Desktop - Wallpaper

[hlewton]

I can change the wall paper on my windows 7 machine and it will stay for that session only. Once I reboot it is gone. Apparently it is a well know problem with a lot of versions of Windows 7, if not all of them. Certainly my version - Home Premium 64 Bit has it. I have tried many suggestions that I found while doing a google search and nothing works. Anyone know of a solution that works?

One solution that was supposed to work was to find HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Policies\system and delete the two keys available there named Wallpaper & WallpaperStyle. However, there was no "system" folder under "Policies" in my registry so I even searched for that same folder in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as my computer builder suggested and still no "system" folder under "Policies"

Any ideas?

Thanks

[DaveA]

We have 5 Windows 7 machines, Pro and Home Premium, and none have ever displayed this issues.

What Wallpaper add-ins are you running?

[hlewton]

Well I searched the net with google and there are many instances of it all crying out for Microsoft to fix it. Some of the people can't even change the wallpaper at all and others do not have the "save changes" button available to them after making the changes. I have that button available but it does no good.

I really am not running any add-inns at all. On my machines I like to center a photo of my grandchildren with a shade of green available in windows color palette for the back ground color of the desktop. I have no problem at all on my XP machines but, as I said, I can do it only for the current session of windows I'm in and then it reverts back to a windows theme on reboot on my Win 7 machine.

[viking33]

Well I searched the net with google and there are many instances of it all crying out for Microsoft to fix it. Some of the people can't even change the wallpaper at all and others do not have the "save changes" button available to them after making the changes. I have that button available but it does no good.

I really am not running any add-inns at all. On my machines I like to center a photo of my grandchildren with a shade of green available in windows color palette for the back ground color of the desktop. I have no problem at all on my XP machines but, as I said, I can do it only for the current session of windows I'm in and then it reverts back to a windows theme on reboot on my Win 7 machine.

Try http://www.webshots.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I've used this wallpaper program for years and on all flavors of Windows, including Win 7 64. It allows you to use any jpg file as wallpaper, whether from your own collection or from a vast library of photos available from them. All

[hlewton]

Thank you Bob I will certainly look into it. It seems to want me to become a member. Am I looking in the right place?

[JoeP]

When you set the wallpaper do you save the theme?

Joe

[hlewton]

No I have never had to do that before but I suppose I should give that a try. I'll try it and report back.

Thanks.

[viking33]

Thank you Bob I will certainly look into it. It seems to want me to become a member. Am I looking in the right place?

That's the home page and the membership is for Premium members.
The link to the FREE download is here:
http://www.webshots.com/page/apps?app=f ... &vhost=www" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gloria E]

Thank you Bob I will certainly look into it. It seems to want me to become a member. Am I looking in the right place?

That's the home page and the membership is for Premium members.
The link to the FREE download is here:
http://www.webshots.com/page/apps?app=f ... &vhost=www" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Viking, you beat me to it, I was going to reply and mention Webshots. I'm also a long time users of the paid version and I wouldn't think of being without it. When I bought my new machine that came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit that was one of the first programs I installed. I have loads of themes that they provided, but none I made myself. I highly recommend it for anyone that's bored with the plain vanilla theme that comes with the operating system.

Gloria E

[tedshemyers]

I kinda of like to use the slideshow for my desktop that is available for Win 7. I set the tool to change my desktop picture every 10 minutes and swith through dozens of different landscapes. Really breaks up the boredom for me. Right Click the desktop and choose Personalize. Desktop Background at the bottom and go crazy. You can choose the canned pics or any as many as you want or choose your own pics.

[hlewton]

Well naming a theme does no good except it is available to click on under "personalize" once Win 7 picks its default theme. My named theme shows up as it is booting up but quickly reverts to Win 7's theme.

Any idea where to find the themes I created so I can delete one of them? I named two with the same name thinking it would replace the original but it didn't. It created two themes with the same name so now I'd like to delete one of them. Searching for the name doesn't show me where they are located or even find it in the first place.

[DaveA]

Check out http://windows7themes.net/windows-7-the ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can find the themes folder(s) at:
C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
Read more: http://windows7themes.net/windows-7-the ... z1EWdQcIlG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hlewton]

Thanks Dave I found it ans was able to delete one of them.

[hlewton]

Well I still have the same problem but found what was suggested as a solution. Under "Ease Of Access Center," "Administrative Settings," I checked the box that says "Apply all settings to the logon desktop" but it still does not remember my personalized desktop upon a reboot and when I check the above setting the box is no longer checked. Any additional ideas how to correct this problem?

[JoeP]

Is your user account a member of the admin group?

Joe

[hlewton]

Is your user account a member of the admin group?

Joe

I had to call where I buy my computers because I don't change anything as far as accounts go and they said my answer would be yes I'm a member of the admin group. I then checked User accounts under the Control Panel and it only shows 1 account named "Owner Administrator" so I think I am safe in saying yes. My computer does not stop on boot up to ask for me to sign into any specific account so I believe I am directly signed into the one I just mentioned.

Thanks

[JoeP]

Are you running any software that automatically monitors and/or prevents registry changes?

Are you running any software that sandboxes your activites so they are rolled back when you re-boot?

Joe

[hlewton]

Are you running any software that automatically monitors and/or prevents registry changes?

No I'm not unless somehow Windows 7 itself is doing that.

Are you running any software that sandboxes your activites so they are rolled back when you re-boot?

Joe

Not sure exactly what sandboxes means but I can confidentially say no because I have very little outside of Office 2010 and my VIPRE anti-virus programs loaded on that machine. I do have CCleaner on it and a little utility that was recommended here to allow me to do a search for files called Locate32 and a program called 1-Click Answers that acts like a dictionary for me but other than those programs I have nothing else except what comes with Windows 7 itself.

[viking33]

Locate32 and One Click Answers would not make any changes as you mentioned.
Did you ever try Webshots, as mentioned in my post back in February?
It's a good one and you can set it to be the default wallpaper and also have it cycle through changed scenes as often or little as you like.

[hlewton]

I did look into it but just for the reason I think you were mentioning here about utilities or programs affecting to OS I thought it would be better if I could get the issue resolved without an added program. I have searched through Google and apparently it is a pretty common problem but all the suggestions to correct it don't seem to work for many of us. I was hoping since time has elapsed since I first posted about this problem that maybe someone here had a solution. I'd have to look back to see for sure but I seem to remember something about a charge for that program but maybe I'm thinking about some other program that somebody suggested.

Just for my own curiosity what does the term "sandboxed" mean?

Thanks