Ghost in the Machine Greyed out features in Display

[offworld]

On right-clicking my desktop and going into Display Properties, on the
Desktop tab, the word Background is greyed out, along with Browse and
Position (Color is still OK). None of the graphics in the Background window
can be selected and the only way I can get a photo on my desktop is to go
into Customise Desktop, in the Web tab and click New and then find the photo
and check the box. (I then have to re-osition it and it ends up with a
pop-down bar at the top.) What has happened to the usual method of
selecting a desktop photo? Why the greyed out features?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

And your current Theme is...?

 

[offworld]

Windows XP but the problem persists with any theme.

 

[Malke]

Windows XP but the problem persists with any theme.

Very often background difficulties are connected with malware, so the first
order of business is to make sure the computer is clean:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If the machine is virus/malware-free, you can see if any of these fixes
work:

If you can't enable desktop backgrounds after a virus, MVP Kelly Theriot has
a fix. Look under Wallpaper-Desktop-Disable Changing here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_w.htm

If Display tabs are missing, run Kelly's registry edit on line 285,
right-hand side "Restore all display tabs".

Check to see if these Registry entries exist:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GroupPolicyobject\{21A7BE9D-5027-49C1-B6F7-757B707E1C94}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are there,
then delete them.

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System. If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime"
and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are there, then delete them and then
run the reg fix from Kelly's page.

A default wallpaper called wp.bmp may be set in
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System created by the smitfraud.c
virus. Remove that and you will be able to choose different wallpapers.

For inability to change wallpaper after malware, here is another key:
Hkey_Current_User/software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer,

Bogus values will be set to 0. Delete or set to 1.

And as always, it is important to answer The First Question of
Troubleshooting: What changed between the time things worked and the time
they didn't?


Malke

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What Malke said.

Windows XP but the problem persists with any theme.