Desktop Background

[IrishLefty]

I know that I'm doing something stupid, but so help me I cannot change the desktop background picture nor get it to cycle through to other pictures. I right-click on the desktop, select Personalize, select different pictures, select Desktop Background, select different pictures by putting a check mark in the upper left of the pictures, select Change Picture for different times, and then select Save Changes. Well, nothing happens, the same picture stays there forever. What am I doing wrong?

 

[biggles1000]

from the sounds of it, you're doing everything right :/
have you set the timing onto a really short one to test if it changes?
also, double check that the photos are still ticked as wallpaper selection in windows 7 is seriously dodgy.

 

[Imperfect1]

How to Create a Desktop Slideshow in Windows 7 - This tutorial specifically refers to 'wallpaper' -- but will probably have suggestions that will work for you photos as well.

 

[severedsolo]

Did you remember to save the Theme?

Windows has this annoying habit of it not working properly if you forget that. "Unsaved Theme" doesn't always work. Try saving it as something

Another thing to remember: The "30 minute" rule (Windows default) is actually a lie. Windows doesn't care how long it's been there, it will change it on the hour, and at half past, regardless of how long it's been there. If the PC is not on at one of those times the background won't change.

 

[IrishLefty]

Thank you guys for responding to this.

Biggles - Yes, I even set it to its shortest time (10 seconds) and nothing happened. I even tried Right-Clicking on my desktop and selecting Next Desktop Background – nothing happens. And yes, the pictures are checked (selected.)

Imperfect - All the pictures are where they belong in C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper and I have Win 7 Pro 64 Bit on my machine.

Severedsolo - Yes, I’ve saved the Theme over and over again, and in fact created some other Themes and saved them also, but none of those backgrounds could be used either.

I have a feeling that I somehow came up with a corrupted file in Windows that causes this, but I want to be absolutely sure before I start messing with Windows.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Try this:

Put a bunch of pictures in a new folder, for instance C:\wallpaper.

Then go to personalize/desktop background and set it up to look in C:\wallpaper, with the schedule of your choice.

Don't worry about "themes".

That's what I do and I have no issues on Win 7 64 bit Home Premium.

 

[IrishLefty]

Thanks for the hint Ignatz. Unfortunately nothing happened when I did that. It's still the same old picture. Now, I can go in and make the background blank, i.e. no color at all, via the Ease of Access Center, but that's not what I want.

 

[Imperfect1]

As a work-around, perhaps the way to approach this is as if you want to periodically change your "Screen Saver" --- There are a number of different ways to do this:

First, go into Personalize, Screen Saver, and select "photos" as your Screen Saver. Then follow the on-screen directions to select the specific photos you want to include. Once that's done, then choose your specific "settings" which will control speed, frequency, etc.

If that doesn't work, take a look at these tutorials:
Note: To have an actual “Slideshow” you have to have Aero enabled - Aero theme
Desktop Slideshow
Desktop Slideshow - Shuffle Images in Multiple Folders

And, if the tutorials don't help, how about some 3rd party apps for screen saver and background changers?

Desktop Wallpaper Gadget Download - Softpedia

Automatic Wallpaper Changer (download: www.awc.smurphy.co.uk) and Any Wallpaper (download: www.anyutils.com/anywall.php) continuously change the desktop picture after a certain amount of time. Look at the page about automatically changing the desktop picture for more information about these tools.

John's Background Switcher: My Software « John's Adventures

MSN Wallpaper Manager - MSN Wallpaper Manager from the Windows Live team lets you change your desktop wallpaper at regular interval or based on time (like at lunch, working hours, weekends, etc). MSN Wallpaper Manager automatically downloads wallpaper library in Background to provide refreshing wallpapers every day. You can also personalize by adding text, speech bubbles, graphics, + element 7 foreground images.
Download MSN Wallpaper Manager (link thanks to swarfega!)

 

[IrishLefty]

Imperfect –

Thanks for the response. I downloaded the Softpedia file and proceeded as instructed. It kind of works, and does work as an interim fix. When I power up the computer, the original (unwanted) picture briefly appears and then it changes to one that Desktop Changer selected. I guess that I can live with that, but I definitely still want to fix the basic problem. Anyway, thank you for this.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Have you run sfc /scannow from a command prompt?

Have you done a system restore to a date prior to when this problem started?

Have you considered a repair install?

 

[IrishLefty]

Ignatz -

Yes - No - and No, not yet anyway.

Okay, here's another symptom. I loaded in the Softpedia program and rebooted as I said earlier. I put in about 100 different pictures into the "backgrounds" folder from which Desktop Changer correctly selected a picture on the initial boot-up, so far so good. Upon subsequent boot-ups, the picture did not change as it's suppose to, just like the Windows desktop backgrounds were doing. The same problem exists.

Now, regarding your three suggestions, 1) sfc /scannow - I punched it up, but no errors were indicated. 2) Since this problem has been going on for some time, I really don't want to restore back that far if possible.
3) Yes, I've considered it, but first I have to find the stupid disk - which I will do later today.

 

[IrishLefty]

Okay, I uninstalled the Softpedia program and deleted the folder with the 100 pictures I set up for it. Now, unfortunately, I'm stuck with the picture that the Desktop Changer progran initially selected as the Windows selection. Basically it's the exact same problem that existed before. I still think at this point that I'm missing something in the setup/selection part of the "Personalization" process.