Refresh Thumbcache

Windows 11 Explorer context menu: refresh thumbnail cache (D/LDC, -nogc).
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About The Project

A Windows 11 File Explorer context menu entry that refreshes the thumbnail cache for the current folder (or the whole cache when per-folder is not supported). Implemented in D (Dlang) with LDC, multithreading, and -nogc.

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Features

• Context menu: Right-click a folder or inside a folder → "Refresh thumbnail cache".

• Primary menu: Registered with Position=Top so it can appear in the new Windows 11 primary right-click menu where supported; otherwise under "Show more options".

• Scope: Clears the central thumbnail cache (thumbcache_*.db, iconcache_*.db) and, when a folder is selected, the legacy thumbs.db in that folder. Windows does not support per-folder invalidation of the central cache, so a full cache clear is performed.

• Explorer restart: Restarts Explorer so thumbnails are regenerated on next browse.

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Installation

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 (x64)

• LDC (LLVM D Compiler) recommended; DMD works for the application configuration.

Build

Using LDC (release, -nogc):

dub build --compiler=ldc2 -c release --build=release
# Output: RefreshThumbcache.exe at repo root

Using DMD (debug/application):

dub build -c application

Install (per-user, no admin)

Option A — PowerShell (no Inno Setup):

.\installer\Install.ps1
# Or with explicit exe path:
.\installer\Install.ps1 -ExePath ".\RefreshThumbcache.exe"

Option B — Inno Setup (single .exe installer):

1. Build the app (see above).

2. Open installer\setup.iss in Inno Setup Compiler and build, or run: iscc installer\setup.iss.

3. Run the generated setup from dist\.

Install location: %APPDATA%\AMDphreak\RefreshThumbcache\.

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Usage

Uninstall

• Run installer\Uninstall.ps1, or

• Use Windows Settings → Apps if you installed via the Inno Setup installer.

Pushing and GitHub workflow scope

If gh repo create or git push fails with "refusing to allow an OAuth App to create or update workflow …​ without workflow scope", the GitHub CLI token is missing the workflow scope. Fix it by re-authorizing:

gh auth refresh -s workflow
git push -u origin main

Then push again; workflows will run and the installer job will produce the Inno Setup exe.

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

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Contact

Ryan Johnson — @amdphreak

• Project: https://github.com/AMDphreak/explorer-refresh-thumbcache

• Site: https://ryanjohnson.dev

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