decThumbsDBViewer

What is decThumbsDBViewer?

decThumbsDBViewer is a plugin for a popular file manager, Total Commander. The plugin lets users view and extract content of thumbnail cache generated by Windows OS. Supported are decoding and viewing of files, such as Thumbs.db, thumbcache_idx.db, thumbcache_1024.db, thumbcache_256.db, thumbcache_96.db, thumbcache_32.db, created by Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7. The plugin can also be used to decode and view ehthumbs_vista.db, ehthumbs.db, Image.db, Video.db, TVThumb.db, created by Windows Media Center that comes with Windows XP MCE, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Additionally, the plugin allows decoding and viewing ShellIconCache and IconCache.db and tcthumbs.db and tcthumbs.idb, created by Total Commander.

Files Thumbs.db, ehthumbs.db and ehthumbs_vista.db are known as a structured storage by Microsoft terminology. Therefore the use of standard tools provided by Windows OS has some limitations. Particularly, users are required to have exclusive access to open such as files, which is not always possible. Besides, standard tools work poorly with corrupt files. decThumbsDBViewer is free from these drawbacks thanks to the algorithms of low-level reading of OLE2 files implemented in the plugin. In most cases, the plugin can process even corrupt thumbnail files that cannot be viewed with other programs of the similar purpose.

One of the most significant areas to use decThumbsDBViewer is recovery of lost images. The plugin is most effective when used to process thumbnail cache of Windows Vista and Windows 7 because the file thumbcache_1024.db of these systems can store images with a size up to 1024x1024 pixels, which gives good recovery results.

decThumbsDBViewer can save any thumbnail or all thumbnails simultaneously to the hard disk drive. Additionally, it’s possible to copy thumbnails to clipboard to paste them to an image editor for further editing.

Screenshots

Просмотр файла Thumbs.db

Просмотр файла thumbcache_256.db

Installation of decThumbsDBViewer

The plugin can be installed manually or automatically.

Manual plugin installation

This is a step-by-step guide on how to install the plugin in Total Commander 7.01. In other versions, the succession of actions or actions themselves may be a little different.

1. Unpack the installation archive to any directory. It’s recommended to use a separate directory.
2. Open the Configuration window of Total Commander. By default, users can access this window by selecting Options… in the Configuration menu. In the so-called "packs", the path may be different.
3. In the Options window, select the Plugins tab.
4. In the Lister plugins (.WLX) section, click the Configure button to open to the Lister plugins window.
5. In the Lister plugins window, click the Add button.
6. In the file selection dialog, choose a .wlx file of the plugin and click the Open button.
7. In the Lister plugins window, click OK to confirm the addition of the plugin.
8. In the Configuration window, click OK to save the settings.

Automatic plugin installation

To make it easy to install the plugin, there is an opportunity to install the plugin automatically. However this option is not supported in the earlier versions of Total Commander.

To install the plugin automatically, the user needs to go to the installation archive in Total Commander and follow simple prompts of the installer.

FAQ

Q) I bought the plugin and got the license key. What do I need to do with the key to activate the plugin?
A) Copy and paste the file of the key to the directory that contains the plugin file. Once launched, the plugin detects the key and removes the limitation of the demo mode. Attention! If the key is deleted from the directory, the plugin downgrades to the demo mode automatically.

Q) I renamed the plugin from decThumbsDBViewer.wlx to ThumbsDBViewer.wlx, and now it won’t detect the key.
A) Rename the key file from decThumbsDBViewer.xkey to ThumbsDBViewer.xkey.

Q) I installed the plugin following the instructions. But when I try to open Thumbs.db, I get an error message or a window that suggests saving a file. I know for sure that this thumbs.db contains thumbnail cache.
A) Your thumbs.db must be trying to open some other plugin with a higher priority than that of decThumbsDBViewer. In this situation, it’s necessary to set a higher priority for decThumbsDBViewer. In Total Commander 7.01, you can do it in the following way:

1. Open the Configuration window. If you have a default configuration of Total Commander, select Options... in the Configuration menu. In the so-called "packs", the path may be different.
2. In the Options window, select the Plugins tab.
3. In the Lister plugins (.WLX) section, click the Configure button to open the Lister plugins window.
4. In the Lister plugins, select decThumbsDBViewer.
5. Click on the buttons with the up / down arrows to move the plugin to the required position. A higher position gives a higher priority. In most cases, you can freely move the plugin to the top position.
6. In the Lister plugins window, click OK to confirm the addition of the plugin.
7. In the Configuration window, click OK to save the settings.

In versions of Total Commander other than 7.01, the succession of actions or actions themselves may vary a little.

Q) It takes too long to open some files with the plugin. What’s the reason for it?
A) To decode files, the plugin uses algorithms that search for deleted data, letting users find data within files, even if there are no links to them in the index file. Though it takes long to process data, the algorithm allows extracting maximum information from a file.

List of decoded formats

	Total Commander © Christian Ghisler	tcthumbs.db tcthumbs.idb
	Windows (IconCache.db) © Microsoft	IconCache.db ShellIconCache
	Windows (thumbs.db) © Microsoft	Thumbs.db
	Windows 7 © Microsoft	thumbcache_idx.db thumbcache_1024.db thumbcache_256.db thumbcache_96.db thumbcache_32.db
	Windows Live Photo Gallery © Microsoft	thumbcache_idx.db thumbcache_1024.db thumbcache_256.db thumbcache_96.db thumbcache_32.db
	Windows Media Center © Microsoft	ehthumbs_vista.db ehthumbs.db Image.db Video.db TVThumb.db
	Windows Vista © Microsoft	thumbcache_idx.db thumbcache_1024.db thumbcache_256.db thumbcache_96.db thumbcache_32.db

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