Removing Backgrounds from Selectbox

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thorben Grosser
  • Start date Start date
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Thorben Grosser

Hello dear NG,

when changing the desktop background, I have a large list of availiable
backgrounds. Most of them, I don't need in that list. Is there any way
to delete them?

best wishes
Thorben
 
For the Display Properties Background tab, Windows XP fetches the image
files from the following locations:

BMP Files from %Systemroot% folder. This is usually C:\Windows

BMP, JPG, GIF, JPE, DIB, PNG, HTM files from the following locations:

a.. %Systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper
b.. %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures (& sub-folders)
c.. %AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
d.. %ProgramFiles%\Plus!\Themes (& sub-folders)
If you want to clear a file from that list, move the file away from the
above locations. Type the above paths in Start, Run dialog.
 
Thorben said:
Hello dear NG,

when changing the desktop background, I have a large list of availiable
backgrounds. Most of them, I don't need in that list. Is there any way
to delete them?
Click to expand...

Most of them are just bitmap (.BMP) files in your Windows folder which
can easily be deleted.
 
Thorben said:
Hello dear NG,

when changing the desktop background, I have a large list of
availiable backgrounds. Most of them, I don't need in that list. Is
there any way to delete them?
Click to expand...

Make a new folder in My Documents and call it something like "personal
pictures" or the like. Then move your personal pictures out of the My
Pictures folder and put them in the new folder you just made.

Malke
 
thanks for your answers so far. but:
is it not possible, to simply remove the images out of that box, or is
the box dynamically generated from those folders?
thorben
 
Thorben said:
thanks for your answers so far. but:
is it not possible, to simply remove the images out of that box, or is
the box dynamically generated from those folders?
thorben
Click to expand...

The list you see in the box reflects the pictures in the folders. Mr.
Ryan Dick gave you a list of from where Windows fetches the images.

Malke
 
This can't be right.
Until recently I only had pictures from %Systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper
in Display Properties Background tab and that was around 20 pictures.
Now I have thousends of them because b.. %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My
Pictures (& sub-folders), where I have my digital photos, has unfortunately
been added and I can't get rid of it. When I try to open the desktop tab the
system gets very slow because of all the pictures that should ba added.
There must be some other way of making it search only in
%Systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper

Palle
 
Palle said:
This can't be right.
Until recently I only had pictures from %Systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper
in Display Properties Background tab and that was around 20 pictures.
Now I have thousends of them because b.. %USERPROFILE%\My
Documents\My Pictures (& sub-folders), where I have my digital photos,
has unfortunately been added and I can't get rid of it. When I try to
open the desktop tab the system gets very slow because of all the
pictures that should ba added. There must be some other way of making
it search only in %Systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper

Palle
Click to expand...

My Pictures is a system file and you can't remove it. Perhaps your
digital camera created the subfolders in My Pictures. Whatever, it
doesn't matter. If you do as the other poster suggested and simply
*move* your digital pictures outside of the My Pictures folder (into
the main My Documents folder will be fine), then you will not have the
issue. This is a much simpler solution than trying to rewrite the
operating system.

Malke
 
But just a about a week ago I changed my background picture and I had to move
the picture to c:\windows\web\wallpaper to make it available on the
background tab. Why was it like that then and what happened ?

Palle
 
Palle said:
But just a about a week ago I changed my background picture and I had
to move the picture to c:\windows\web\wallpaper to make it available
on the background tab. Why was it like that then and what happened ?
Click to expand...

Once again, pictures that show up on the "background tab" (and I'm
assuming you really mean the selection box for the Desktop background
in the Display applet) are fetched by the operating system from these
locations:

BMP Files from C:\WINDOWS

BMP, JPG, GIF, JPE, DIB, PNG, HTM files from the following locations:

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper
C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\My Documents\My Pictures [& ALL
THE SUB-FOLDERS]
C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes [*** & ALL THE SUB-FOLDERS ***]

This is done automatically. When you want to set a picture as the
background which is *not* in one of those locations, you click the
Browse button and navigate to the correct folder. IOW, navigate to the
new folder(s) you made in My Documents which will *not* be in the My
Pictures folder. Those image files can be in any format supported by
the operating system; i.e., .bmp, .jpg, or .gif. The image you want
does not have to appear in the "background tab" in order for you to use
it as your Desktop background.

Malke
 
Now I checked it on another computer.
On this one I can choose, as a desktop background in the selection box,
among 30 pictures.
22 jpg and bmp is situated in c:\windows\web\wallpaper
7 bmp is situated in c:\windows
1 jpg is situated in C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\My Documents\My
Pictures

But in this last folder there are many other jpg pictures and they are not
shown and that is what I am wondering about.
Why are they not fetched by the operating system ?

Palle



Malke said:
Palle said:
But just a about a week ago I changed my background picture and I had
to move the picture to c:\windows\web\wallpaper to make it available
on the background tab. Why was it like that then and what happened ?
Click to expand...

Once again, pictures that show up on the "background tab" (and I'm
assuming you really mean the selection box for the Desktop background
in the Display applet) are fetched by the operating system from these
locations:

BMP Files from C:\WINDOWS

BMP, JPG, GIF, JPE, DIB, PNG, HTM files from the following locations:

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper
C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\My Documents\My Pictures [& ALL
THE SUB-FOLDERS]
C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes [*** & ALL THE SUB-FOLDERS ***]

This is done automatically. When you want to set a picture as the
background which is *not* in one of those locations, you click the
Browse button and navigate to the correct folder. IOW, navigate to the
new folder(s) you made in My Documents which will *not* be in the My
Pictures folder. Those image files can be in any format supported by
the operating system; i.e., .bmp, .jpg, or .gif. The image you want
does not have to appear in the "background tab" in order for you to use
it as your Desktop background.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
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