Canon RAW (CR2) codec for Windows 7 x64

I have a Canon DSLR, and I shoot in RAW. I have no problem viewing and editing the pictures using Picasa or Lightroom, but I would like to have the pictures thumbnails in Windows Explorer, and to be able to quickly view them in the explorer.

Do you guys know where I could get the codec (for free) ? I found a few codec packs that include it, but I feel like I should not have to pay for this.

If you're willing to spend $10, then you might want to try the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack. It works like an absolute charm on my Windows 7 32-bit install, and is rated to run just fine on x64 too.

This page probably doesn't help, as it offers 32-bit codecs only.

Otherwise, you can try to get around the problem by using an alternative, fast image viewer.

Since July last year (according to this answer on the sister site for photography), there are now CODECs available for x64 from Microsoft free of charge - these also work for Windows 8.