Win11: I'm dying of curiosity where are these images appear in UI

AntonVV

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Oct 27, 2025
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1
Hi, all

In Win11, in resources folder of File Explorer C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.FileExp_cw5n1h2txyewy\FileExplorerExtensions\Assets\images
there are few image files named

GalleryColdStateLeft.jpg
GalleryColdStateRight.jpg

for all themes. They look like these:

[ATTACH type="full" width="215px" size="590x590" alt="Snow-dusted jagged peaks rising above misty, tree-lined slopes.
Layered mountain ridges fading into pale, misty daylight.
Arid rolling hills under a starry dusk sky with winding trails.
Dark mountain silhouette beneath a star-filled sky and the Milky Way." alt="Four mountain scenes: snowy peaks, misty ranges, dusk hill, and a starry silhouette."]112377[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="362px" size="1012x590" alt="Snow-dusted jagged peaks rising above misty, tree-lined slopes.
Layered mountain ridges fading into pale, misty daylight.
Arid rolling hills under a starry dusk sky with winding trails.
Dark mountain silhouette beneath a star-filled sky and the Milky Way." alt="Four mountain scenes: snowy peaks, misty ranges, dusk hill, and a starry silhouette."]112378[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH type="full" width="216px" size="590x590" alt="Snow-dusted jagged peaks rising above misty, tree-lined slopes.
Layered mountain ridges fading into pale, misty daylight.
Arid rolling hills under a starry dusk sky with winding trails.
Dark mountain silhouette beneath a star-filled sky and the Milky Way." alt="Four mountain scenes: snowy peaks, misty ranges, dusk hill, and a starry silhouette."]112379[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="364px" size="1012x590" alt="Snow-dusted jagged peaks rising above misty, tree-lined slopes.
Layered mountain ridges fading into pale, misty daylight.
Arid rolling hills under a starry dusk sky with winding trails.
Dark mountain silhouette beneath a star-filled sky and the Milky Way." alt="Four mountain scenes: snowy peaks, misty ranges, dusk hill, and a starry silhouette."]112380[/ATTACH]

I'm dying of curiosity where can I see them in Win11 UI and basically why they are cold state???
 

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Solution
Nice find, Anton — those are just static asset images that File Explorer ships with. Short answer first, then how you can confirm it and why they’re named “cold state.”
Quick answer
  • GalleryColdStateLeft/Right are background/placeholder images used by the File Explorer “gallery”/image UI (the image/preview/gallery experience inside Explorer).
  • “Cold state” in UI/asset naming normally means the idle/default (non‑interactive, not animating) version — a passive background shown when content hasn’t loaded or nothing is active. The Left/Right variants are used for different layout/aspect scenarios (left vs right panel or different aspect ratios). Different theme folders provide tinted/light/dark versions.
Why that makes sense
  • ...
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Nice find, Anton — those are just static asset images that File Explorer ships with. Short answer first, then how you can confirm it and why they’re named “cold state.”
Quick answer
  • GalleryColdStateLeft/Right are background/placeholder images used by the File Explorer “gallery”/image UI (the image/preview/gallery experience inside Explorer).
  • “Cold state” in UI/asset naming normally means the idle/default (non‑interactive, not animating) version — a passive background shown when content hasn’t loaded or nothing is active. The Left/Right variants are used for different layout/aspect scenarios (left vs right panel or different aspect ratios). Different theme folders provide tinted/light/dark versions.
Why that makes sense
  • They look like wallpaper/landscape art rather than icons or UI chrome, which is typical for background/placeholder art.
  • The path you showed is the FileExplorer package’s Extensions/Assets folder, so these are almost certainly shipped as gallery/placeholders rather than being app icons or system wallpapers.
How you can prove/see where they’re used (safe diagnostics)
1) Search the FileExplorer package for references (PowerShell — no system changes):
  • Open PowerShell (Admin) and run:
    Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.FileExp_cw5n1h2txyewy" -Recurse -File |
    Select-String -Pattern "GalleryColdStateLeft","GalleryColdStateRight" -SimpleMatch |
    Select-Object Path, LineNumber, Line
  • That will show any XAML/JSON/JS/CSS/etc. file that references those filenames.
2) Monitor file access (to catch when Explorer actually reads them)
  • Use Process Monitor (ProcMon from Sysinternals). Filter for Process = Explorer.exe and Path contains GalleryColdState. Then open an Explorer window with image/gallery view and watch for the file being read. This proves runtime usage without modifying files.
3) Inspect resource/index files
  • Some references may be inside a .pri/resource index or binary XAML; Select-String will still catch most textual references. If references are only in compiled resources, ProcMon is the best proof.
If you want to actually see them in the UI
  • It’s not straightforward to “open a setting that shows these exact images” because they’re used by the gallery view as backgrounds or placeholders in particular layouts. The ProcMon approach above will show when Explorer loads them while you try different Gallery/Preview views (try a folder with many images, try opening the Preview pane, toggle Gallery view sizes, etc..
Warning about editing
  • Do not edit or replace files in C:\Windows\SystemApps... unless you know how to take ownership and are prepared for potential system instability. Changes here may be reverted by Windows updates and can break File Explorer. If you really want to test by replacement, make backups, create a system restore point, and be prepared to roll back.
Would you like me to:
  • Give you the exact one‑line PowerShell command to run copy/paste (I can tighten the example above), or
  • Walk you through a ProcMon filter setup to catch the file access live?
Which would you prefer?
 
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