display-properties desktop image-list

[greg.michael]

Hi. I've just come across this problem on two of my computers, which
I'd never seen before. When I go to the display properties and click
the desktop tab, it takes literally two minutes before the tab
displays. When it does appear, it contains an alphabetical list of
thousands of images from the My Pictures folder tree. It used only to
show the standard images - is there a way to get back to that?

regards,
Greg

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Daniel_Mart=EDn_=5BMVP_Windows=5D?=]

Move some images from your "My Pictures" folder (and subfolders) to any
other location. Then see if the problem is resolved.

Have you installed IE 7 on these computers?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

All of the pictures in My Pictures folder are available as backgrounds.

This can happen if the desktop.ini file is missing from My Pictures folder.
And maybe if the desktop.ini file is messed up, don't know that for sure.

desktop.ini is a Hidden System file.

To display Hidden files and folders...

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
and
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide extensions for known file types
and
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
Click Apply | Click OK

When you uncheck: Hide protected operating system files,
you will get this message...

Warning
----------
You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files labeled
System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer.These files are required to start and
run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your computer inoperable.Are
you sure you want to display these files?
----------

Click YES.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]
-----

Now look through My Pictures and see if there is a desktop.ini file. Can
you find the desktop.ini file?

Here's what it should have in it:

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=Name Here
Personalized=39
PersonalizedName=My Pictures
[.ShellClassInfo]
[email protected],-12688
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\System32\mydocs.dll
IconIndex=-101
-----

See also...
144. Clear Wallpaper Most Frequently Used List
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

wallpapermruclear.reg is the file that you want.

wallpapermruclear.reg deletes the registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpaper\MRU

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[greg.michael]

Thanks, Daniel. Yes, if I move them out, that fixes the problem. If I
then move them back, and select an image from the browse... window, the
problem returns - it tries to catalogue the whole tree again, it seems.
But I can live without 'My Pictures', I suppose.

No, I don't have IE7.

regards,
Greg

 

[greg.michael]

Thanks, Wesley. I'd found your wallpapermruclear.reg already, but that
didn't work - perhaps because these are not images I've used
previously, they're just what's in the folder. But you're right, the
desktop.ini was not there. I tried to recreate it as you show, but that
didn't seem to make any difference.

regards,
Greg

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Daniel_Mart=EDn_=5BMVP_Windows=5D?=]

The feedback I have received from users on that issue made me think about IE
7 as the possible culprit, now I see it's unrelated.

The Desktop tab should only show 100 pictures max. in XP, I'll investigate
the problem further. In the meantime move some content out of My Pictures as
a workaround.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Greg, see if this helps.

Question: One of my special folders (e.g. My Documents, My Music, My
Pictures, Shared Documents, etc) has lost its name, lost its icon, or has
the wrong Task Pane template, how can I get it back?

Answer: This problem can occur if the hidden desktop.ini file in the special
folder is corrupt or missing. Here are the steps to fix this problem:
Illustrated, detailed instructions here:
http://computers.douglasthrift.net/winxpfaq.html

Scroll down a little and click on Special Folders.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[greg.michael]

Hi Wesley,

I had tried deleting the 'My Pictures' folder altogether. If I
recreate it, it doesn't offer the customize tab as for folders with
other names, although it only has the normal plain yellow icon. I
recreated the desktop.ini according to that faq, logged out and in,
tried the display properties and... back to two minutes

I'm curious, though, that I didn't manage to recover the My Pics icon
properly. I suppose this could still be related to the cause, somehow?

regards,
Greg

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Greg,

You may have to move some of your pictures to another location like Daniel
pointed out.

There are two other ways to fix the icon problem on a special folder, which
My Pictures is. ShellIconFix or TweakUI, Repair My Pictures icon.

[[Sometimes, one or more of your special folders such as My Computer,
Control Panel, or the Recycle Bin may be assigned a generic icon. You may
have noticed that this usually happens after removing a third-party theme,
or an icon library. Also, resetting to Windows XP Theme may not help in some
cases.

ShellIconFix utility repairs the icons for various shell objects in Windows
XP. You may use this utility if one or more of the namespace icons are
displaying a wrong or a generic icon in the Start Menu or in Windows
Explorer environment.]]

