Explorer works like an alternative player when creating the thumbnails, so it can use the same codecs as media player. You could have only the codecs and remove

Explorer works like an alternative player when creating the thumbnails, so it can use the same codecs as media player. You could have only the codecs and remove media player, and thumbnails still should work. There is a 64-bit media player, it's just not the default, maybe due to lack of 3rd-party 64-bit codecs at the time. To make it default: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/making-windows-media-player-64-bit-default/bd4872b3-75e8-4d81-ae8a-df50798d5113 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-w...