Image thumbnails disappeared in Ubuntu 24.04 - nautilus bug

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Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version: 24.04

Desktop Environment : GNOME

Problem Description: Image thumbnails disappeared:

No problem on Ubuntu 25.10 and 26.04 on different partitions of same PC.

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If you make a fresh Ubuntu user and log in as that user, is everything OK there? This will isolate user settings and home permissions etc

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I’m having the same issue with thumbnails (same Ubuntu 24.04 version). I just tried creating a new user (with fresh settings) as suggested, but the problem persists: Nautilus isn’t generating new thumbnails.

And here’s the error message when running Eye of Gnome from a terminal:

eog mypicture.jpg
(eog:22603): EOG-WARNING **: 13:25:55.252: Thumbnail creation failed

Maybe the problem isn’t directly related to Nautilus?

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The reason for the problem is in the bug report linked above. If you read it again and pay attention to comment #8 and comment #10 by Charles05, you’ll have the answer for the issue and a workaround for it.

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@gpmitch Thanks for pointing that out. I was able to restore the thumbnails using this workaround

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Good deal, glad it worked it for you!

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Temporary workaround:

  • install Nemo file browser (sudo apt install nemo)
  • open Nemo and navigate to folder with missing thumbnails. Press F5 to refresh the content.

Afterwards thumbnails are visible in both Nemo and Nautilus in that specific folder.

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Given that comment #10 says “Of course, this undoes the security fix, which is why I wouldn’t recommend doing that.

I’ve asked for advice on what the right fix is for this regression is in the meantime.”
I won’t do that. Fortunately the Nemo fix does work, despite the package being V 0.20.13 and the App Center fussing that it isn’t a package from a recommended source, it does indeed restore thumbnails. Hopefully someone can figure out how to restore them (a vital functionality in a GUI file manager I would have thought) while preserving the security fix. Given that Thunar seems to do the same as Nemo, I have uninstalled the latter and will use the former. Thanks.

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You should know that using Nemo or Thunar exposes you to the same type of vulnerabilities that Nautilus had with the apparmor profile that relaxed the confinement restriction which allowed calling external programs like thumbnailers to work.

So security-wise, you’re no better off.

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I thought that that might be the case. Do you know whether secure thumbnails are being investigated? As I said, they’re an important part of a GUI file manager.

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I think so, as that was indicated in the bug report that was linked to the bug report listed in this thread. I don’t know how far it’s gotten though.

Right now, the effort is to revert the change in the apparmor package and also clear out the ~/.cache/thumbnails/fail/gnome-thumbnail-factory directory without requiring the user to do it manually.

Dinkin’ around in the user’s home directory from a package install script can be tricky so caution is warranted and progress is proceeding carefully.

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Thanks for that. Here’s hoping.

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I’ve also got this exact issue. So my understanding is we’re all just waiting for a fix?