How to override wallpapers on specified dates?

[Thorvan]

I want my desktop wallpaper to change automatically on specific dates (say, my wife’s birthday or New Year’s eve). How do I do that? I have searched Google extensively and tried dozens of wallpaper managers and desktop calendars, but oddly enough I have found nothing that offers the simple functionality I want.

To clarify, let me state what I am NOT looking for:
• I am NOT looking for a sequencer that merely rotates wallpapers at pre-set time intervals.
• I am NOT looking for a sequencer that merely changes wallpapers at certain times of the day (morning/afternoon/evening). There’s a Microsoft program that does just that (it’s just called “Wallpapers”) but this is NOT what I need.
• I am NOT looking for a desktop tool that merely adds a calendar to my desktop.
Instead, I want my desktop background to function as sort of a reminder or alarm: when a specified time and date comes (say, Christmas) display the appropriate wallpaper (say, Santa) for a specified time interval.

There is a Microsoft program for Windows XP, called PowerToy Wallpaper Changer, that offers something like the option I want: it’s a checkbox called “override wallpaper on special days” (you can't chose the time of day, though). Unfortunately, this program does not work on Windows 7 (The PowerToy stores the wallpaper file, toyhide.bmp, in the Windows\System32 folder, rather than saving the file on a per-user basis. For same reason, Windows 7 does not allow the PowerToy to create or delete the Toyhide.bmp file, so it gives the error messages CreateFile, WriteFile and CloseHandle. I have attempted various solutions, like having the Wallpaper Changers run automatically on start up with administrator rights, but nothing has worked so far).


So my questions are:
1) Is there a there a way of making the Microsoft PowerToy Wallpaper Changer work correctly on Windows 7?
2) Failing, that, is there a third-party application that offers the PowerToy’s functionality of “overriding wallpaper at special days”?


Thank you,

Thor

 

[infomouse]

sorry for digging this thread up, but i was wondering if anyone ever found a way to make this happen?

if not, can anyone recommend a background switcher that is actually random (the default windows 7 one seems to repeat quite a bit before going through them all)

 

[DocBrown]

sorry for digging this thread up, but i was wondering if anyone ever found a way to make this happen?

if not, can anyone recommend a background switcher that is actually random (the default windows 7 one seems to repeat quite a bit before going through them all)[/QUOTE]


Do you have Shuffle turned OFF ?

 

[infomouse]

k yeah now i understand the problem... lol
shuffle is off now

any ideas on how to implement the wallpaper override?

 

[JethroB]

I want my desktop wallpaper to change automatically on specific dates (say, my wife’s birthday or New Year’s eve). How do I do that? I have searched Google extensively and tried dozens of wallpaper managers and desktop calendars, but oddly enough I have found nothing that offers the simple functionality I want.

To clarify, let me state what I am NOT looking for:
• I am NOT looking for a sequencer that merely rotates wallpapers at pre-set time intervals.
• I am NOT looking for a sequencer that merely changes wallpapers at certain times of the day (morning/afternoon/evening). There’s a Microsoft program that does just that (it’s just called “Wallpapers”) but this is NOT what I need.
• I am NOT looking for a desktop tool that merely adds a calendar to my desktop.
Instead, I want my desktop background to function as sort of a reminder or alarm: when a specified time and date comes (say, Christmas) display the appropriate wallpaper (say, Santa) for a specified time interval.

There is a Microsoft program for Windows XP, called PowerToy Wallpaper Changer, that offers something like the option I want: it’s a checkbox called “override wallpaper on special days” (you can't chose the time of day, though). Unfortunately, this program does not work on Windows 7 (The PowerToy stores the wallpaper file, toyhide.bmp, in the Windows\System32 folder, rather than saving the file on a per-user basis. For same reason, Windows 7 does not allow the PowerToy to create or delete the Toyhide.bmp file, so it gives the error messages CreateFile, WriteFile and CloseHandle. I have attempted various solutions, like having the Wallpaper Changers run automatically on start up with administrator rights, but nothing has worked so far).


So my questions are:
1) Is there a there a way of making the Microsoft PowerToy Wallpaper Changer work correctly on Windows 7?
2) Failing, that, is there a third-party application that offers the PowerToy’s functionality of “overriding wallpaper at special days”?


Thank you,

Thor

Thor (and to anyone else who may be interested),

The "Microsoft Powertoy Wallpaper Changer" program will still work in a Windows 7 64bit system. The toyhide.bmp is just in a different location to where it is can be found in Windows XP. To make it work in Windows 7, locate the "toyhide.bmp" file in the "C:\Users\[Your Username]\Local Settings\VirtualStore\Windows\SysWOW64" and/or "C:\Users\[Your Username]\Local Settings\Application Data\VirtualStore\Windows\SysWOW64" folder and then right click on the "toyhide.bmp" file. Next, click on the "Security" tab and then check to see if your username is in the "Group or username" list. If it isn't there then add it and give yourself "Full Control" and if your username is listed then check what it is set to. If it is not set to "Full Control" then set it to "Full Control". If you are using a Windows 7 32bit system then you may have to do a search for the "toyhide.bmp" file but it should be still found in a folder that is close to where I have stated.

I hope that this information will help anyone else who may wish to use the "Microsoft Powertoy Wallpaper Changer" program in Windows 7.

Cheers,

Jethro