Problems in Personalizing Desktop

Mmm, i chose "Picture Library" instead of "My Pictures" it's still the same. The only different is when i chose "My Pictures" is shows :"No item match your search" where as "Picture Library" shows nothing at all, its like bugged. It worked normally last time, and im not sure is it settings fault or bugged.

Actually whatever folder you picked from "browse" the system will at least show/list out all the picture in that folder in order to make a picture slide show. Feels like giving up on this problem and just use plain normal wallpaper instead of slide show ~.~ .

okay, thanks for the advise and hopefully it works !!

It's an old thread, but since I didn't find anything else related, I'm using this one.

As for the original issue, it's definitely bugged, a lot it seems.
I have the same problem, but it my case, it's only the default "Windows desktop backgrounds" list being empty.
I haven't done anything that could possibly cause this, AFAIK. Apart from adding some of my own directories to the selection of locations to choose from. What's more important, it's affecting ALL users, including admin..

And here comes another glitch - one of my custom folders completely disappeared from the selection. There is just something wrong.

I tried anything I could think of, including deleting custom added folders from registry. Well, that gets rid of my custom folders, but problem with default background list being empty persists.

I noticed one registry hive:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers\knownfolders\0\Windows Wallpapers\MergeFolders]
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Characters"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Landscapes"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Nature"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Scenes"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Windows"=hex(2):00,00
"%SystemRoot%\web\wallpaper\Architecture"=hex(2):00,00

Sure enough, deleting it will also get rid of "Windows desktop backgrounds" from the folder selection.
So, if it's properly in the registry, why is the list empty? I also tried renaming one of the reg. entries to point directly to the specified folder, just in case it has a problem with %systemroot% var, to no avail.

I wonder what else can be involved. :-?

regards to this matter, somehow, after sometime (not sure how long) it returned back to normal. As in every folder is back with all the pictures in it without any glitch, or bug, like brand new . Not sure how it is done tho..or what i did to make it happen, sorry cant help much here.

The only problem now is, how do i delete the duplicated folder name in the personalize > Desktop background > Pictures Location.

Hmm, maybe you're not aware of it, but you pointed me to the right direction. The fact, that it fixed itself in your case in time made me think. What changes in time? Icon cache? Well, let's delete it. Bingo! Problem fixed, list is now properly populated with all default backgrounds in it.
BUT. I deleted only my (standard) user's account cache, but it fixed the problem for 2 other users, including admin. My guess is, that if the cache is missing for one user, Win tries to generate new one for all users. Other than that, I have no explanation. So thanx!

As for deleting your custom folders from the list, AFAIK, there is only one way:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers\Images

Delete either the whole images key, or just some of it's contents. Unfortunately, key names make absolutely no sense regarding the folders location, so one doesn't know which folder gets removed from the list upon deleting particular key.

if i delete via registry entry, will it remove all my pictures as well (ex in C:\Library\Picture) something like that? or just those custom personalize?

If you delete some entries in the images key I posted above, it will only delete respective folders from the list of available backgrounds. It' will NOT delete any files.

And if you delete the whole images key, only the default background groups will be available to choose from. Again, no actual files will be deleted.

Simple button for removing particular folder from the list would be helpful though. Time for enhancement request? Well, it's not Linux, but maybe they will think about it.

haha, thanks for "discovering" a way to fix this simple yet..uncommon glitch? i guess..lol