[11.51RC4] Images can not open by Photos

[zhugecaomao]

Hi

1. After upgrading to TC11.51 RC4, images can not open by Photos by double clicking on the images
2. Through the TC context menu (right click) on the images, opening in Photos works fine.
3. Double click and right click open in Photos works fine in Windows Explorer.
4. With a fresh configuration ini file, this issue consistent
5. Temp solution is to use Internal Associations - Image type - Actions: Open use command

Code: Select all

*open

Win11 24H2, TC 11.51 RC4, Windows Photos App version 2025.11010.290001.0

Anyone has the same issue? please advise, thanks

[ghisler(Author)]

I cannot reproduce that. I was using Irfanview, so I right click on a jpg file and chose Open with - Choose other app. Then I clicked on Windows Photo Viewer and "Always" (please don't do this on your system so I can analyze the problem!). Afterwards Enter also worked. I'm on the same Windows 11 24H2 version.

My Photos app version is 2024.11120.5010.0.
Edit: I have just updated via store to 2025.11010.29001.0 and it still works. I also did the same on a laptop where the photo viewer was the default, and it still works there too.

Does it work with ANY of the older beta versions?

[zhugecaomao]

I cannot reproduce that. I was using Irfanview, so I right click on a jpg file and chose Open with - Choose other app. Then I clicked on Windows Photo Viewer and "Always" (please don't do this on your system so I can analyze the problem!). Afterwards Enter also worked. I'm on the same Windows 11 24H2 version.

My Photos app version is 2024.11120.5010.0.
Edit: I have just updated via store to 2025.11010.29001.0 and it still works. I also did the same on a laptop where the photo viewer was the default, and it still works there too.

Does it work with ANY of the older beta versions?

thanks for your reply, did not encounter this issue before, and I do not have a previous RC for testing now, I assume this happened since RC3 or RC4

After double click on the images, the mouse starts & keeps rolling, in the task manager, the Photos.exe is there, but only the Photos app not showing, maybe it is because Photos app issue, will try to figure it out

[ghisler(Author)]

1. Have you tried force-closing photos.exe via task manager (details page)?

2. Please try with Total Commander 11.50 final from https://www.ghisler.com/download.htm
Just run the installer and choose "Update", this also works for downgrades and preserves all settings.

[zhugecaomao]

1. Have you tried force-closing photos.exe via task manager (details page)?

yes, tried, this issue consistent

2. Please try with Total Commander 11.50 final from https://www.ghisler.com/download.htm
Just run the installer and choose "Update", this also works for downgrades and preserves all settings.

sure, let me try 11.50 final, thanks

Edit: Tried 11.50 final, this issue consistent.

[ghisler(Author)]

OK, I found out the reason. It's again caused by Microsoft's infinite incompetence.

It happens when the path or file name contains at least one space, or one of the characters +&%# or a character code >127.
Then launching the photos app required to URL-encode the file name, e.g.
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\path%20to%20\file\filename.jpg
in looks like the new version of the photo viewer breaks it, now it requires the name without encoding.
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\path to file\filename.jpg
which is completely illogical for an URL, and also breaks opening files from a browser!

With the wrong name, the photo viewer doesn't even return an error, it just hangs forever and has to be closed via task manager.

WTF, Microsoft, why?

[zhugecaomao]

OK, I found out the reason. It's again caused by Microsoft's infinite incompetence.

It happens when the path or file name contains at least one space, or one of the characters +&%# or a character code >127.
Then launching the photos app required to URL-encode the file name, e.g.
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\path%20to%20\file\filename.jpg
in looks like the new version of the photo viewer breaks it, now it requires the name without encoding.
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\path to file\filename.jpg
which is completely illogical for an URL, and also breaks opening files from a browser!

With the wrong name, the photo viewer doesn't even return an error, it just hangs forever and has to be closed via task manager.

WTF, Microsoft, why?

Thanks for reply, windows bug is quite common now especially on Win11, maybe it is time to change to 3rd party viewer like Irfanview or Imagine.

[white]

in looks like the new version of the photo viewer breaks it, now it requires the name without encoding.
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\path to file\filename.jpg
which is completely illogical for an URL, and also breaks opening files from a browser!

Confirmed. Perhaps simply a bug.

[ghisler(Author)]

You can fix it for now by creating an internal association for *.jpg *.gif *.png
and set the open verb to:
"ms-photos:viewer?fileName=%1"
including the double quotes.

Confirmed. Perhaps simply a bug.

The problem is that when I fix it now and send the photos app the new format, and then they fix it it will be broken again.

[Dalai]

The problem is that when I fix it now and send the photos app the new format, and then they fix it it will be broken again.

Sounds like TC needs a new option to either pass the filename encoded or not encoded to the Photos app, just to allow for some MS incompetence . How long will this last? Well, until MS screws something else up, of course .

[white]

Moderator message from: white » 2025-02-12, 12:02 UTC

Split posts about Ghisler's submitted a bug report to Microsoft's Feedback Hub to a new thread: viewtopic.php?p=468413#p468413

[ghisler(Author)]

Because of this Photo apps bug, I have delayed the release of TC 11.51 final by another week.
This should be fixed in RC5, please check! For now it sends the name without encoding to photo apps version 2025.x or newer.

11.02.25 Fixed: Double click on JPG, PNG etc: Launching of the Photos app via ms-photos:viewer?fileName=name broken when name is URL-encoded, e.g. spaces->%20 (32/64)

[zhugecaomao]

Because of this Photo apps bug, I have delayed the release of TC 11.51 final by another week.
This should be fixed in RC5, please check! For now it sends the name without encoding to photo apps version 2025.x or newer.

Tested, it works as expected, thanks

[white]

The Photos app has been updated to version 2025.11030.12002.0

This version again translates percent-encoded characters. But it's flexible, it allows encoded and not encoded filenames.

That does however mean that filenames containing %<n><n> (percent sign followed by 2 digits) need to be encoded. For example, the filename "test%20name.png" will probably no longer work in TC with default options, so you need to use PhotoAppMode=2. Can anyone confirm?

When a filename is passed to the photo scheme (using ms-photos:viewer?fileName=) and the file does not exist, a process is still kept running (so Microsoft did not fix this).

[ghisler(Author)]

That was sooner than expected! Since other characters like # in a directory also cause problems, I will switch back to URL-encoded names in the next version.