BleepingComputer.com: 'No Preview Available' Problem

I feel certain this is not a rare occurrence.

I have a PC Laptop (Dell), XP-3, 80GB HD, 2GB RAM, etc, etc.

About a year ago, I elected to archive all my digital photos (jpeg files) onto an external HD (WD MyBook 500GB) for safety purposes. I have some 5000+ digital images. Yesterday, I was asked to retrieve some of those images and while preparing them for copy/transfer, I attempted to view them. Well...you probably know the rest of the story....Window Picture and Fax Viewer displays the message ...'No Preview Available'.

I have attempted to change the File association, changed viewers (Photoshop), renamed, copied, etc....still the same result. The files are actually present (Properties show they are taking up space). The 'Viewer' tries to display the image...like I see briefly a label stating that it is generating a view...then comes the 'No Preview Available message.

I have other jpeg files on the same computer which I can actually view without any difficulty.

I am confident that I am not the first person to run into this problem...

No, I am not using AOL or Compuserve. Yes, I tried to 'regsvr32/i shimgvw.dll' fix and the computer 'told me' that it could not find the 'regsvr32'.

Your help and direction will be gratefully accepted and appreciated.

Hi polaris6.
dump the "/i" from the command and try again, leaving the space between the 2 and s.
Or just copy>paste below:

regsvr32 shimgvw.dll

Since it seems the picture and fax viewer does work on some images, this may not work but is the correct command.
The images for preview should be on the computers booted drive for testing, not on the external.

Let us know.