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Those keys are kept in place if you upgrade from a previous version of Windows, but they aren’t created during the installation of Windows 10. Update: Windows Photo Viewer wasn’t cut from Windows 11, and you can make Windows Photo Viewer your default photo viewer on Windows 11.įor whatever reason, Microsoft opted not to include the Registry keys that enable access to Windows Photo Viewer on Windows 10. After you do that, you can then set it as your default photo viewer. It’s just hidden, and you’ll have to make a couple of Registry edits to have it show up. The interesting thing is that Photo Viewer is still there. However, if you perform a clean installation of Windows 10 - or buy a PC with Windows 10 already on it - you can’t access Photo Viewer at all. If you upgrade a PC running Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10, Windows Photo Viewer will be available, and you can set it as your default photo viewer if you want. RELATED: How to do a Clean Install of Windows 10 the Easy Way You can get Photo Viewer back in Windows 10, though. Windows 10 uses the new Photos app as your default image viewer, but many people still prefer the old Windows Photo Viewer.
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Check "Always use this app" if you want to set Windows Photo Viewer as the default image application. Right click on the file, then choose “Open with -> Photos.To use Windows Photo Viewer on Windows 10, enable it in the Windows Registry, then right-click an image file, click "Open With," and select "Windows Photo Viewer" from the list.If your HEIC file doesn’t automatically open with Photos, follow the steps below to convert using the Photos app. HEIC is one of them, and you can easily open HEIC images using the native Windows 10 and Windows 11 app, then convert them to various formats, including jpg. The Windows Photos app has its problems, but it’s also surprisingly compatible with less conventional image formats. In fact, you can do this through the Windows Photos App – you just need to download the file extension package from the Microsoft Store first.Īlternatively, Adobe Lightroom and several other photo-editing apps will allow you to open HEIC files and edit them without first converting to JPEG. Your Windows device can open these files – you just need to download the correct extension package first.Īs long as you have Windows 10 or Windows 11, you have the option of simply opening HEIC files on your computer without converting them to JPEG. High Efficiency Image File Format (saved as HEIC) is a specific file format that is proprietary to iOS devices.
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