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Many users have this question “Why are my recovered photos not showing up?” Well this is a common issue anyone can face at some point. The files are not always gone. In most cases, they are just saved in the wrong place, marked as hidden, saved in an unsupported format, or partially corrupted. And the good news is, almost all of those have a fix. This blog will walk you through all the possible reasons along with the practical solutions to fix this issue.
Reasons Why Recovered Photos are not Showing Up
There are many reasons why your photos and images fail to open after recovery. Here’s the list of the factors that may cause this issue:
- If your storage device is physically damaged, it will directly affect your data, and as a result, your photos may become inaccessible.
- Malware or virus attacks can also lead to corruption in image files that make them completely inaccessible.
- The photo recovery process might not have been completed due to a sudden power outage.
- There is a chance that there are some bad sectors in the storage device, leading to a break in logical links to the file information.
- If you have saved your image with an incorrect extension, it can create incompatibility issues and stop it from opening.
Methods to Fix Recovered Photos not Opening
Every issue has a solution; just like that, you can fix your images that won’t open. Below are some easy methods to help you fix recovered photos not showing up error:
Method 1. Change File Extension
Sometimes, due to an incorrect file extension, your photo might not open properly. Change file extension with the steps below to fix this issue:
Note: If you can’t see the extension, then click on View at top-left of your screen and select File name extensions option.
- Right-click on the image and select Rename.
- Replace the file extension with any format of your choice (say, .png or .jpg) and hit Enter.
The file format of the image has been changed. It will probably help in accessing the image in the required application.
Method 2. Open & Save Image via MS Paint
Header or structural issues in the photo can also stop it from opening. You can try to open it in MS Paint and if it opens there, then save it to another format. Here are the steps for it:
- Go to the location where your photo is saved on your system.
- Right-click on it, then click Open with and select Paint.
- If the image opens without any issues, then click on File and select Save As.
- Provide desired saving location, select any format of your choice in Save as type and click Save.
Method 3. Check File Permissions
Occasionally, recovery tools retrieve your image with wrong permissions, causing recovered photos not to show up. Below are the steps to fix file permissions in Windows system:
- Browse your corrupted image and right-click on it, then select Properties.
- Go to the Security tab and click Edit.
- Look for your user account and select the Allow checkbox next to Full control, then click Apply.
Method 4. Perform Malware Scan on Recovered Image(s)
Sometimes, due to bad sectors on storage devices or malware/viruses, the recovered photo might face issues in opening. You can run a deep malware scan on the recovered image(s) and see if it opens after that or not.
If it fails to open after that too, then it might be a sign that your image is severely corrupted.
When the Recovered Photos themselves are the Problem
If you are facing corruption in your images, then recovering them using a tool is the only option. Kernel Photo Recovery is the tool that can successfully recover lost, deleted, corrupt, or any infected image and save it in your system. It supports bulk photo recovery while maintaining quality of the images.
Further, the software comes with a trial version with which you can try all the features of the tool for free. The only limitation is that you can only have the preview of the recovered images and cannot proceed with saving them. Download the software from the website, install it in your system, run it, and follow below-mentioned steps:
- Start with selecting the drive from which you want to recover the images (we have selected Logical Disk (D:).
- Now, select a specific format (we are selecting PNG) and click on Next.
- Here, the scanning process is in progress; to stop it, click on the Stop button.
- Once the scanning process finishes, you will see the preview of recovered images, and select the image you want to save, then click on Save button.
- Finally, provide a destination to save the photos and click on OK.
- Wait for the tool to recover all the images. Once the process is done, you can easily access your photos now.
Note: The tool offers a Settings tab where you can provide a prefix to the file and select a size for the recovery of photos. Once you set the standards, click on OK to proceed.
Last Say
Sometimes, photos and images fail to open after recovery because of a variety of reasons which we discussed earlier. Most of the time, the issue is caused due to unsupported format or malware attack. You can run some quick fixes to get this issue resolved, but if you are facing corruption, you might need some professional aid to fix inaccessible pictures.
Frequently Asked Questions
This might be because they are still syncing with Apple iCloud, stored in a Recovered or recently Deleted folder, or waiting for the device to re-index the photo library.
Your recovered photos typically return to their original destination or in a special Recovered or Recently Deleted folder depending on the system you use.
To recover photos that disappeared, check your device’s trash or deleted folder first.
