Desktop Background - Change

How to Change the Windows 7 Desktop Background​

   Information

This will show you how to change your desktop background to either a wallpaper picture (image), solid color, or slideshow of you choice in Windows 7.

   Note

The default Windows 7 desktop background image is located in the folder below. If you had deleted it by mistake, you can click on the Download button below to download it in a ZIP file. See example screeenshot below.

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows\img0.jpg.


Download

   Tip

• For free desktop background wallpapers from Microsoft, see: Desktop backgrounds (wallpaper) - Microsoft Windows
• To select another regional wallpaper in steps 3 and 4 below:
  • Unhide the Windows 7 System and Protected Operating System files.
    NOTE: This will be steps 2 and 4 at that link.
  • Browse to C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT.
  • Open a MCT-(AU, CA, GB, US, or ZA) folder for the regional wallpaper that you want.
    NOTE: AU (Australia), CA (Canada), GB (United Kingdom), US (United States), and ZA (South Africa).
  • Open the folder with the name (ex: Australia) for the region area.
    NOTE: Once you have browsed to the selected regional wallpaper location, it will be listed in the Picture location drop down menu to select from next time.
  • Select the wallpaper in step 4 below.
    Hide the Windows 7 System and Protected Operating System files.
    NOTE: This will be steps 3 and 5 at that link.

   Warning

The Windows 7 Starter edition does not include the Personalization features such as the change desktop background option.

Lets talk about Windows 7 Starter - Windows 7 Team Blog - The Windows Blog

The Windows 7 Home Basic edition does not have the Personalization feature either, and will only allow you to change the desktop background by right clicking on a image and clicking on Set as desktop background.

You can use the tutorial at the link below to be able to change the desktop background like in Personalization in the Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions.

How to Change the Desktop Background in Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic Editions

EXAMPLE: Default Windows 7 Desktop Background

OPTION ONE

To Change Desktop Background Wallpaper from Context Menu of Image

1. Right click on the image you want as your wallpaper, and click on Set as desktop background. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

To Change Desktop Background Wallpaper in "Personalization" Settings

1. Right click on a empty space on the desktop and click on Personalize. (see screenshot below)

2. Click on the Desktop Background link at the bottom of the window. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The name in gray under Desktop Background is the current desktop background file name.
3. Select a Picture Location A) Click on the drop down arrow menu to select from the list of available picture folder locations, or click on the Browse button to navigate to the picture folder location. (see screenshot below step 7)
NOTE: To use another regional wallpaper, see the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial. To remove a folder from the Picture location, see How to Remove the Windows 7 Desktop Background Picture Location History.
B) Select the picture folder and click on Select Folder.
4. Select a Desktop Background A) Right click on an available picture, or click (check) on the box in the upper left corner of the picture, to select it. (see screenshot below step 7)
NOTE: You can continue to right click on the images to see it previewed on your desktop until you decide which one you like best.
5. Select the Picture Position A) Click on the drop down arrow menu, and click on the picture position you want for the desktop background. (see bottom of screenshot below step 7)
6. For a Desktop SlideShow A) For how, see: How to Create a Desktop Slideshow in Windows 7
7. Click on Save changes to apply the changes. (see screenshots below)



8. Close the Personalize window when done. (see screenshot below step 2)

OPTION THREE

To Change Desktop Background Wallpaper Manually in Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu, type regedit in the search box and press Enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop


4. In the right pane of the Desktop key in regedit, right click on the Wallpaper string value and click on Modify. (see screenshot above)

5. Type in the full path of the image file (ex: .jpg or .bmp), and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Be sure that the name of the image file does not contain any spaces in it. If it does, rename the image file first so that it doesn't. If you use a image file name with a space in it's name, then you would just get a solid black desktop background instead.
6. Close regedit.

7. log off and log on to apply.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Remove the Windows 7 Desktop Background Picture Location History
• How to Change the Desktop Background in Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic Editions
• How to Make your own Windows 7 Theme Pack
• How to Change or Save a Windows 7 Theme
• How to Change the Window Color and Appearance in Windows 7
• How to Create a Desktop Slideshow in Windows 7
• How to Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Personalization Shortcut
• How to Allow or Prevent Changing Desktop Background in Windows 7
• How to Specify a Desktop Background for All Users
• How to Remove Background Images to have Only Solid Colors in Windows 7
• How to Play a Music Video as the Desktop Background
• How to Create a Change "Desktop Background" Shortcut in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Add or Remove "Next desktop background" from the Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu
• How to Add or Remove "Personalize" from Desktop Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Set or Unset Bing Homepage Image in Bing Desktop as Desktop Background in Windows 7
• How to Add or Remove "Set as desktop background" from Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Cirux]

Shawn, creating a new administrator account didn't work :/ It just did the same thing

 

[Brink]

Cirux,

Could you upload (paperclip icon on toolbar while editing post) the image in a ZIP file? I'll test it on my system to see how it works on it to see if it's just the image or something else.

