Best Duplicate Photo Remover for Windows Computer

As our digital photo collections continue to grow, it's no surprise that duplicate photos can easily take up valuable storage space on our Windows PCs. Removing these duplicates not only helps free up space but also keeps your photo library well-organized. So, in this post, we’ll explore how duplicate photos appear and how can we deal with these photos.

How do duplicate photos appear in Windows?

Duplicate photos can appear on Windows for various reasons, and understanding how they occur is essential to effectively manage and prevent them. Here are some common ways duplicate photos can accumulate on your Windows system.

Cause 1. Manual copying or saving mistakes
One of the most straightforward ways duplicates can be created is when you manually copy or save the same photo in different locations or with different names. This can happen accidentally, especially when you're organizing or backing up your photo collection.

Cause 2. Importing photos from different devices
When you import photos from different devices like cameras, smartphones, or external hard drives, Windows might create duplicates. This can occur if the import settings are not configured to prevent duplicates.

Cause 3. Syncing or backup software
If you use synchronization or backup software that is not correctly configured, it can result in duplicate photos. These tools may create multiple copies of the same photos during the backup or sync process.

Cause 4. Restoring from backup
Restoring photos from a backup can lead to duplicates, especially if you're not careful when selecting which files to restore. Overlapping backups or multiple versions of the same file can cause this issue.

Cause 5. Photo editing software
When you edit photos using software like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, or Lightroom, you might save multiple versions of the same image. This can lead to duplicates with slight variations.

Cause 6. Incomplete file transfers
If you interrupt a file transfer process or encounter errors during the transfer, it can result in partial copies or duplicates of photos.

How to employ the best duplicate photo remover for Windows

The reason that we don’t suggest you manually search and delete duplicate files is that it’s not 100% safe. And duplicate files and photos can be separately stored in different folders, it’s difficult to view folders each by each.

So, when it comes to finding duplicate pictures on Windows, a third-party tool is your best choice. In all of these tools, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional stands out as the ideal choice. It guarantees a secure experience by avoiding any hidden malware, adware, or annoying pop-ups.

This tool conducts a thorough search for duplicate photos on your system, offering customizable search criteria. It empowers you to decide the fate of identified duplicates and allows you to preview them before removal.

You can visit the official AOMEI website to download and follow the installation wizard to set up the software on your Windows PC.

Step 1. Select "Duplicate Files Finder".

Click the "Free up" on the main tab and select "Duplicate Files Finder".

Step 2. Choose the scan range and scan the selected location.

Here, all partitions on your computer will be displayed. You can personalize it and click "Scan".

Step 3. Review duplicate photos and files.

After the scan is finished, all duplicate photos that meet the conditions you set will be displayed. You can click the "Preview" button to see the duplicate files.

Step 4. Confirm deletion and finish the process.

You can select the duplicate files you want to delete. Or, click "Smart select" to automatically select duplicate files. Then, click "Move to folder".

After you clean the duplicate photos, you can also use this versatile disk management and partitioning tool designed to optimize your computer's storage resources via other useful options:

Other 2 ways to manually delete duplicate photos

Using a third-party tool is definitely the most efficient way to remove duplicate photos but of course not the only choice. Now, in this section, we’ll show you how to use CMD and Windows File Explorer to manually search and delete duplicate photos. The operation might be a little complex, so please follow the steps closely.

1. Delete duplicate photos for Windows via CMD

Step 1. Open CMD as an administrator. To do this, click on Start, then type "cmd" into the search bar, and choose “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. Type this command into CMD: "dir /s /b *.extension". Replace ".extension" with the type of files you want to find duplicates of. For example, if you're looking for duplicate JPG files, type "dir /s /b *.jpg".

Step 3. Press Enter. CMD will begin scanning for duplicate files, and it will display the results with duplicated files in a list.

To remove duplicate files in a specific folder, follow these steps:

Step 1. Open the folder using File Explorer.

Step 2. Right-click on the folder you want and select "Copy as path".

Step 3. Open Command Prompt. Type "del /s /f *.duplicate" and hit Enter. This command will remove all duplicate files in the current folder and its subfolders.

For a more advanced file deletion, you can use wildcard characters with this command. Just type "rmdir /s /q DirName", and it will delete all folders in "DirName" and its subfolders.

2. Use File Explorer to delete duplicate photos

Step 1. Go to the lower-left corner next to the Windows icon. Type "Indexing Options" into the search bar and then click on "Indexing Options".

Step 2. Click on "Modify" and select "Show all locations". A pop-up will appear, asking for your login details. Make sure you're using an administrator account when making changes here.

Step 3. Check if all the boxes are ticked under the "Changed selected locations" section. If they are, click "OK", then hit the "Close" button. If not, make sure to check all the boxes.

Step 4. Press the Windows key and E key on your keyboard at the same time to open File Explorer. It's easier to locate your files under your user account. To access your user account, go to Windows (C:), and then select the Users folder.

Step 5. Click on "Search" in the upper-right corner, and enter the following extensions based on their format. The common picture file extensions include .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .tiff, .psd, .raw, .svg, .ico, and .webp.

Step 6. Organize the search results by Name.

Step 7. Examine the files to find duplicates saved in different locations. Check the "Date modified" column to identify the latest version of each file.

Step 8. After reviewing the files, select the one you want to delete, and then press the DELETE key on your keyboard.

Conclusion

Organizing your photo library and reclaiming valuable storage space on your Windows PC is essential. While using Windows File Explorer and Command Prompt can be effective for some users, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional offers a more efficient and user-friendly solution. This duplicate photo remover for Windows along with a range of other disk management tools, makes it a comprehensive solution for Windows users.

In addition, this tool has the Server edition and other advanced editions for various requirements of computer management.