XP Desktop Properties - wallpaper selector

[Raymond Jones]

Hi All,

Strange problem - when I go to desktop properties to select a wallpaper it
used to only show image files located in the windows directory. It now shows
all image files located in the My Pictures directory as well so I now have
hundreds of files listed. Any ideas on how to get it back to just the
windows directory listings?



--

cheers,

Raymond Jones
(e-mail address removed)

 

[justamailman]

in the properties window choose the browse option and go to
C\window\web\wallpaper

 

[Malke]

Hi All,

Strange problem - when I go to desktop properties to select a wallpaper it
used to only show image files located in the windows directory. It now shows
all image files located in the My Pictures directory as well so I now have
hundreds of files listed. Any ideas on how to get it back to just the
windows directory listings?

Windows XP fetches image files from the following paths:

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 ***]

Move your hundreds of pictures into a folder (or folders) located in
your My Documents directory. Then when you want to use one of them for
your background, browse to the location.


Malke

 

[Richard in AZ]

Hi All,

Strange problem - when I go to desktop properties to select a wallpaper it used to only show image
files located in the windows directory. It now shows all image files located in the My Pictures
directory as well so I now have hundreds of files listed. Any ideas on how to get it back to just
the windows directory listings?

cheers,

Raymond Jones
(e-mail address removed)

Unfortunately, once you "browse" for a desktop picture to your "My Pictures" folder, windows
remembers that link and will always show all the pictures in "My Pictures" as options. I have
never found a fix for this. Other will tell you that you can move all your pictures to another
folder, but that defeats the logic of a central place to store pictures.

I after I did a re-installation of Windows, I have learned never to browse for a wallpaper file.
And if you want a picture to be available for wallpaper, copy it to the C:\windows\web\wallpaper
folder.

 

[Malke]

Richard in AZ wrote:
nfortunately, once you "browse" for a desktop picture to your "My
Pictures" folder, windows

remembers that link and will always show all the pictures in "My Pictures" as options. I have
never found a fix for this. Other will tell you that you can move all your pictures to another
folder, but that defeats the logic of a central place to store pictures.

I after I did a re-installation of Windows, I have learned never to browse for a wallpaper file.
And if you want a picture to be available for wallpaper, copy it to the C:\windows\web\wallpaper
folder.

Completely unnecessary. Of course you should be able to browse for a
picture. See my answer to the OP for the solution. You're doing it the
Very Much Harder Than It Needs To Be Way.


Malke

 

[Raymond Jones]

Windows XP fetches image files from the following paths:

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 ***]

Move your hundreds of pictures into a folder (or folders) located in your
My Documents directory. Then when you want to use one of them for your
background, browse to the location.

Strange thing though is I have used XP since it came out and this behaviour
only started in the last few days. The other PC in the house is a four year
old Dell and it does not exhibit this - only shows files from the windows
directory. I am on a fairly new PC that came with SP2 whereas the other PC
has been upgraded from the original XP. My old PC never did this in the five
or so years I used it with XP.

I have already moved the photos into another directory but as another poster
said that defeats the purpose of having a My Pictures folder as windows
already has a designated Wallpaper folder. Not good design and doesn't seem
consistent across installations.

--

cheers,

Raymond Jones
(e-mail address removed)