 

[Cirux]

I'm not entirely sure this is the problem though cause I've tried a couple different images but it never seems to work. Thanks for trying so hard to help me though I appreciate it. Oh and this one has a border to fit my screen, the only one I have without it is a little different.

 

[Brink]

Yeah, it's the image's size. I resized it to where it looks good to me. See how this looks for you.

 

[Cirux]

Well it looks fine, but I attached a screen shot with a different image it's supposed to show up tiled but its not.. I included the actual image so you can see if maybe it is just the images im using. I dont actually want the image tiled, I'd kind of like it centered though, its just to show I dont think my picture position function is working.

 

[Brink]

It works for me set as tiled, but your screenshot looks like it was set as "Stretched" instead.

 

[Cirux]

Ok so I figured it out! I wasn't just going crazy, apparently because it's hp I had to download a driver specifically for the picture position option. Weird :/ Anyway, thanks for all your help Shawn.

 

[Brink]

Ah, I would not have guessed that one either. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted. Thank you for posting back with this.

 

[Starry173]

I like the new slideshow capability in Win7, but I did notice a strange behavior:

- If I have a slideshow set up as the theme, I cannot make the desktop icons disappear using right-click->view->show desktop icons to turn that flag off. It
does deactivate the desktop icons and it is like they aren't there, and yet they are.

If I switch it back to a single background to turn off the slideshow, then the capability returns to make the desktop icons disappear and reappear as they are supposed to.

If I use a 3rd party wallpaper changer like Steve Murphy's AWC, then I get a wallpaper changer plus the "show desktop icons" flag works correctly as well.

 

[Starry173]

Desktop Icon Issue

The problem with Desktop Icons refusing to vanish is somehow related to the combination of Windows 7 and Windowblinds 7. Stardock is looking into it.

 

[whs]

What bothers me is that I have to reset the picture position every time I change the desktop background (which I do a few times per day). I always use "stretch", but next time I have to do it all over again.

 

[Brink]

Hello Wolfgang,

You might give the desktop slideshow feature a try to see if it may work better for you for this. You can place some background images into a folder to have your background shuffle through them once a day, 12 hours, or however often you like. Maybe having it done automatically like this will prevent you from having to change the position.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[whs]

Thanks Shawn, I was considering that, but I change my desktops by whim selecting from my appr. 10.000 pictures - whatever turns up on my sidebar slideshow that I like. So it is not really predifined. I think this is an example where "progress" is actually a step backwards. It's not a big deal, but I thought I'll have a look whether there is an "elegant" solution.

 

[Brink]

The strange part is that I can go in and have "Stretch" set as the position, then select another image there or at another location and it still remain on "Stretch". I'm not sure why yours is not.

 

[whs]

On some pictures, that is true for me too. I think it depends on the size (pixels) of the picture. The pictures with many pixels just fill the screen naturally - my theory, but I might be wrong.

 

[Brink]

All my images are the same type and about the same size, so you are probably right about that.

 

[k0tkoj]

is it possible to select images from multiple files as there are a couple windows defaults id like to use or do i have to locate them and put them in the same folder as the other ones

 

[Brink]

Hello K0tkoj, and welcome to Seven Forums.

This is where the Picture Library can come in handy. You can include each folder that these images are in into the Picture Library. This way all you have to do is select the Picture Library in this tutorial to be able to select from all these images for the desktop background, and still have them only stored in their original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Plough]

I didnt see this covered anywhere, but my background keeps reverting to the Stretch position and in many cases wont even go back to the center position when I tell it to. Is there any reason behind that?

 

[Brink]

Hello Plough, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What is your screen resolution set to? Is it set to the native resolution for your monitor? If not, then this could cause some distortion as well.

What are the dimensions of the wallpapers that this is happening with? I have seen this happen in Vista before when the wallpaper's length and width are to big compared to the screen resolution in either one direction. Try making the images as close to the screen resolution size as you can to see if that may help.

Does it do this with the default sample backgrounds as well? If so, then you might see if running a sfc /scannow command may be able to help.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn