New
#1
Trouble saving customized desktop backgrounds theme
I like to change my desktop background pictures with the changing seasons. I'm trying to save four themes (Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer), with the only difference among the themes being the desktop backgrounds (a set of 6 or so pictures that will cycle every 20 minutes). I've chosen the pictures and set other options on the Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Desktop Background page.
The changes I make there are applied when I click Save Changes and go back to the Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization page. However, since I want to be able to access these themes every year, I click Save Theme, and then I'm not quite sure what happens. Sometimes a theme with the name I picked to save with appears in the list, sometimes not. Even if it does, if I right-click it and select Delete theme, the information given about the theme always shows a date modified in 2010, even though I've just now saved it.
This feature has always been a little mysterious to me, but lately it seems to be less functional than ever. I've located the place where Windows seems to store the themes (C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes), but even there I don't necessarily see what I expect to see. For instance, I just selected a group of pictures and saved it as a theme. This theme's name does not appear in the list in Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization, but it does appear in C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. The .theme file's properties there so a created and accessed date of today, but again a date modified in 2010. What the what??
I'm not interested in patches or installing theme customizers. I just want to do this simple thing with desktop backgrounds. Is it possible that some bit of data has gotten "stuck" somewhere and is causing Windows to misinterpret existing customized themes? Where could I look? I'm willing to peek into the Registry if necessary.
Thanks for any advice!