Unable to change background Windows 7 Home Premium

Anonymous

**Original Title**

Windows 7 Desktop Background Picture won't change. Was working fine, changing everyday, then one day, stopped changing and now stuck on the same picture for 2 weeks.

The desktop backgrounds were working fine (previous 2 weeks ago), picture would change everyday. I downloaded all the other themes (ex. Brazil, China, Spain, etc.). At first these other themes worked fine and then all of a sudden, the desktop background picture won't change.

Another problem: under "Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization" window, when I click on "Desktop Background" link or icon on bottom left and the picture locations are displayed, I can't check or uncheck pictures. When I try to clear all check marks or select all check marks, they seem to disappear (the check marks) randomly and then reappear randomly. Sometimes some check marks will stay and then others will disappear despite selecting "Clear all" or "Select all" (doesn't matter which) and seemingly random pictures are selected or deselected in no particular pattern. And then I tried manually selecting and deselecting each picture check mark and same thing, check marks would randomly stay or else disappear.

Bottom line is I am unable to change anything in "Desktop Background". And I have had the same background picture for 2 weeks unable to change it. Have clicked on every button or drop down menu like "Change picture every:" to 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. and still nothing.

I tried finding a work around solution like right clicking on different pictures in Windows Explorer and selecting "Set as desktop background" but literally nothing happens. I tried viewing several pictures in "Windows Photo Viewer" then right click on "Set as desktop background" and then an error pops up "This image can't be set as wallpaper. An internal error occurred."

I have all the latest windows updates. I haven't tried anything in safe mode because I really don't know windows 7 and safe mode turns the desktop background off, anyways, doesn't it? Don't really want to do a system restore for something so small or re-install. Please advise other things I can try!

Should also mention I tried deleting all the additional themes I downloaded to see if these caused problems... and yes I used antivirus and spyware several times (using "Shaw Secure" made by F-Secure). Still same problem. Also scanned with Ad-Aware (although had to turn off F-Secure to do this). Still nothing wrong.

It's a small problem I can live with but also annoying.

Should also mention this is a brand new pc with Windows 7 installed on it (no other OS was installed on it).

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

should be noted that when you delete the content in the .ini file you need to reboot

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Open this with Windows Explorer: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\ and tell me what you see?

When choosing only one image for the desktop background there should be only TranscodedWallpaper.jpg and the slideshow.ini should be empty. Is there something inside the .ini file? Maybe it would be possible to force some changes removing the content of the .ini file

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143 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-01-11T16:00:45+00:00

This is the answer that deserves 5 stars and a cookie. Thanks! There's no need for any more suggestions. Who'd've thunk i've been lookin all over for a problem i could fix in my roaming appdata!
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Anonymous

2011-01-11T14:13:15+00:00
1. Run repair install with your Windows 7 disc. Get someone to help you if you are not sure how to do this.
2. If you suspect virus problems, consider having your hard drive removed and slaved (connected to another pc that works fine) and run a full scan of your drive with an up to date version of a good anti virus program.
3. Many of the major operational bugs can be cured by doing either of the first two steps.
4. If you still have problems, consider a professional opinion (from a computer store) it doesn't always cost the earth, and some shops even offer free quotes.
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Anonymous

2011-01-11T14:02:29+00:00
If you are certain you do not have a virus, you can skip step 1 and move on to step 2 ... only if you are certain you do not have any virus like activity.

When i first got my Pentium Dual Core E6500 running Windows 7, i had a list as long as my arm of problems i couldn't fix ... here's what i did ...
1. Took my hard drive out and slaved it (connected it as a 2nd drive) to another computer and did a full anti virus scan with Kaspersky Anti Virus (any up to date anti virus should work fine) ... after doing this, i eliminated 2 problems i was having, one being my anti virus program had failed me and wasn't doing it's job, allowing quite a few nasty little items creep in and the second being that i wasn't able to solve the problem online with my own internet connection. (We did this offline with an updated version of anti virus, and solved several problems in one hit)
2. After the numerous efforts on my part, (inadvertently trashing my current operating system, Windows 7) i ran arepair install with my Windows 7 disc and cured 99.99% of the other problems i was having.
3. Bottom line here, this was a desperate measure and was a last ditch effort (as opposed to clean installing Windows 7) to save the hassle of clean installing what was essentially a brand new drive with a fresh copy of Windows on it (clean install are a long and sometimes painful process, missing drivers, files lost etc)
Bottom line here, don't be afraid to think outside the square a little, some problems (not all) can be fixed via the internet or by using forums FAQ's ... these steps work for a good percentage of problems that originate from "user input" and by that i mean ... SOMETHING YOU DID !!! THAT YOU SIMPLY SHOULDN'T HAVE !!! and now it's broken :p

One last tip ... keep windows up to date as much as possible, and run backup copies of all important data (external drives & cd or dvd's are cheap compared to the headaches associated with operator error) :)
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