lost my wallpaper...cannot access from properties

Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots up I can see the
wallpaper come up on the screen but I have no icons. Then when the icons
appear my wallpaper disappears. I am running xp home edition service pak 2.
I have run a virus scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and defragged my hard
drive. Does anyone heve any suggestions or a link to a site that might be
able to lend a hand?
thanks

Rob

rob wrote:
Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots up
I can see the wallpaper come up on the screen but I have no
icons. Then when the icons appear my wallpaper disappears. I
am running xp home edition service pak 2. I have run a virus
scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and defragged my hard drive.
Does anyone heve any suggestions or a link to a site that
might be able to lend a hand? thanks

Rob

You might want to try the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click Display
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the "CustomizeDesktop" button
Click on the Web tab
If there are any items listed other than "My Current Home
Page", click on it and hit the Delete button.
If there's a check mark next to "My Current Home Page", remove
it.
Remove the check mark from the box next to "Lock desktop items"
You may have to log off and log back on for changes to take
effect

If you're unable to access the wallpaper settings in the
Display applet, go to this web site and download and apply the
registry fix listed on the right hand side of line 128, Restore
Desktop and ScreenSaver tabs:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If that doesn't fix the problem, try the registry fix from the
right hand side of line 285, Restore All Display Tabs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, they didn't solve the problem. The
control panel area was perfect. Nothing weird showed up. I downloaded the
reg. fixes and nothing happened after that.
It seems weird that I can change the background colour on the wallpaper but
I can no longer get a pictures on the screen.
any other ideas?

thanks

"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
rob wrote:
Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots up
I can see the wallpaper come up on the screen but I have no
icons. Then when the icons appear my wallpaper disappears. I
am running xp home edition service pak 2. I have run a virus
scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and defragged my hard drive.
Does anyone heve any suggestions or a link to a site that
might be able to lend a hand? thanks

Rob

You might want to try the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click Display
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the "CustomizeDesktop" button
Click on the Web tab
If there are any items listed other than "My Current Home Page", click on
it and hit the Delete button.
If there's a check mark next to "My Current Home Page", remove it.
Remove the check mark from the box next to "Lock desktop items"
You may have to log off and log back on for changes to take effect

If you're unable to access the wallpaper settings in the Display applet,
go to this web site and download and apply the registry fix listed on the
right hand side of line 128, Restore Desktop and ScreenSaver tabs:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If that doesn't fix the problem, try the registry fix from the right hand
side of line 285, Restore All Display Tabs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

I forgot to mention another registry fix that you can try from
that web site, line 142 right hand side, Allow
Wallpaper/Background changes:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Beyond that, I'm stumped. Whenever I've seen the type of
behavior you've described it's been caused by an item added
through that "Customize Desktop" option I mentioned earlier.
The fact that you can change the background color from the
Desktop tab sort of goes against that theory.

The best I can give you is some things to check to see if you
can narrow down the possibilities of what's causing this
problem.

1. The first thing I would try would be to see if the same
thing happens when you log on with another user account. If
yours is the only account on that computer, create a new
account that you can delete after you've run this test. Log in
with the new account and see if you get the same results when
you try to use an image file as wallpaper. Reboot your computer
to see if the picture stays displayed.

2. Log back on with your account. Open up some image files that
you have stored on your machine, right click on the picture and
select "Set as Desktop Background" from the menu. If it works,
reboot and see if the picture is still displayed.

3. Disconnect from the Internet. You don't want to be connected
when you try the following procedure because you're going to
have to shut down your antivirus protection.

OK, now go to Start -Run and enter msconfig in the Open box.
Click OK. Click on the Startup tab. Remove the check mark from
each item listed. Close the System Configuration Utility and
reboot. Note: You'll see a notice about the computer running in
Diagnostic mode. Put a check in the box and click OK each time
you see the warning. If the picture you want to use as your
wallpaper remains displayed, run msconfig again except this
time put a check mark in the box next to the first item listed
on the Startup page. Reboot and see if the picture's still
displayed. Keep adding back items until you find the program
that's causing the problem.

