Unable to change Windows 7 Starter wallpaper!

Anonymous
2009-12-25T02:35:37+00:00

original title: Windows 7 Starter wallpaper!

Seriously!?!?!?!? You can't change the background wallpaper on Windows 7 starter!? Of course I understand that this version of Windows is meant to be very light on features for running smoothly on netbooks...but F-ing wallpapers? Microsoft does remember that they are still writing computer operating systems right? My dinosaur, Nokia cell phone from like 5 years ago let you change the wallpapers.  They left the gadget feature but not wallpaper!?!? This really proves to me that Microsoft has absolutely no clue what they are doing.  Windows 7 comes on just about every netbook now as of this current holiday season.  So here is my question...Why would anyone want a windows 7 netbook when XP (the operating system before the one before windows 7) had more features than it does? Apple is looking better and better. I didn't even get a netbook for christmas, and even though I really wanted one, i'm very glad I didn't. I'm not going to get one at all now if its got windows 7 on it.  I'll wait for that Apple tablet and that's it.  What do you say Microsoft?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2009-12-30T19:20:26+00:00

Hello socratesman,

Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Answers Community.

In Windows 7 Starter you are not allowed to change the desktop background. You cannot even replace the default image with another one because the system compares the file hash of your desired background with the file hash of the default wallpaper.

You have to upgrade to a more complete version of Windows 7:

Why can't I change my desktop background?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Why-cant-I-change-my-desktop-background

Hope this helps

Chris.H

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-02-10T21:59:03+00:00

    Hi Steve0771,

    Don't despair! There are so many posts on this forum on this Windows Starter wallpaper issue. Unfortunately for you you stumbled upon the one that doesn't contain the most simple solution. It's easy, it isn't a hack, it's free, it's reliable and feedback from others has been very positive. Click on the link below to download the program Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 provided by Oceanis, you will then be able to change the desktop background, it also provides for a desktop slideshow (shuffle) in the Windows 7 Starter edition. 

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/47294-desktop-background-change-windows-7-starter.html

    I understand why you don't want to hand over any cash but there's also another third-party option that seems to have been popular on this forum: Stardock ObjectDesktop which will allow you to change the wallpaper (and a few other things).

    Honestly, if all that your wife does is check her e-mail and surf the net I would go for the netbook option. Really, I would ...

    Hope that helps. A bit?

    All the best,

    S.

    Sharon Roffey

    Queensland, Australia

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-02-10T18:57:07+00:00

    Boy am I glad I did my research!  I was just buying my wife a netbook for Valentine's Day, I have Windows 7 on all of my computers and so insisted on choosing a netbook with Windows 7 and then I find out this tidbit of information.  My wife basically does three things with her computer: check email, surf the net, and customize her desktop.  Nice shiny new netbook with no customization? 

    Sorry hun, roses again this year.  I am not spending $400 for a netbook and then another $80 for an upgrade!   That’s just insane!  Ridiculous!

    I can't even believe that this is not a joke!

    Seriously?

    That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard!  It cant be a matter of resources, my WindowsCE PDA could change the desktop image 8 years ago and it had less processing power than my current coffee maker!  ____, could probably change the wallpaper on IT!!

    I have been a MS supporter by choice for years.  It is important to note the "by choice" in that statement. And this just gets under my skin and irritates the ____ out of me.  It appears to those of us "regular folks" that this was intentionally cut out of this OS to force an upgrade.  I'd even bet that it cost quite a bit of development time and money to disable this common feature JUST to encourage upgrades.

    Looks like I'm going to have to teach my wife how to use Ubuntu now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-02-07T22:12:12+00:00

    Hi junruh,

    This thread is specific to the Windows 7 Starter which has some pretty severe restrictions when it comes to desktop personalization. There are various solutions but the usual one is not one of them.

    Best,

    Sharon

    Sharon Roffey

    Queensland, Australia

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-02-07T20:14:06+00:00

    I laugh at these kind of computer questions. If you want to change the wallpaper background in Windows 7 all you half to do is, even in xp is to copy, drag a personal picture, a jpeg image, whatever to the actual Windows folder. After thats done close out of it, right click on the desktop, properties, Desktop, find your image then hit apply, It's that simple. Even though Windows 7 looks a lot like a linux program built on the vista architecture the attributes are the same even with xp, which the general population has really gotten used to. The main problem I've found is hardware drivers running on slightly older computers running xp. They have a problem running on Windows 7, you half to find drivers that are designed for Windows 7. I'd like to read some thoughts on this Thanx.

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