Windows Photo Viewer consumed less RAM as compared to the default Photos app that Windows 10 now has. That is the reason many users still prefer the former over the latter and several other third-party apps available on Microsoft Store.
If you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 from an earlier OS such as Windows 7 or 8/8.1, Windows Photo Viewer should be already present on your computer, and you can enable it by right-clicking an image file, going to ‘Open with > Choose another app’, selecting ‘Windows Photo Viewer’ from the list, checking the ‘Always use this app’ box from the bottom, and clicking ‘OK’.
However, if you did a clean install, here’s how you can restore Windows Photo Viewer on your Windows 10 PC:
Step 1
Create a registry file
Launch Notepad, type the following code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open]
"MuiVerb"="@photoviewer.dll,-3043"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command]
@=hex(2):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,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\
6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\
25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\
00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\
6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\
5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\
00,31,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget]
"Clsid"="{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command]
@=hex(2):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,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\
6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\
25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\
00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\
6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\
5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\
00,31,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget]
"Clsid"="{60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"
go to the File menu, click Save As, choose a destination folder (Desktop for this example), type your preferred name in the File name field followed by .reg within double-quotes, and click Save. This creates a .reg registry file with the above codes in it. This file can be used to get Windows Photo Viewer on your Windows 10 computer.
Step 2
Merge the registry file
Double-click the .reg file you just created, click Yes on the User Account Control box, click Yes on the warning box, and click OK on the confirmation box that appears. This merges the codes in the .reg file with Windows registry. Depending on the codes, Windows performance and behavior changes.
Step 3
Restart the computer
Click Start, click the Power icon from the left, and click Restart. This restarts Windows 10. Restarting the computer ensures that the registry entries are properly merged, and the operating system behaves as expected.
Step 4
Make Windows Photo Viewer the default app
Locate and right-click any image file, go to Open with > Choose another app, select Windows Photo Viewer from the How do you want to open this file list, check the Always use this app box from the bottom, and click OK. This sets Windows Photo Viewer as the default app for the selected image type. From this point onward, you can double-click a photo to open it with Windows Photo Viewer instead of the Photos app.
Note: You must follow the above process for each image file type (e.g. .PNG, .JPG, .TIFF, etc.) you want to open with Windows Photo Viewer.
Note: Depending on the number of apps installed on your PC, you may have to click More apps from the bottom of the How do you want to open this file box to locate Windows Photo Viewer.
If you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 from an earlier OS such as Windows 7 or 8/8.1, Windows Photo Viewer should be already present on your computer, and you can enable it by right-clicking an image file, going to ‘Open with > Choose another app’, selecting ‘Windows Photo Viewer’ from the list, checking the ‘Always use this app’ box from the bottom, and clicking ‘OK’.
However, if you did a clean install, here’s how you can restore Windows Photo Viewer on your Windows 10 PC:
Step 1
Create a registry file
Launch Notepad, type the following code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open]
"MuiVerb"="@photoviewer.dll,-3043"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command]
@=hex(2):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,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\
6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\
25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\
00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\
6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\
5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\
00,31,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget]
"Clsid"="{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command]
@=hex(2):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,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\
6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\
25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\
00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\
6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\
5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\
00,31,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget]
"Clsid"="{60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"
go to the File menu, click Save As, choose a destination folder (Desktop for this example), type your preferred name in the File name field followed by .reg within double-quotes, and click Save. This creates a .reg registry file with the above codes in it. This file can be used to get Windows Photo Viewer on your Windows 10 computer.
Step 2
Merge the registry file
Double-click the .reg file you just created, click Yes on the User Account Control box, click Yes on the warning box, and click OK on the confirmation box that appears. This merges the codes in the .reg file with Windows registry. Depending on the codes, Windows performance and behavior changes.
Step 3
Restart the computer
Click Start, click the Power icon from the left, and click Restart. This restarts Windows 10. Restarting the computer ensures that the registry entries are properly merged, and the operating system behaves as expected.
Step 4
Make Windows Photo Viewer the default app
Locate and right-click any image file, go to Open with > Choose another app, select Windows Photo Viewer from the How do you want to open this file list, check the Always use this app box from the bottom, and click OK. This sets Windows Photo Viewer as the default app for the selected image type. From this point onward, you can double-click a photo to open it with Windows Photo Viewer instead of the Photos app.
Note: You must follow the above process for each image file type (e.g. .PNG, .JPG, .TIFF, etc.) you want to open with Windows Photo Viewer.
Note: Depending on the number of apps installed on your PC, you may have to click More apps from the bottom of the How do you want to open this file box to locate Windows Photo Viewer.