[Alvin Hebert]

I need help deleting some pictures from my desktop background (Appearances & Themes-Change Desktop Background-Display Properties-Desktop-Background). Thanks for any assistance I can get with this problem.

[Huon]

Right click on the desktop, (anywhere without an icon) highlight "properties" on the menu that is displayed and left click.
Go to the desktop tab. You then have a choice of background Pics. Click on one you like, and press the apply button. Or alternatively, use the browse button to put in a picture of your own that you want.

[Huon]

And it has just occurred to me that you might be trying to delete some images from the list that comes up, not just change the background? If so, there are a number of folders that they could be in, depending on your OS details and other factors. The easiest way to do that would be to note the exact name of the image that you want to delete, (It shows up in the list of background pics) and do a search for it using the search function, Start, search, files and folders. Make sure you allow the search in hidden/system files. When you find the image, you can then cut/paste it elsewhere, or delete it.

[Alvin Hebert]

Huon, I think you may have misunderstood my problem and I apologize for my lack of clarity. What I need to do is get rid of some pictures that somehow got into the list of pictures that are available for me to use when I change my desktop background. They are at "Display Properties", at "Desktop" tab, at "Background". I get there by selecting "Change desktop background" in Control Panel. Thanks for your help and time.

[bicycle bill]

Originally Posted by Alvin Hebert

Huon, I think you may have misunderstood my problem and I apologize for my lack of clarity. What I need to do is get rid of some pictures that somehow got into the list of pictures that are available for me to use when I change my desktop background. They are at "Display Properties", at "Desktop" tab, at "Background". I get there by selecting "Change desktop background" in Control Panel. Thanks for your help and time.

That happened to me once and i found that the images i didn't want as wallpaper were coming out of the my pictures folder. I had to make another folder and put them in it and then they appeared no more as wallpaper selections.

[1101doc]

Default location of "Wallpaper" images is C:\Windows\web\wallpaper. The files in that folder can be managed just like any other folder.

[bicycle bill]

Originally Posted by 1101doc

Default location of "Wallpaper" images is C:\Windows\web\wallpaper. The files in that folder can be managed just like any other folder.

I'll bet the pics the poster wants to get rid of won't be in C:\Windows\web\wallpaper.

[1101doc]

No bet. Have heard of the 'My Pictures" referral problem. Know of any documentation or fixes? Think it might have to do with the argument of the desktop.ini file?

[Huon]

I understand Alvin, My second post should still apply.
Note the exact name of the image that you want to delete, (It shows up in the list of background pics) and do a search for it using the search function, Start, search, files and folders. Make sure you allow the search in hidden/system files. When you find the image, you can then cut/paste it elsewhere, or delete it.

[V?ST@]

I am having the same problem, and unfortunately the method Huon described doesn’t help.

What I need to do is delete a load of images that are appearing in the list of background pics, but these images are ones that I wish to keep on my computer and do not want to just make a new folder for them so that they are removed from being listed under desktop-tab background.

Hopefully you understand the problem I have,. I would like to know if anyone knows how to just remove the reference/link to these files that appear under backgrounds, without:

A) Deleting the files being referenced or.....
B) Moving these files to a new folder.

This is a really annoying problem with xp, and on my 2nd computer the problem is even worse. It as lots of random image files that I have never selected as backgrounds listed, some are important and are part of projects I am currently working on.

I need a solution to this problem as deleting these files is not an option and moving them to a new folder is not logical as they are organised for current/past projects.

[RockLobster]

i have researched this problem myself and as far as I know, there is no known way to do this without moving the pictures to another folder, but, by using shortcuts in the My Pictures folder you can make it so for all intents and purposes, the pictures are still in My Pictures folder, even though they are not, this is what I did.
I decided to store my pictures, videos, and music on to a different drive so not to clutter up my C drive and use space I wanted for programs.
I had all my photos and pictures in various folders in My Pictures so I moved all those folders out of My Pictures to a folder on D drive.
I then made shortcuts to those folders in My Pictures on C. Now when I open My Pictures On C it appears exactly as it was before except, instead of the folders containing the pictures, there is now shortcuts, which suprisingly enough, if My Pictures is set to thumbnails view, even have the same folder icons as before with some of my photos on them.
Now when I open the desktop backgrounds list all the pictures from My Pictures that were in the list have dissapeared from the list leaving just the original windows desktop backgrounds images. I guess that list doesnt know how to follow shortcuts.
This is the best workaround to this desktop backgrounds list problem i have found.

[V?ST@]

RockLobster, thx for your reply Its a great workaround and I will definitely be using it.

I had already got round to moving my files from the my pictures folder but haven’t yet created shortcuts as I assumed this would once again cause issues with files appearing in the wallpaper list.

I am amazed that this is not the case and that windows can not display shortcuts in the list, I will definitely be using this tip.

Thx again, can't believe the thumbnails view still works,.....great

[Axel19]

I have found a simple solution for this problem
1.go to themes under display in the control panel
2.switch to another theme, hit apply
3.switch back to "My current theme", hit apply

Now all the images you added are gone from the list unless you have one set as the current background.

[dacavije]

That last post from Axel19 does not work I'm afraid. But thanks for trying.

[madron]

Most of the above advice about how to delete images from the Display Properties/Background list is correct, but with Win98, and ME in particular, the Registry/desktop.ini appears to retain a garbled version of previous settings. In particular you may find that a previously chosen image appears during boot up, before the desktop finally settles for the one you last set – don’t ask me, ask Bill Gates!

I’ve yet to see a proper explanation of this bug, but the important step to a partial fix is to choose ‘Background/None’ and then shutdown, which forces Windows to at least clear some of the settings.
To summarise:

To remove ‘My Pictures’ images from the Background list (and fix other quirks):

Create a new folder in My Pictures (or somewhere else) and move the ‘listed’ images into it. Display Properties will now be unable to find those images and they disappear from the list.

In Display Properties/Background, choose ‘None’ and shutdown Windows.

Re-boot and then choose your desired Display Properties/Background image and, usually, everything is OK from then on.

Sadly if you try to be clever and move the images back into the main My Pictures folder, 'something' still remembers them and they all just go back in the list.

The logical way to avoid the problem is to always copy your desired background images, suitably resized, into the ‘C:\Windows\web\wallpaper’ folder, rather than involve the My Pictures folder at all. But then we’re talking bolted horses and stable doors, eh?