Windows Photo Viewer Location

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While recent versions of Windows have discarded Windows Photo Viewer in favor of Microsoft Photos, Windows Photo Viewer location is still a hotly discussed topic. You like using Windows Photo Viewer but don’t know where it’s located in Windows? In that case, this article could help you out. Down below is a guide that shows you what must be done to get Windows Photo Viewer back.

How To Tell If You Still Have Windows Photo Viewer

As mentioned above, Microsoft Photos is the default image application on Windows 10. That means even if you clean install Windows 10, Windows Photo Viewer won’t be present. However, if you recently upgraded from Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10, there is a good chance that Windows Photo Viewer is still around. The reason is that after the upgrade finishes, Registry keys that handle Windows Photo Viewer remain. 

To determine whether you still have Windows Photo Viewer, you could use two methods:

Method 1:

  • Step 1: Right-click a photo
  • Step 2: Hover your mouse over Open with.
  • Step 3: Look for Windows Photo Viewer.

Method 2:

  • Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Settings 
  • Step 2: Click Apps then pick Default apps.
  • Step 3: Go to Photo viewer, hit Photos and look for Windows Photo Viewer.

How To Bring Windows Photo Viewer Back

Via Notepad

  • Step 1: Open Notepad, copy the lines down below and paste them into a blank text file. 
    • 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}”
  • Step 2: Save the text file as Photoviewer.reg.
  • Step 3: Double-click Photoviewer.reg to run it. 
  • Step 4: Open Settings, click Apps and pick Default apps.
  • Step 5: Go to Photo Viewer, select Photos and choose Windows Photo Viewer.

Via Shortcut

You should know that instead of an executable file (.exe), Windows Photo Viewer uses a .dll file named PhotoViewer.dll located in C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer. By running the command rundll32 “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll”, ImageView_Fullscreen <full path of the image file including its extension>, you could open an image with Windows Photo Viewer. 

Here is an example: rundll32 “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll”, ImageView_Fullscreen E:\Pictures\photo 1.jpg

Adding Windows Photo Viewer To Open With: Guidelines 

  • Step 1: Press Windows key, type Regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
  • Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell.
  • Step 3: Create a new key under shell, name it open.
  • Step 4: In the right-side pane, create a new string MuiVerb and set its value to @photoviewer.dll,-3043.
  • Step 5: Create a new key under open, name it command.
  • Step 6: In the right panel, double-click Default and change its value to ‘’%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll”, ImageView_Fullscreen %1’’
  • Step 7: Create another key under open and name it DropTarget.
  • Step 8: In the right panel, create a new string CLSID and set its value to {FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}.
  • Step 9: Close Registry Editor then restart your computer 
  • Step 10: Right-click a photo, hover your mouse over Open with and see if Windows Photo Viewer is included in the options. 

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