4. Check any security related programs (antivirus, antispyware,
etc.) that you have running on your computer to see if there is
a setting that may be blocking certain file extensions from
being run on your computer.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, you might want to post
this question to an XP newsgroup that sees more traffic than
this one. Here's two that might be worth trying:

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support

If you decide to post to both groups, do yourself a favor and
crosspost, don't multipost. If you're not familiar with the
concept, take a look here for an explanation:

Why and how to crosspost
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html

Good luck

Nepatsfan

rob wrote:
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, they didn't solve the
problem. The control panel area was perfect. Nothing weird
showed up. I downloaded the reg. fixes and nothing happened
after that. It seems weird that I can change the background
colour on
the wallpaper but I can no longer get a pictures on the
screen. any other ideas?

thanks

"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
rob wrote:
Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots
up I can see the wallpaper come up on the screen but I
have no icons. Then when the icons appear my wallpaper
disappears. I am running xp home edition service pak 2. I
have run a virus scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and
defragged my hard drive. Does anyone heve any suggestions
or a link to a site that might be able to lend a hand?
thanks Rob

You might want to try the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click Display
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the "CustomizeDesktop" button
Click on the Web tab
If there are any items listed other than "My Current Home
Page", click on it and hit the Delete button.
If there's a check mark next to "My Current Home Page",
remove it. Remove the check mark from the box next to "Lock
desktop items" You may have to log off and log back on for
changes to take
effect If you're unable to access the wallpaper settings in
the
Display applet, go to this web site and download and apply
the registry fix listed on the right hand side of line 128,
Restore Desktop and ScreenSaver tabs:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If that doesn't fix the problem, try the registry fix from
the right hand side of line 285, Restore All Display Tabs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

I have been trying to fix the same problem on my mother's computer. I wonder
if one of these fixes worked for rob? I'm going to try them at my mom's later
today.

"Nepatsfan" wrote:

I forgot to mention another registry fix that you can try from
that web site, line 142 right hand side, Allow
Wallpaper/Background changes:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Beyond that, I'm stumped. Whenever I've seen the type of
behavior you've described it's been caused by an item added
through that "Customize Desktop" option I mentioned earlier.
The fact that you can change the background color from the
Desktop tab sort of goes against that theory.

The best I can give you is some things to check to see if you
can narrow down the possibilities of what's causing this
problem.

1. The first thing I would try would be to see if the same
thing happens when you log on with another user account. If
yours is the only account on that computer, create a new
account that you can delete after you've run this test. Log in
with the new account and see if you get the same results when
you try to use an image file as wallpaper. Reboot your computer
to see if the picture stays displayed.

2. Log back on with your account. Open up some image files that
you have stored on your machine, right click on the picture and
select "Set as Desktop Background" from the menu. If it works,
reboot and see if the picture is still displayed.

3. Disconnect from the Internet. You don't want to be connected
when you try the following procedure because you're going to
have to shut down your antivirus protection.

OK, now go to Start -Run and enter msconfig in the Open box.
Click OK. Click on the Startup tab. Remove the check mark from
each item listed. Close the System Configuration Utility and
reboot. Note: You'll see a notice about the computer running in
Diagnostic mode. Put a check in the box and click OK each time
you see the warning. If the picture you want to use as your
wallpaper remains displayed, run msconfig again except this
time put a check mark in the box next to the first item listed
on the Startup page. Reboot and see if the picture's still
displayed. Keep adding back items until you find the program
that's causing the problem.

4. Check any security related programs (antivirus, antispyware,
etc.) that you have running on your computer to see if there is
a setting that may be blocking certain file extensions from
being run on your computer.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, you might want to post
this question to an XP newsgroup that sees more traffic than
this one. Here's two that might be worth trying:

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support

If you decide to post to both groups, do yourself a favor and
crosspost, don't multipost. If you're not familiar with the
concept, take a look here for an explanation:

Why and how to crosspost
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html

Good luck

Nepatsfan

rob wrote:
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, they didn't solve the
problem. The control panel area was perfect. Nothing weird
showed up. I downloaded the reg. fixes and nothing happened
after that. It seems weird that I can change the background
colour on
the wallpaper but I can no longer get a pictures on the
screen. any other ideas?

thanks

"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
rob wrote:
Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots
up I can see the wallpaper come up on the screen but I
have no icons. Then when the icons appear my wallpaper
disappears. I am running xp home edition service pak 2. I
have run a virus scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and
defragged my hard drive. Does anyone heve any suggestions
or a link to a site that might be able to lend a hand?
thanks Rob

You might want to try the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click Display
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the "CustomizeDesktop" button
Click on the Web tab
If there are any items listed other than "My Current Home
Page", click on it and hit the Delete button.
If there's a check mark next to "My Current Home Page",
remove it. Remove the check mark from the box next to "Lock
desktop items" You may have to log off and log back on for
changes to take
effect If you're unable to access the wallpaper settings in
the
Display applet, go to this web site and download and apply
the registry fix listed on the right hand side of line 128,
Restore Desktop and ScreenSaver tabs:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If that doesn't fix the problem, try the registry fix from
the right hand side of line 285, Restore All Display Tabs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Hi,

If your wallpaper file was lost you can try restoring it with data
recovery tool such as Active@ undelete. this is a really powerful one,
you should definately give it a try.

http://www.active-undelete.com/

The Disappearing Wallpaper Caper

You might want to try this extremely low-tech workaround I stumbled on after being driven crazy by my bitmap wallpaper disappearing. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition on an HP computer; don't know if this will work on other systems.

