[Fix] Error Windows Photo Viewer cant display this picture

[Fix] Error “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture”
Last Updated on: January 10, 2022 by Ramesh
When you try to preview an image file (JPEG/PNG) using Windows Photo Viewer, the preview would be blank and the following error message is displayed:

Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer. Close some programs that you aren’t using or free some hard disk space (if it’s almost full), and then try again.
windows photo viewer cannot display image – not enough memory – icc profile metadata

It’s a misleading error message, as in most cases, it may not have anything to do with the system memory. The Windows Photo Viewer error is caused due to color profile metadata (ICC_Profile) embedded into the JPG image(s).
(You can reproduce the issue by transferring images from your Android/iOS mobile and previewing the image using Windows Photo Viewer on your computer. Another possibility is that your system has multiple video cards and the issue happens on the secondary graphics card only. Switching over to the primary video card may resolve the error.)

However, other utilities like IrfanView, GIMP, or the built-in/modern Photos app would be able to open the image correctly. This issue is limited to Windows Photo Viewer (and perhaps Windows Live Photo Gallery) only.
RELATED: [Fix] WebP Images Appear Very Dark in Windows Photo Viewer
[Fix] Error “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture”
To resolve the error “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture”, follow these steps:

Launch the Color Control Panel applet by running colorcpl.exe from the Run dialog. Alternately, you can open the classic Control Panel, All Control Panel Items, and click Color Management.
In the Devices tab, select each ICC profile and click on the Remove button. Remove every profile listed on that page.
windows photo viewer cannot display image – not enough memory – icc profile metadata
When you see the “This color profile is the default profile for this device. Are you sure you want to disassociate it from the device?” message, click Continue.
windows photo viewer cannot display image – not enough memory – icc profile metadata
Next, click on the Advanced tab.
windows photo viewer cannot display image – not enough memory – icc profile metadata
Select “Agfa: Swop Standard” from the Device profile dropdown list box. This is the most important step!
(Selecting the system default setting “System default (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)” is the root cause for the error in Windows Photo Viewer.)
Click OK.
You should now be able to preview the JPEG files successfully!