Why can't I set different wallpapers to my monitors when I have more than one desktop open windows 11

Anonymous
2023-04-13T18:50:30+00:00

I used to be able to have two virtual desktops, and when my main desktop is open and connected to my monitor, Monitor 1 and Monitor 2 had two different wallpapers. Now when I go into settings under personalization to change my monitor wallpapers, it only allows me to have different wallpapers for desktops one and two after right-clicking the desired picture instead of the usual monitor one and two. When I delete my second desktop, the options to change the wallpaper for monitors one and two come back but once I set it and add back the second desktop, everything resets to the same wallpaper- erasing all of the changes I made. I use both of my desktops and enjoy the personalization of being able to quickly identify from one monitor to the other.

Is there any way to have different wallpapers on my monitors while still having two desktops?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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Anonymous
2023-10-30T04:55:31+00:00

Hi Megan, I am not from Microsoft. But I had the same problem as you, I could not set my backgrounds to what I want on 2 monitors. The problem was that I had 2 desktops running. To fix this press the windows key + tab and it will pop up with different desktops u have open, close the one you don't want. And when you go back into your background and display settings you can now pick which background you want to put on which monitor, aka the original of what it was supposed to be not chosen the desktops u want to put backgrounds on.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-04-15T00:57:32+00:00

    Hello Megan. I'm Greg, here to help you with this.

    I understand you want separate wallpapers on different virtual desktops on dual monitors.

    1. First set separate backgrounds on each desktop this way:

    https://www.thewindowsclub.com/set-different-wa...

    (Avoid ad links which intrude into editorial copy, especially DO NOT INSTALL Restoro, PC Repair Tool and Reimage ads)

    1. Then set separate backgrounds for each monitor:

    https://www.howtogeek.com/261929/how-to-set-a-d...

    1. If you can't get this to work then I'd ask at the forums which has the best experts on multi-monitors Display Fusion forum here:

    https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/

    Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the results you post back, I will have other suggestions if necessary.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-04-14T10:13:56+00:00

    Ah yes I see what you would require. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be a function avaliable at this point in time as myself have found this issue to be rather frustrating. It may be worth trying to use a thridparty wallpaper app to achieve this but it seems when you create the virtual desktop, it seems to become confused regarding the wallpaper. I'll realise the question in case anyone else knows of a way to achieve this result without the use of third party apps :)

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-14T04:31:12+00:00

    Thank you so much for your reply!

    However, I do not believe you understood the full extent of my question. I know how to assign a different wallpaper for each monitor. My issue is when I have more than one desktop active on my laptop, after clicking on the “Browse photos” button next to “Choose a photo” to pick my preferred wallpaper. "Set for monitor 1" and "Set to monitor 2" disappear and turn into "Set for Desktop 1" and "Set for desktop 2" when I have two desktops open. Settings will only allow me to have different wallpapers for each desktop and force both of my monitors to have the same wallpaper.

    Once again my question is: Is there any way to have different wallpapers on my monitors while still having two "virtual" desktops active?

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-13T19:51:16+00:00

    Hello and thanks for reaching out for support. My name is Larribeau, I'm an independent advisor and a regular user like you. I'll be happy to help you out today.

    1. Open Settings and switch to the “Personalization” tab from the left sidebar. Once you’re there, click on “Background” to view wallpaper-related settings.
    2. Click on the “Browse photos” button next to “Choose a photo” to pick your preferred wallpaper.
    3. When the image appears in the “Recent images” tab, right-click and choose “Set for monitor 1” to set the wallpaper for the first monitor. Similarly, right-click another image and choose “Set for monitor 2” to set it as your second monitor’s wallpaper.

    You have successfully set a unique wallpaper on each monitor in Windows 11.

    1. In case you are not sure of the monitor’s number, you can visit System -> Display and click on the “Identify” button to find it. Clicking the button will show the monitor number at the bottom-left corner of the screen

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