Blank Desktop

[X.fight.off.your.demons.X]

I've seen similar problems listed in some other forums and the like,
but none of the solutions proposed (e.g. running a virus scan) seem to
work for me. Here's my situation:

I'm running XP Media Center Edition on a three-week-old laptop.
Yesterday, I changed my wallpaper, and, after restarting the computer,
it seemed as if the wallpaper had been reset to "Blank." After pulling
up display properties, I tried to change the wallpaper: nothing
happened. The only way I could get ANY wallpaper (other than the
boring "Blank" one) onto my computer was by changing the wallpaper to
"Blank" and then reverting back to the wallpaper that I had originally.
Unfortunately, when I turned on the computer today, the wallpaper was
back to "Blank." I've tried System Restore, and the problem's still
there; I would try to tinker with RegEdit, but I'm afraid that I'm not
knowledgeable enough to deal with that (unless someone were to instruct
me on specifically what changes to make).

Granted, it's not a crucial issue, but I'd never expect the frigging
wallpaper to screw up on a computer that isn't a month old! :-/

 

[jodie]

Possible the user profile has got corrupted, try adding another user
and try changing the wallpaper. Just changing some image on desktop
should work normally.

 

[Unk]

I've seen similar problems listed in some other forums and the like,
but none of the solutions proposed (e.g. running a virus scan) seem to
work for me. Here's my situation:

I'm running XP Media Center Edition on a three-week-old laptop.
Yesterday, I changed my wallpaper, and, after restarting the computer,
it seemed as if the wallpaper had been reset to "Blank." After pulling
up display properties, I tried to change the wallpaper: nothing
happened. The only way I could get ANY wallpaper (other than the
boring "Blank" one) onto my computer was by changing the wallpaper to
"Blank" and then reverting back to the wallpaper that I had originally.
Unfortunately, when I turned on the computer today, the wallpaper was
back to "Blank." I've tried System Restore, and the problem's still
there; I would try to tinker with RegEdit, but I'm afraid that I'm not
knowledgeable enough to deal with that (unless someone were to instruct
me on specifically what changes to make).

Granted, it's not a crucial issue, but I'd never expect the frigging
wallpaper to screw up on a computer that isn't a month old! :-/

Start -> Run -> regedit
Work your way to, and check and/or change these settings:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\

Wallpaper C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper\Windows XP.bmp
WallpaperStyle should be set to "2"

 

[Dorian Gray]

I created a new user profile - the wallpaper works on that one! Is
there a way for me to transfer files and settings to the other one
without having to suffer the pain in the butt of backing it up?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Dorian Gray]

I tried to change WallpaperStyle to "2" (it was originally at "0"), but
it keeps resetting to "0." What should I do?

Thanks a bunch for helping me out!

 

[Rock]

I created a new user profile - the wallpaper works on that one! Is
there a way for me to transfer files and settings to the other one
without having to suffer the pain in the butt of backing it up?

Thanks for your help!

How to Copy a User Profile
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_logon.htm

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=279783