I am having trouble with the my background in Vista. I had it set as a daisy background that came with Vista, but out of nowhere, it defaulted to a standard color. It will let me change the color of the background, but will not let me set a picture or any other type. I go through the steps of changing it, selecting it, pushing OK, but nothing happens...


It's a Dell desktop...
Video Card is a Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE

I've tried changing the resolution...The system came with Vista Premium preinstalled and worked well. The driver is up to date as well...

It's a Dell desktop Dimension E521
Athlon 64 X2 dual core 3600+
1GB Ram
Video Card is a Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE

Yeah, I have the same problem on an Asus G1S-A1. Has anyone been able to figure out the culprit? I read some other threads from July 5th, and I assume since there have been no posts on it that the problem was fixed? This is a really annoying problem and it seems that it's a Vista related issue, not hardware :S. If ANYONE has the solution, please email me back asap (devilspeed@gmail.com).

I am having the exact same problem, I can only change colors in background but I can't have an image as background. I'm using a Toshiba laptop that originally had winXP and I upgraded to Vista with the disc that toshiba sent me by mail.

-Oliver

I am also experiencing the same problem. One day the background i wanted was there and then the next day it was a color. I have Windows Vista on a Gateway computer. I have tried to change the background several different ways, but it will only let me choose a color. I just don't understand. I am a photographer, and really like to see my pictures as my background. Please HELP! If anyone knows the answer, please email me at casey_lenn08@hotmail.com, Thanks.

if you found out what to do please let me know ,,Thank you Louann

I have come across this twice. Once I fixed and the other one is still doing my head in. Here is the solution that worked on the first laptop. The problem was related to Group Policy.

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Run regedit and check the location here:

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\
System]
Value Name: Wallpaper, WallpaperStyle
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
[/font][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']
Normally there is NO policy set in this key. If the policy above is set, the user cannot change wallpaper styles.

You can right click on and delete any values there.

If nothing there, also check this key for the same entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\policies\syste m

You will normally see some policies set in this key, but not the one above. [/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']If that fails, copy the following into a text file and then rename the file extension to .reg. Double click it to import it into the registry. Reboot and test.[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoActiveDesktopChanges"=hex:00,00,00,00
"NoActiveDesktop"=dword:00000000
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000
"ClassicShell"=dword:00000000
"NoThemesTab"=dword:00000000[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispAppearancePage"=dword:00000000
"NoColorChoice"=dword:00000000
"NoSizeChoice"=dword:00000000
"NoDispBackgroundPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispScrSavPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispCPL"=dword:00000000
"NoVisualStyleChoice"=dword:00000000
"NoDispSettingsPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispScrSavPage"=dword:00000000
"NoVisualStyleChoice"=dword:00000000
"NoSizeChoice"=dword:00000000
"SetVisualStyle"=-[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop]
"NoChangingWallPaper"=dword:00000000[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\ThemeManager]
"ThemeActive"="1"
"DllName"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65, 00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,72,00,65,00,73,00,6f,00,75,00,72 ,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,5c,\
00,54,00,68,00,65,00,6d,00,65,00,73,00,5c,00,6c,00 ,75,00,6e,00,61,00,5c,00,\
6c,00,75,00,6e,00,61,00,2e,00,6d,00,73,00,73,00,74 ,00,79,00,6c,00,65,00,73,\
00,00,00
[/font]

I am having the same problem. Has anyone found a solution? ugh

I am having the same issue. If you have a solution please email me at norgah@hotmail.com.

Thanks!!!

Guys, read this thread. The solution is there. I did it and it works. Basically go into the registry and delete anything related to "wallpaper" in the folders specified. Good luck.

Solved: Can't change wallpaper - Tech Support Guy Forums

The solution I found was to open regedit, and go to this folder:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\ . Once there, I changed forceactivedesktopon to 0 (in the Explorer subfolder), and deleted the Wallpaper entry (was garbage chars.) in the System subfolder. Not sure which was the fix, but both make sense.