Windows 10: Changing desktop wallpapers stopped working properly (tried 5 methods)

I've been using a free wallpaper changer for months and it's been working just fine, but only a few days ago an error came up (I didn't keep it unfortunately as I didn't think it would affect Windows changing wallpapers itself!) and now changing wallpapers almost doesn't work at all - but it's acting strange.

I'll tell you what's not not working,what I've tried, then what does "work"....

• Going to customisation>background and changing the background [or choosing solid colours] doesn't do anything ("choose a fit" works fine)
• I've tried what it says here: Cannot change desktop background in Windows 10/8/7 - but couldn't try the Group Policy Editor because I don't have it on my Win 10 Home edition.
• Renamed 'TranscodedWallpaper.jpg' to .old, and there wasn't any text in slideshow.ini (and when there was I deleted it, but made no difference)
• The 'Ease of Access' 'Remove Background Images (where available)' wasn't enabled
• I've even gone into the registry ("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies") - and created a 'NoChangingWallpapers' setting it to 0 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = Didn't seem to make any difference.
• I'm currently going through the sfc /scannow. If I don't mention it again it means it's not found.fixed any problems.

What DOES "work" works only intermittently, limitedly and seemingly randomly.

Running 'control /name Microsoft.Personalization /page pageWallpaper' (and press enter) takes me to the place where the various 'picture locations' are.

• Double-clicking/right-click>set as wallpaper does nothing* (except after point 2 [below] that it changes, but to a random one, and not the one I clicked on)
• *highlighting a few at once (as an example) and right-clicking 'set as slideshow' sort of "works", but the background picture is broken - at times it looks like this:
  i68.tinypic.com/314p5x1.jpg
  or it seems to show a random one up that I didn't choose. But there seems to be very few it changes to.

I seriously don't want to/hope I don't have to re-install Windows for this, as 1) I've got a few GiveawayoftheDay[.com]s I want to keep, and 2) especially having a game like Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim with 100s of mods, It'll completely ruin the savedgames and how it's all put together (as well as how long it takes to download all the games on Steam again!). FYI, I have Asperger's Syndrome

I'd love some help on this please.

:)

 

i have a issue with the windows spot light, it is not working and it is not changing its wallpaper from so long so please to correct this issues so soon as possible

Sorry sir ,

actually i tried your first and second mail tutorials after every method completion i wont get any changes in the windows spotlight rather than showing the same wallpaper in the spotlight. and i have tried the third mail method it will change some settings
of desktop and some other things which is not necessary for this particular problem. so for this reason i was saying it is not working. is there any other method please help me with that.

 

Slideshow stop working on window 10

I chose default window 10 desktop backgrounds for slideshow ,but today it stops on a single wallpaper instead of changing to all wallpapers while the setting is on slideshow. After that, I chose a single wallpaper but it automatically chose a solid color
and did not set that wallpaper. How can I fix it?

 

Run CMD as admin and copy/paste:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v "ForceActiveDesktopOn" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v "NoActiveDesktop" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v "NoActiveDesktopChanges" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f


The wallpaper location is this, try to put in your picture's location:

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v "Wallpaper" /t REG_SZ /d "D:\Pics\Wallpaper.jpg" /f

 

What is meant to happen once I've done that? I tried the first part but nothing's changed

I'm not sure what you mean by

What do you mean by "The wallpaper location is this"? Most of my photos is on an external HDD (F Drive); my CD ROM drive is the D Drive

 

You could try changing wallpaper via registry, if anything else fails, just input your picture's path.

 

How would I do that? I was hoping to have a different picture on my desktop every day, and right-click>set as desktop doesn't work

It sounds like a lot of hastle


Ps. Where do I input the "reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v "Wallpaper" /t REG_SZ /d "D:\Pics\Wallpaper.jpg" /f"? I tried it in Command prompt (as an admin) but says access denied

 

Have you tried using system restore prior to the date, it stopped working?

System Restore Windows 10

 

Hmm, I haven't actually; thanks, I'll try that *Smile

 

Being completely typical with my computer, I'm getting an error message when trying to do a system restore; I also tried doing it in Safe Mode as well (with 2 different system restores, one from the 14th, and one from the 8th Feb [I think]). Even 'undoing' the error made this error:

 

Considering everything, that is not working, you better do a repair upgrade instead.

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

 

Hmmm, OK then, thanks a lot for helping me

 

Before I start (I don't think I'll be doing it today, but for future reference), I guess my motherboard's too old for it to have UEFI firmware that I'd have to temporarily disable? So I'll not need to worry about disabling Secure Boot?

Ps. FYI I've never actually 'properly' done ISO files or anything like this before. I guess it would take more than 1 DVD to put the ISO file on if I did it that way?

 

ISO should fit on DVD just fine, it is usually bellow 4GB, so there is more than enough to spare.

Since you have 10 already installed, no need to change anything, the upgrade should take care of it.

 

[hopefully] one last question: when I've done this Repair Upgrade, will I have to re-download any of the Windows updates (or anything else)? Or will they be unaffected?