Thumbnails not working in Windows 11 with OneDrive

[odyskat]

Describe the bug
Thumbnails (for step files at least) don't work on Windows 11.
(I did not check other file types.)

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Installed f3d through convention .exe file from https://f3d.app/doc/user/INSTALLATION.html
2. Checked that thumb-nailing option is enabled in installation wizard.
3. F3d works and opens step file

System Information:
Edition Windows 11 Business
Version 23H2
Installed on ‎11/‎22/‎2023
OS build 22631.2861
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22681.1000.0

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900KF 3.20 GHz

[Display]
DirectX version: 12.0
GPU processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

F3D Information
F3D-2.2.1-Windows-x86_64-raytracing

[mwestphal]

Hi @odyskat

I have no access to a Windows 11 computer at the moment so I cant test this right away.
However I see a lot of posts online about general issues with thumbnails on Windows 11. Can you confirm thumbnaisl are working in general for you ?

[odyskat]

Hi @mwestphal and thanks for the quick reply.
I checked for a stl file and
I think f3d did not provide a thumbnail (I see a picture like the one below even when I uninstalled it).
I suppose windows provides the image and not f3d.
Hope it helps.

[mwestphal]

@Meakk tested with Windows 11 and it seems to work great. can you try reinstalling ?

[odyskat]

@mwestphal I did it multiple times, same result.
I will try it at home with another computer for comparison.

[odyskat]

I tried in a Windows 10 machine at home with no luck for the thumbnails.
Step files were exported from 2 different cad programs to make sure that the problem is not file related.

Note: I use Greek as system locale, not s long ago a Lenovo tool refused to work if the system locale was not English us.
It was hard to find and probably not connected to the thumbnailing issue.

[Meakk]

Maybe it's related to one drive? Can you try on a local disk?

[odyskat]

Ok, I tried many cases :

Number 1: win10 folder not connected to OneDrive --> works!

Number 2: Win 11 folder not connected to OneDrive --> works!

Number 3: win11 folder in OneDrive fist time copying of the file works, when closed and reopened it's gone.

[odyskat]

Comment : I noticed that when the file is stored in SharePoint (for anyone who hasn't used this, it's like Microsoft's business version of OneDrive) and also saved locally on the computer, thumbnails seem to work fine.

[Meakk]

I think OneDrive might remove thumbnails to save space (they are saved in thumbs.db file)
I came across this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/video-thumbnails-not-generating-in-onedrive-folder/bf54402a-2306-444a-a986-4642430f6b95
They are mentioning an option Files On-Demand: Save space and download files as you use them to disable. Can you try that?

[jeedee23]

I have the same install, and no thumbnails what so ever are showing for step files, but whenI copy the complete folder to the C drive: this happens:

and then the thumbnails appear. one by one.
So, when you have a onedrive, it downloads the thumbnails from onedrive (just do the 'see online' option, and you will see which files have thumbnails, and which not) same for PDF, and others, if not local but onedrive (even if 'always keep on this device' is checked), no thumbnail which MS supports)
You have to sync differently with onedrive.

This is the folder after F3D flashed 1000's of times:

red arrows: f3D did not generate a thumbnail, green arrows, it did create a thumbnail.

[Meakk]

Regarding the error in the window, it's a new issue.
@mwestphal see

f3d/winshellext/F3DThumbnailProvider.cxx

Line 168 in 2f95ee3

L"\"%s\" --input \"%s\" --output \"%s\" --config=thumbnail --verbose=quiet --resolution "

[Meakk]

@jeedee23 I think the files without thumbnails are probably the bigger files, can you confirm?

[mwestphal]

fix incoming, but I think @jeedee23 is using a old nightly.

#1151

[jeedee23]

Yes, but the new latest, doesn’t give any thumbnails

[jeedee23]

Hi Michael, yes, bigger

[Meakk]

@jeedee23 If you look at your installation directory, you will find a share\f3d\configs\thumbnail.d\10_global.json config file.
This config file sets the max size limit for generating thumbnails. By default, it's 100MB: "max-size":100.
You can increase this value directly here, but it's recommended to create your own "user" config file to avoid an overwrite during a f3d update, please refer to https://f3d.app/doc/user/CONFIGURATION_FILE.html

[Meakk]

Yes, but the new latest, doesn’t give any thumbnails

Is it expected @mwestphal?

[mwestphal]

|| Yes, but the new latest, doesn’t give any thumbnails

| Is it expected @mwestphal?

Definitely not, but we will need actual version numbers from @jeedee23 to move forward. Testing the last nightly on windows would also be a start.

[odyskat]

I think OneDrive might remove thumbnails to save space (they are saved in thumbs.db file) I came across this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/video-thumbnails-not-generating-in-onedrive-folder/bf54402a-2306-444a-a986-4642430f6b95 They are mentioning an option Files On-Demand: Save space and download files as you use them to disable. Can you try that?

I don't have enough space in my work comp.
But I tried with one folder, same issue.
I updated to Windows 11, version 23H2. Now, new files downloaded from SharePoint locally do not want to display thumbnails, but files I had downloaded still have thumbnails.

[jeedee23]

|| Yes, but the new latest, doesn’t give any thumbnails

| Is it expected @mwestphal?

Definitely not, but we will need actual version numbers from @jeedee23 to move forward. Testing the last nightly on windows would also be a start.

F3D-2.2.1-95-g2f95ee3-Windows-x86_64 is the version I use. The only one giving thumbnails for step files, but not for all of them (even if size < 100MB) and it shows the pop-up

I now use onedrive on a small server, and use viceversa pro to sync all other computers with the files I want. They become local, so thumbnails (not all) are generated, less bandwidth also.

[jeedee23]

I think OneDrive might remove thumbnails to save space (they are saved in thumbs.db file) I came across this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/video-thumbnails-not-generating-in-onedrive-folder/bf54402a-2306-444a-a986-4642430f6b95 They are mentioning an option Files On-Demand: Save space and download files as you use them to disable. Can you try that?

This is an old thread and this option is not present anymore.

[mwestphal]

I just tested the last nightly and thumbnails are working fine (outside of onedrive which I do not use).

@Meakk did you actually try with onedrive ?

[jeedee23]

Yes it is a onedrive issue, other apps have the same problem. The files are not stored the usual way, I think there is need for a MS api to be able to do this

[Meakk]

@Meakk did you actually try with onedrive ?

No I don't have a onedrive account

[mwestphal]

You have to sync differently with onedrive.

Ok, looks like we do need to do something else to support onedrive file. Which we will probably not do for now I'm afraid.

Related to: #797

[jeedee23]

You have to sync differently with onedrive.

Ok, looks like we do need to do something else to support onedrive file. Which we will probably not do for now I'm afraid.

Related to: #797

Yes, that is what I thought, because it is almost impossible.

[mwestphal]

labelling as wont fix.