strange background/wallpaper behaviour

[Will Gortoa]

Under W98SE I had all my own documents, etc., in a folder on the C:\
drive, as opposed to having them within the My Documents folder. [Mostly
due to some known issues within W98]

Following the upgrade to XP, for convenience, I decided to move this
folder back into the My Documents folder for easier/quicker navigation
in the Explore window.

Obviously this meant rejigging some connections/links [e.g. auto back-up
to Money, some amended shortcuts, etc.], All of which I appear to have
achieved with no ill effect. However...

I'm seeing some very strange behaviour in the desktop wallpaper
department. Initially, as I use my own images, the link had gone after
the move, so I went back into the relevant Desktop properties to select
the new location. However, on each subsequent reboot [twice] the image
has disappeared again. If I now look in the Desktop properties preview
window, the image is there (in the small preview screen), seemingly
already selected!...but doesn't appear on the desktop itself. The
'Apply' button is greyed out. If I then navigate to the image within the
folder, the 'Apply' button becomes active again, but the image still
refuses to load as wallpaper. % }

Any ideas?

And, more importantly, is this one obvious problem that I'm currently
seeing, and the aforementioned was actually not a very wise move?!



FOOTNOTE: I managed to get a wallpaper to 'take' this morning, but after
15 minutes of general computer usage it suddenly disappeared again!
--
Will Gortoa

Running: OS-XP Pro/2.9GHZ processor/512Mb memory/40GB hard drive/Demon
HomeOffice broadband through SpeedTouch NAT router/Turnpike 6.05S mail-news
reader.

 

[Claymore]

Hello Will,

First off, you can't simply manually rename or move such folders as My
Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. These are shell folders and
require a Registry change for them to function properly in a different
location. Program writers code their programs to check the Registry for
the location of these folders. This is why you had to manually correct
some of your programs. But enough school ...
Download and install the freeware TweakUI (a Microsoft product) from
here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
You want the 147 KB version down on the right.

Install, Run, and go to My Computer => Special Folders
Change the location of the folders you have to change: My Documents,
and any others you have to. Especially look at My Pictures if this is
where you background image is located.

---------------------------------------------------------------

For background images, the most reliable way is to copy the picture to
this location, which is the default location for background images
(wallpapers):

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper

Luck

 

[Will Gortoa]

Hello Will
G'day...

First off, you can't simply manually rename or move such folders as My
Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc.

I didn't.

I just moved all my documents [as opposed to My Documents ] from the
C:\ drive into the My Documents folder [which was previously empty -
aside from My Music and My Pictures shell folders].

To further clarify... All my documents [including personal music and
pictures] were actually in a folder named W&G rooted within My
Computer\C: [inherited from my W98SE installation]. Now, following the
move, when I open My Documents, the W&G folder is in there [along with
My Pictures, My Music]. So, I'm not aware of having changed anything
significant, registry-wise - but I could be misunderstanding.

For background images, the most reliable way is to copy the picture to
this location, which is the default location for background images
(wallpapers):

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper

So... If ever I want to use any of my photos as wallpaper. I have to
copy the image from the relevant folder within My Documents and put it
in the folder above? Seems a bit of an effort!

Under W98SE, I simply right-click on desktop, select Properties, browse
to the relevant image. Click Apply. Job done.

--
Will Gortoa

Running: OS-XP Pro/2.9GHZ processor/512Mb memory/40GB hard drive/Demon
HomeOffice broadband through SpeedTouch NAT router/Turnpike 6.05S mail-news
reader.

 

[Will Gortoa]

So... If ever I want to use any of my photos as wallpaper. I have to
copy the image from the relevant folder within My Documents and put it
in the folder above? Seems a bit of an effort!

Ahhh, turns out to have been a moot point, as that didn't work anyway!

Hmmm... This is really looking buggered up, eh? : 7

--
Will Gortoa

Running: OS-XP Pro/2.9GHZ processor/512Mb memory/40GB hard drive/Demon
HomeOffice broadband through SpeedTouch NAT router/Turnpike 6.05S mail-news
reader.

 

[Claymore]

Hello Will,

Thanks for the clarification. No, you don't *have* to move background
pictures to the Wallpaprer folder. It's just something I do myself as
the original file and location - e.g. a photo, may get subsequently
moved.

If you're having difficulty with a selected wallpaper you can thry
either or both of the following:

Cannot change wallpaper

Open up the Registry editor by going to Start => Run and typing in
"regedit" {without the quotes}

Navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System

Look for a String in the right-hand pane called Wallpaper. If it's
there, probably pointing to the path to an image file, note down this
path so you can delete the file later. Now right-click on Wallpaper and
Delete it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select 'Properties'.
Click the 'Desktop' tab and click the 'Customize Desktop' tab.
Click the 'Web' tab and delete everything except "My current Home page"

Uncheck (clear) 'My current Home page'.
Click OK and retry a Desktop background.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Will Gortoa]

Hello Will,

Thanks for the clarification. No, you don't *have* to move background
pictures to the Wallpaprer folder. It's just something I do myself as
the original file and location - e.g. a photo, may get subsequently
moved.

Ahh, okay. Fair comment.

If you're having difficulty with a selected wallpaper you can thry
either or both of the following:

Bear in mind I can't select any wallpaper at the moment, not even the
default ones. But anyhoo...

Open up the Registry editor by going to Start => Run and typing in
"regedit" {without the quotes}

Navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System

Look for a String in the right-hand pane called Wallpaper.

The only thing in the RHP is:

Default | REG_SZ | (value not set)

And/or...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select 'Properties'.
Click the 'Desktop' tab and click the 'Customize Desktop' tab.
Click the 'Web' tab and delete everything except "My current Home page"

There was nothing in there but that.

Uncheck (clear) 'My current Home page'.

Already was.

--
Will Gortoa

Running: OS-XP Pro/2.9GHZ processor/512Mb memory/40GB hard drive/Demon
HomeOffice broadband through SpeedTouch NAT router/Turnpike 6.05S mail-news
reader.