The Upcoming Version Of Windows 11 Could Include A New And Attractive Image Gallery In The Form Of A File Explorer.
this new image gallery, which is hidden in the latest Windows 11 beta (build 25300), shows your images in an attractive format and allows you to browse them by date using their built-in search box. search for
A Twitter user named Windows Hacker Albacore discovered the gallery, which is said to be based on XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language), by enabling the new WASDK (Windows App SDK)-based File Explorer.
Hidden within build 25300 is something Longhorn’s shell designers wished to one day see in production — a XAML based photo gallery right inside File Explorer. Not as flashy as Phodeo, but I’d say it still counts. Has a timeline scrollbar & configurable photo source list. pic.twitter.com/Nbdqjm65pa
— Albacore (@thebookisclosed) February 19, 2023
Both the WASDK file explorer and its gallery feature are disabled by default in Windows 11 build 25300, but can be enabled with some registry edits and enabling hidden features.
WASDK File Explorer looks exactly like the default File Explorer with the same icons, colors and layout. The only difference is the pizza slice icon in the toolbar that says “You are previewing the Windows App SDK File Explorer version” when you hover over it.
The gallery icon appears below the home screen icon on the left side. When clicked, a small preview of the images displayed in the photo gallery, sorted by date, will be displayed. By moving the mouse to the right, a list of years will appear. For example, by clicking on a specific year such as 2012, photos from that year will be displayed in the image gallery. There is also a gallery search box in the upper right corner of the window.
When a file is typed into this search box, that file will appear without even a small preview. It seems that the search can only identify images by file name, which can be considered a weakness for this new Windows 11 image gallery because, for example, when you transfer images from your phone to your PC, this feature is used to search for this type. Pictures are not very helpful.
The default folder for Windows 11’s new photo gallery is OneDrive Pictures, but other folders can be added by clicking the Locations button that appears in the toolbar when the gallery opens.
Overall, Windows 11’s new photo gallery looks good, but it’s not ready for release yet. Albacore warned on Twitter that WASDK File Explorer is not stable and has crashed several times during testing. However, it does indicate that Microsoft is working on a new File Explorer and Photo Gallery, which will likely come with the next version of Windows 11.
How to activate the new Windows 11 image gallery
If you want to try the new Windows 11 image gallery and WASDK file explorer, you must first install the latest Dev build of Windows 11, Windows Insider version 25300. Keep in mind that these steps involve using a developer build of Windows 11, which could be unstable or incompatible with your hardware. The build can be installed in a virtual machine on the desktop so that there is no need to reinstall Windows.
- First, install Windows Insider version 25300. You can download the installation ISO of this version directly from Microsoft .
- Change this registry value from 0 to 1:
HKLM \ SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion\ Shell\ Update\ Packages\ MicrosoftWindows.Client.40729001_cw5n1h2txyewy \Compatible.
- Download ViVeTool from github and extract it to a folder (eg: C:\vivetool).
- Run a command prompt as admin and go to that folder by typing cd C:\vivetool or any other path.
- Enter the following commands, each followed by Enter.
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:40729001
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:40731912
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:41969252
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:42922424
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:4104032
Each of the above IDs is an optional feature or dependency that is not available from Control Panel or elsewhere. ViVetool allows you to activate these functions by their ID. Similarly, you can disable them by substituting /disable for /enable.
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Restart the system.
After the reboot, when you open File Explorer, you should see a pizza slice icon indicating that you are using WASDK File Explorer. The gallery icon also appears on the left side of the toolbar.