Do you see the "?" in a blue circle on the right margin, near the top?

The second figure to the left of that is a triangle pointing downwards. Click on that to choose the format of the display - your choices include things like large icons, small icons, content, etc., Does changing that get you to where you want?

Snidely that just made the icons larger or smaller.
This is what my folders look like, which is the normal graphic when they are empty, as in a new folder.

The only time I can see what a picture is, is to click on each one individually, they don't open in preview, either. Geesh, this is frustrating, to say the least.

I would do a system restore if you have been turning off your computer at night. Just go back a few days to when you remember that your pictures being ok. Somewhere you might have downloaded or updated something that had a tag along program with it.....a lot of times it has to do with how your photos are displayed. I remember one program had check marks already marked and when I updated I realized I should have unchecked them first. I will not let my computer do updates without me reading them first. You can also right click on the first picture in the folder and go down to where it says open with...then choose your option whether it be windows media windows photo or whatever program you are used to using.

Try this:

In the folder with the missing thumbnails. At the upper left select
Organize > Folder and Search Options

In that dialog select the View tab.

In the advanced settings pane near the top there should be a checkbox for [x] Always show icons, never thumbnails

Uncheck that box and click Apply.

Did you do any updates? One time I accidentally updated Bing desktop and I ended up with this sort of thing.

Hi may-bee,

Did you then issue the command, "Bing-GO!"?

o j

Bob, that was it!!!!!

I've never gone in there, so I have no idea how the box was checked.

Thank you to everyone who jumped in with ideas!!!

Ditto and thanks. I'd forgotten about that particular cubbyhole.

That's the challenge with complex programs and Windows itself - settings are stuck into too many nooks and crannies, and the placement can be very illogical. It's hard to remember what's where.

Speaking of windows updates...............I use windows 7 and a friend of mine automatically updated to Windows 8. She was unable to use it for work after that.....it wasn't compatible or something.

She had to take it to a computer shop to get it back to windows 7. Wow I have to scrutinize the updates, and I'm usually not so careful.

Even today it mentioned something about a security for Microsoft 11 or version 11 or something. So I unchecked it as I don't have or want the number 11. (do I?)