1. Image to be used must be stored in a folder set to "Show common tasks in folder" (find this on the Tools menu, Folder Options, General tab).

2. Select image.

3. Click on "Set as desktop background" in the Picture Tasks list at the left-hand side of the folder (NOT the pop-up menu you get by right-clicking the image).

So far this has helped me keep my wallpaper. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Lmrntz

I have been trying to fix the same problem on my mother's computer. I wonder
if one of these fixes worked for rob? I'm going to try them at my mom's later
today.

"Nepatsfan" wrote:

I forgot to mention another registry fix that you can try from
that web site, line 142 right hand side, Allow
Wallpaper/Background changes:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Beyond that, I'm stumped. Whenever I've seen the type of
behavior you've described it's been caused by an item added
through that "Customize Desktop" option I mentioned earlier.
The fact that you can change the background color from the
Desktop tab sort of goes against that theory.

The best I can give you is some things to check to see if you
can narrow down the possibilities of what's causing this
problem.

1. The first thing I would try would be to see if the same
thing happens when you log on with another user account. If
yours is the only account on that computer, create a new
account that you can delete after you've run this test. Log in
with the new account and see if you get the same results when
you try to use an image file as wallpaper. Reboot your computer
to see if the picture stays displayed.

2. Log back on with your account. Open up some image files that
you have stored on your machine, right click on the picture and
select "Set as Desktop Background" from the menu. If it works,
reboot and see if the picture is still displayed.

3. Disconnect from the Internet. You don't want to be connected
when you try the following procedure because you're going to
have to shut down your antivirus protection.

OK, now go to Start -Run and enter msconfig in the Open box.
Click OK. Click on the Startup tab. Remove the check mark from
each item listed. Close the System Configuration Utility and
reboot. Note: You'll see a notice about the computer running in
Diagnostic mode. Put a check in the box and click OK each time
you see the warning. If the picture you want to use as your
wallpaper remains displayed, run msconfig again except this
time put a check mark in the box next to the first item listed
on the Startup page. Reboot and see if the picture's still
displayed. Keep adding back items until you find the program
that's causing the problem.

4. Check any security related programs (antivirus, antispyware,
etc.) that you have running on your computer to see if there is
a setting that may be blocking certain file extensions from
being run on your computer.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, you might want to post
this question to an XP newsgroup that sees more traffic than
this one. Here's two that might be worth trying:

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

news:microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support

If you decide to post to both groups, do yourself a favor and
crosspost, don't multipost. If you're not familiar with the
concept, take a look here for an explanation:

Why and how to crosspost
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html

Good luck

Nepatsfan

rob wrote:
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, they didn't solve the
problem. The control panel area was perfect. Nothing weird
showed up. I downloaded the reg. fixes and nothing happened
after that. It seems weird that I can change the background
colour on
the wallpaper but I can no longer get a pictures on the
screen. any other ideas?

thanks

"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
rob wrote:
Hey all,

I encountered a problem recently. When my computer boots
up I can see the wallpaper come up on the screen but I
have no icons. Then when the icons appear my wallpaper
disappears. I am running xp home edition service pak 2. I
have run a virus scan, cleaned out any spy-ware and
defragged my hard drive. Does anyone heve any suggestions
or a link to a site that might be able to lend a hand?
thanks Rob

You might want to try the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click Display
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the "CustomizeDesktop" button
Click on the Web tab
If there are any items listed other than "My Current Home
Page", click on it and hit the Delete button.
If there's a check mark next to "My Current Home Page",
remove it. Remove the check mark from the box next to "Lock
desktop items" You may have to log off and log back on for
changes to take
effect If you're unable to access the wallpaper settings in
the
Display applet, go to this web site and download and apply
the registry fix listed on the right hand side of line 128,
Restore Desktop and ScreenSaver tabs:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If that doesn't fix the problem, try the registry fix from
the right hand side of line 285, Restore All Display Tabs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Originally Posted by Dark and Stormy

The Disappearing Wallpaper Caper

You might want to try this extremely low-tech workaround I stumbled on after being driven crazy by my bitmap wallpaper disappearing. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition on an HP computer; don't know if this will work on other systems.

1. Image to be used must be stored in a folder set to "Show common tasks in folder" (find this on the Tools menu, Folder Options, General tab).

2. Select image.

3. Click on "Set as desktop background" in the Picture Tasks list at the left-hand side of the folder (NOT the pop-up menu you get by right-clicking the image).

So far this has helped me keep my wallpaper. Good luck!

Here's what I forgot to mention: before you begin this process, go to Properties and select "none" for desktop background.