Background messed up

[John Favaro]

I have XP Pro on a laptop. I plugged in an external monitor and did some
work with it, also changing the resolution of my laptop screen while
doing it.

I unplugged the monitor. I admit that I do NOT remember whether I
returned to sending back only to the laptop screen.

In any case, all of a sudden my desktop background got completely messed
up. I'm talking about the thing you set when you right-click on the
desktop, then the Desktop tab.

I can set the background in the little window there, but nothing happens
on the screen. It's a dark background, period.

Somebody know how to "un-break" this?

Thanks,

John

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

An ideal case for System Restore, John!

 

[Tim Meddick]

Hi John,
Open "Command Prompt" (on the Start Menu > Accessories) and copy
and paste this at the C:\> prompt then press [ENTER]

reg QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper

....and report back here with the reply.

 

[John Favaro]

Hi John,
Open "Command Prompt" (on the Start Menu > Accessories) and copy
and paste this at the C:\> prompt then press [ENTER]

reg QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper

...and report back here with the reply.

Tim, I get this:


<my path down to:> ... \Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp

By the way, now things have changed again (!).

When I booted up this morning, I got a completely correct setup of
wallpaper with the last one I tried. That's already different from
before, where there was nothing.

BUT, it still doesn't really allow me to change it. Or: it does, but
nothing happens.

Odd. In any case, many thanks for helping out here!

John

 

[John Favaro]

Tim et al.,

After seeing, as I wrote below, that the system started up with the last
wallpaper I tried, I got a hunch, and decided to try a different
wallpaper (my original one), and change to that. Nothing happened, as
expected, BUT I shut down the laptop completely, and then rebooted it,
and lo and behold the original wallpaper was back, correct.

Now this *still* doesn't seem quite correct in the sense that I remember
you could change the wallpaper dynamically, but at this point I'm happy
just to have a working wallpaper!

Naturally, if you have any ideas about what might have been (or is
still) going on, I'd appreciate them.

And in any case, I do very much appreciate your willingness to help out.

John

Hi John,
Open "Command Prompt" (on the Start Menu > Accessories)
and copy and paste this at the C:\> prompt then press [ENTER]

reg QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper

...and report back here with the reply.

Tim, I get this:


<my path down to:> ... \Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp

By the way, now things have changed again (!).

When I booted up this morning, I got a completely correct setup of
wallpaper with the last one I tried. That's already different from
before, where there was nothing.

BUT, it still doesn't really allow me to change it. Or: it does, but
nothing happens.

Odd. In any case, many thanks for helping out here!

John

 

[John Favaro]

Now, when hooking up the secondary monitor and using it as the extended
desktop, the wallpaper of the laptop migrates over to the second
monitor, positioned badly, and the laptop monitor has no wallpaper at all.

Tim et al.,

After seeing, as I wrote below, that the system started up with the last
wallpaper I tried, I got a hunch, and decided to try a different
wallpaper (my original one), and change to that. Nothing happened, as
expected, BUT I shut down the laptop completely, and then rebooted it,
and lo and behold the original wallpaper was back, correct.

Now this *still* doesn't seem quite correct in the sense that I remember
you could change the wallpaper dynamically, but at this point I'm happy
just to have a working wallpaper!

Naturally, if you have any ideas about what might have been (or is
still) going on, I'd appreciate them.

And in any case, I do very much appreciate your willingness to help out.

John

Hi John,
Open "Command Prompt" (on the Start Menu > Accessories)
and copy and paste this at the C:\> prompt then press [ENTER]

reg QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper

...and report back here with the reply.

Tim, I get this:


<my path down to:> ... \Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp

By the way, now things have changed again (!).

When I booted up this morning, I got a completely correct setup of
wallpaper with the last one I tried. That's already different from
before, where there was nothing.

BUT, it still doesn't really allow me to change it. Or: it does, but
nothing happens.

Odd. In any case, many thanks for helping out here!

John