ShellIconFix - Utility to repair the shell object icons in Windows XP
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/shelliconfix.htm

1. Open TweakUI.
2. Click on Repair, bottom item on the left.
3. On the right hand side, click on the V to expand the menu.
4. Click on Repair My Pictures icon.
5. Click the Repair Now button.

TweakUI has many other options.

Download TweakUI here...

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not
exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including
mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or above or Windows
Server 2003.

Scroll down the right hand side and look for...
Tweak UI
TweakUI.exe

TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe is what you get.

If you have Windows XP without any Service Packs, download Version 2.00.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe
-----

Some good info here...

Tweak UI for Windows XP Guide
http://www.winxpsolution.com/Tweakuixppro.aspx

TweakUI for Windows XP - Tips
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/twktips.htm

TweakUI PowerTips
http://weblogs.asp.net/jkey/archive/2003/08/01/22303.aspx

All of those tips at the link above are part of TweakUI.

TweakUI
[+] About
Tips

You can cycle through the tips with the Next Tip and Previous Tip buttons.
But, if you click the Save Tips button, you get Tweak UI Tips.txt which you
can save wherever, with all of the tips in a Notepad file.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[greg.michael]

Solution:

Hi Wesley, Daniel,

I didn't have time to try Wesley's solution right away, so I just put
the images in another folder and deleted 'My Pictures' altogether. At
some point, the 'My Pictures' got recreated (I don't know how, but some
program must have realised it was missing) with the normal icon and
desktop.ini. I transferred the pictures back and now everything's fine.
Occasionally computer problems fix themselves...

Thanks for your help,
Greg

 

[Guest]

Greg,
You say you fixed your problem with the "My Pictures" folder being listed in
the Display|Desktop wallpaper list? Well, I tried what you said you did,
(deleting the My Pictures folder and letting it regenerate on its own and I
still have the same issue as before; all of the couple thousand pictures I
have in My Pictures and subdirectories within it are being listed as
available desktop wallpaper choices. This issue had started with my XP Pro on
my laptop and it slows down performance when I access my wallpaper choices to
a crawl. I hate this! Now I have to keep the My picture folder empty, what's
the sense in having such a folder if you can't use it? If this is what
Microsoft calls an "enhancement" I would call it a "BUG"!!!!! Anyone else got
a solution? Registry hack or other fix besides moving every D#@M thing out of
my pictures folder?
Thanks, Christopher

 

[Guest]

Hi, Greg,

I tried your solution and it didn't work for me. The only way I can prevent
pictures from being displayed is by not using the My Pictures folder!
Obviously, this is not a solution but a bandaid for a problem that is more a
BUG than an "enhancement" by microsoft with SP2. So far, it seems this is
only happening with my corporate laptop and not my personal laptop or other
desktops that I have access to and all of them are XP PRO with all updates
and service packs applied to them.

Someone out there must know how to fix this issue! This is not, I repeat,
NOT, an enhancement but a true BUG!!!!!!!! I do not want thousands of
pictures being listed ad available wallpapers simply because they're in the
"MY PICTURES" folder.
Dan Martin said he would look into it and get back to you but I see he
hasn't, so Dan, if you're out there get back to Greg and me!

Thanks, Christopher.
Anyone else got the fix, the answer, the solution, please pipe in now!!!!

 

[Guest]

Hi, Greg,

I tried your solution and it didn't work for me. The only way I can prevent
pictures from being displayed is by not using the My Pictures folder!
Obviously, this is not a solution but a bandaid for a problem that is more a
BUG than an "enhancement" by microsoft with SP2. So far, it seems this is
only happening with my corporate laptop and not my personal laptop or other
desktops that I have access to and all of them are XP PRO with all updates
and service packs applied to them.

Someone out there must know how to fix this issue! This is not, I repeat,
NOT, an enhancement but a true BUG!!!!!!!! I do not want thousands of
pictures being listed ad available wallpapers simply because they're in the
"MY PICTURES" folder.
Dan Martin said he would look into it and get back to you but I see he
hasn't, so Dan, if you're out there get back to Greg and me!

Thanks, Christopher.
Anyone else got the fix, the answer, the solution, please pipe in now!!!!