Solved How to View Panasonic RAW (.RW2) Image Thumbnails?

I have Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 8 Photo Viewer and various applications (e.g. Lightroom) to process Panasonic Lumix RAW files in .RW2 format.

I can't find a way of displaying the image thumbnails in Windows Explorer. I've tried to install various versons of Microsoft camera codecs but they don't install in Windows 8 64 bit.

Is there a solution to this?

The Microsoft Camera Codec packs come through Windows Update in Windows 8/8.1. I've just looked and it appears the last one was December 2013, so I guess it depends on how old your Camera is.

If you scroll down to the 'References' section at the following link, you can see what Panasonic camera's were added in that update and also all the camera's supported up to that point.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (KB2899189):
Update adds support for many camera-specific file formats in Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1: December 2013

It's about time we had an ISO approved camera raw format standard, as it's looong overdue.

My Lumix GX7 camera isn't listed. Strangely, my main Windows 8 x64 PC will not display the thumbnails but my Windows 8.1 x64 laptop does display the .RW2 RAW thumbnails. Are there different codec packs for the different Windows versions with Windows 8.1 being more up to date?

Not sure, but there was another update released on 12 August 2014 for Windows 8.1. I missed it because in their wisdom they decided to give it a non-descript name (in the Windows Updates list it's just called 'Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2979500)' for some reason. Oddly it still doesn't list the GX7 though.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article for 8.1 (KB2979500):
August 2014 update to support many camera-specific file formats in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article for 8 (KB2979501). For Windows 8 it seems like they released this one a month later in September?
September 2014 update to support many camera-specific file formats in Windows 8 and Windows RT

What a mess. Other than seeing if you have them installed as part of Windows update on both machines, I can't really help anymore than that. Good luck...

The last camera codec installed through Windows Update on my Windows 8 PC was KB2899190 in Dec 13. This doesn't support my Lumix GX7 and there appears to be no later camera codec updates for Windows 8. I can see the GX7 thumbnails on my Windows 8.1 laptop so maybe MS is providing support to new cameras only for Windows 8.1?

I finally upgraded my main PC to Windows 8.1 and can now view the Lumix Raw thumbnails. It seems new camera RAW formats are better supported in Windows 8.1.

Glad you sorted it. For info, they've added the GX7 in todays Patch Tuesday updates:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article for 8.1 (KB3003667):
November 2014 update to support many camera-specific file formats in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1

I still can't believe camera manufactures think that the need for manual updates to software every single time they release a new camera is acceptable. They no longer have the excuse of RAW files being a new concept and need a swift kick up the rear to introduce a standardised camera raw format if you ask me.