Microsoft Store
- 6After reset: the app will be faster but will need to rebuild thumbnails on first use
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