# nef Thumbnails in Vista x64



## BobH (Jun 7, 2008)

I'm seeing some odd behavior with .nef (Nikon raw) files in Vista x64.

I installed the component from Nikon that is supposed to allow thumbnails to be generated. When new files are copied to the computer, the thumbnails do not show up as expected.

Now... Here's the odd part. When using Lightroom, if I choose "view in explorer" and open a folder, it then goes through and generates the thumbnails. After that, if I open that same folder in explorer, the thumbnails will now appear. 

However, any new files copied to that folder exhibit the same behavior, they won't show thumbnails. Opening the folder in explorer from inside Lightroom will generate the new thumbnails.

Anyone else experienced this? Have any clues how to resolve it?


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## Steve Sutherland (Jun 9, 2008)

Bob,

Hi. I actually just installed the nef codec for vista on my machine the other day, and frankly couldn't remember them saying anything about 64 bit support. So I went back to Nikon and still do not see it. 

http://www.nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/ 

Could it be that this is causing your problems?


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## BobH (Jun 9, 2008)

Steve Sutherland;1558' said:
			
		

> Bob,
> 
> Hi. I actually just installed the nef codec for vista on my machine the other day, and frankly couldn't remember them saying anything about 64 bit support. So I went back to Nikon and still do not see it.
> 
> ...


 
I've installed that Codec, but as you mention, they don't list the 64 bit version of Vista. They specifically say "32 bit" for the Vista version, so that tells me it's not 64 bit compliant.

OK, fine, it's not 64 bit compatible... But then how come it does work when I open an explorer window via Lightroom? That's the part that has me confused.


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## Steve Sutherland (Jun 9, 2008)

Wish I had an answer.  Maybe they were shooting for 64 bit support, but it was that exact problem that was holding them up and so the released certified 32 bit and will get to solving the other later.  Who knows. 

Personally, while I noticed the lack of a NEF codec, I lived without it until a few days ago.  Hang in there.


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## BobH (Jun 9, 2008)

Steve Sutherland said:


> Personally, while I noticed the lack of a NEF codec, I lived without it until a few days ago. Hang in there.


 
Yeah, it's not a huge deal, I can work without them. 

What bugged me was when sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. I'm still a bit nervous about Vista and so I notice any little oddities. I'd open up a window in Explorer, and some of the .nef files would have thumbnails, while others did not. Nothing I did would make the ones without thumbnails generate thumbnails. That's what was driving me nuts. ("How did those ones get thumbs, and why won't these ones...")

Once I discovered that by opening an explorer window via Lightroom it would generate thumbnails for that directory, then I realized what was happening. The reason for partial directories was when new .nef files were added after viewing the directory via LR. 

Now that I understand how it works (or doesn't work as the case may be...) I'm OK with it. I mostly mentioned it in case others are seeing the same strange behavior.


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## mlhnet (Nov 16, 2008)

*Vista64 includes 32Bit Windows Photo Gallary*

Vista64 contains the 32bit version of Windows Photo Gallery in addition to the default 64bit version. You can use the 32bit version of the Windows Photo Gallery to generate thumbnails using the NEF driver. I added a shortcut to the 32bit version in my All Programs folder.


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