Lee Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 I'm trying to fix an XP laptop for a co-worker. He said the issue just happened one day, so I'm thinking virus/spyware, but thought I'd check here and see if anyone knows.His wallpaper/background will only stay a solid color. I was messing with it today. I changed the theme to the default XP, theme/wallpaper. Then, I can go to the background and select the one he wants. I hit Apply and it works. However, if I try to change the theme, it just turns the background into the background color (the wallpaper was a picture set on center with the background color around it). It's not just the theme. If I change the color to what he wants (from the XP theme of blue), the picture disappears. If a program opens, the wallpaper disappears.I found some forums talking about regedit fixes, but none of that worked. I also checked gpedit.msc. He can change it in that he can click what he wants, it just doesn't actually take effect. It does show up on startup/shutdown, but that's it. It happens with any background selected. The color is the only change that takes effect. At first, I thought it was a driver issue because he said that it happened about the time that he stopped using dual display so I uninstalled and reinstalled his drivers as well as hooking it up to another monitor. Anyway, I'm at the point where I can't figure out what could be doing this. My gut says that there's a program interfering, but I don't know. Anybody have any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Are you able to do a System Restore to as time before this happened?I'm thinking, from what you have said, there is no full system backup for this computer. Can I suggest that when things are up and running again, you (and the computer owner) look very seriously into back ups - especially if there is anything of the least importance on the machine(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 If System Restore doesn't do the trick (and assuming you've already scanned for viruses and malware - if not I suggest you do it next), you might find some help here from Microsoft Help & Support. You can also type Wallpaper into their search box and will get some other leads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 I found the installed wallpaper in C:\WINDOWS\WEB.If I download a picture to use as wallpaper I always ensure that I download to My Pictures and install it as wallpaper from there by right clicking. :D :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Leave the Group Policy setting as 'Not Configured'. Set the background as a blank image, set the new image.I've found this happens if you use a BMP wallpaper and apply a JPEG over top of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamb Chop Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Hey guys I am am absolute sucker for wallpaper. Got the lot back when I started. Tech that installed original showed me Tucows and I was off on wallpaper and themes. These days I stick with Webshots. http://www.webshots.com/g/?vhost=wwwI am a dog lover and they have some great pics also great scenes of rivers with sun shining on water snaking around etc - calming - heaps of stuff to scroll thru!!! Free too :lol: Use it for screen saver and desktop.Never had a problem with it. Just a thought :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Day There Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Yes WebShots have great Wallpapers and they look awesome on my 19" LCD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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