How to Restore Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11?

Windows 11 brings a lot of new features, but some of them haven’t been loved by users, such as the Windows Photos app that replaced the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10.

Open images using Windows Photos app in Windows 11

In fact, the Windows Photos app is not bad at all because its built-in video editor is very useful for users with video editing needs. The main reason users dislike the Windows Photos app is that Windows Photos app is rather slow to open and load images. The Windows Photos app takes a few seconds to load an image even it is a few KB in size.

When you right click on a picture, choose “Open with>Choose another app>More Apps” option, you will find that Windows Photo Viewer is not in the list because Windows 11 Windows Photo Viewer is not included by default. But don’t worry, this article will show you how to restore Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11.

Create and run a registry file to restore Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11

You can easily create a registry file to restore Windows Photo Viewer using the Notepad application preinstalled on your Windows 11 computer.

First, open the start menu and search for Notepad. Then, from the search results, click and open Notepad.

In the Notepad window, copy and paste the following command, and click the File tab. Click the “Save” button and a window will appear your screen.

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}”

In the “Save As” window, click the drop-down menu next to the “Save as type” option and select the “All files” option. Then, name the file with a .reg extension and click the Save button.

After saving the file, go back to the directory where you saved the file and double-click it to run it.

Next, UAC (User Account Control) will appear on your screen, click the “Yes” button to continue.

A prompt will again appear on the screen asking for your permission to change the value in Registry Editor. Click the “Yes” button.

This brings back the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11, and next you just need to set the Windows Photo Viewer app as the default photo viewer in Windows 11.

Set Windows Photo Viewer as default app to open photos

After Windows 11 restores the Windows Photo Viewer, you need to set it as the default photo viewer.

To set the Windows Photo Viewer as your default photo viewer, firstly open File Explorer from the This PC icon on your desktop.

Then, right-click on the photo to display the context menu. Hover over the “Open With” option in the menu. After you click “Choose another application option”, a window will appear your screen.

In that window, scroll down to find the “Windows Photo Viewer” option. If this option is not here, click the More Apps button.

Click Windows Photo Viewer Options, then tick the checkbox in front of the “Always use this application to open files” option. Finally, after clicking the OK button, Windows Photo Viewer will be the default photo viewer in Windows 11.

This article tells you how to store Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11 and how to set the Windows Photo Viewer as the default photo viewer in Windows 11. If you don’t like the Windows Photo app in the new system, it is easy to get back Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11.