How can I change default desktop background from "bliss" to

[Barian]

When performing a fresh install of Windows XP the default desktop background is always set to "bliss". Assume that I want to have the background called "wind" as default background instead.

The different desktop background can be found in the i386 folder (default BLISS.JP_) on the installation cd...

Can anybody tell me where I can change the default image to "wind" instead of Bliss?

I have copied the content of my cd to the hard drive and guess that the changes should be done somewhere in the "i386" folder (but I might of course be wrong). Where should I go from here?

[janus zeal]

The easyest way would be to replace \i386\bliss.jp_ with your file, compressed with MS's "diamond" archiver. (i beleve thats the name)

Edited July 8, 2006 by janus zeal

[Barian]

What I have tried is to unpack "bliss.jp_ " with winrar and then just add a little text in one of the corners to see if it would work. Then I used winrar again to compress it and copied to the i386 folder. Then I burnt an image cd but when the installation of the os had finished the desktop background was blue (not the modified or the original bliss was displayed).

Maybe I should use another program instead of winrar to compress the image so I googled for the program suggested (diamond archiver) but found no immediate hits that might be of interest.

[oneless]

or you can simply SET your custom background :

my file is Windows XP SP2.bmp

i put them in $OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper

and run this

;Change the Default Wallpaper to the one you want
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]
"BackupWallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\Windows XP SP2.bmp"
"Wallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\Windows XP SP2.bmp"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"TileWallpaper"="0"
"Wallpaper"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Web\\Wallpaper\\Windows XP SP2.bmp"
"WallpaperStyle"="2"

make sure is .bmp your file

normally if is .jpg or other , windows xp will make a temporar .bmp from him

and put it in local documents and settings\user\...bla bla

i dont know how or if will work uA with above settings if isnt .bmp

Edited July 9, 2006 by oneless

[T D]

@oneless It will work if it's jpeg or bitmap. Above will work unattendedly.

[Barian]

Thank you for your answers!

Correct me if I am wrong oneless, but does your solution mean that the displayed wallpaper after a fresh install of Windows will not be the bliss, but your own wallpaper called Windows XP sp2.bmp instead?

If yes I hope you can tell me where I must put the supplied regedit code that tells the installation program to look for the default wallpaper in the "$OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper-folder" instead of the "i386-folder" where the bliss is to be found.

Edited July 9, 2006 by Barian

[T D]

Right in one Barian...

The "windows xp sp2.bmp" gets copied to Windows\web\wallpaper as it's in the $OEM$ folders. $$ means "copy to %systemroot%.

[oneless]

yes @Barian , my file Windows XP sp2.bmp is displayed as wallpaper after a fresh install of Windows instead of bliss

like @T D said , the file will be copied by windows itself in his right place c:\windows\web\wallpaper

in fact all content of $OEM$\$$\ folder will be copied during installation in c:\windows\ (%windir%) folder.

the code is runned by a file named applications.cmd (name it what you want)

at path $OEM$\$1\Install\

and this .cmd file is launched in WINNT.SIF by GUIRunOnce section

[GUIRunOnce]
	%systemdrive%\install\applications.cmd

all content of $OEM$\$1\Install\ folder will be copied in c:\ (%systemdrive%) folder

by windows .

applications.cmd

@echo off 
   echo.
   echo .
REGEDIT /S %systemdrive%\install\APPlications_before.reg

EXIT

APPlications_before.reg is also in $OEM$\$1\Install\ folder and contain

the code in my post above.

you can read all this folders stuff and more in the guide Unattended Windows , here at MSFN.

Edited July 9, 2006 by oneless

[Barian]

Thank you very much for your help.

I will try the solution as soon as possible.

[Barian]

I have tried it now but it didn't work.

I then manually searched the registry for the two registry changes/instances but couldn't find the

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General] key at all (I have it down to Internet Explorer but no Desktop and thus no General entry is visible).

It doesn't exist per default and doesn't appear to be created as a consequence of the code in APPlications_before.reg.

However I did find similar keys but under the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" and "HKEY_USERS".

They are called:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General].

[HKEY_USERS\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General].

Both "BackupWallpaper" and "Wallpaper" in these two folders are created during the installation. However the APPlications_before.reg didn't change them since the code was supposed to change a registry record under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE instead.

The key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] was found in my registry but had

"TileWallpaper"="0"

"Wallpaper"="bliss.bmp" (wasn't affected by the code in the APPlications_before.reg file)

"WallpaperStyle"="2"

In the i386-folder I have the WINNT.SIF file in which I have this section among some other sections:

[GUIRunOnce]
	%systemdrive%\install\applications.cmd

In the $OEM$\$1\Install\ folder I have the applications.cmd file containing:

@echo off 
   echo.
   echo .
REGEDIT /S %systemdrive%\install\APPlications_before.reg

EXIT

and at last in the same folder $OEM$\$1\Install\ I also have the APPlications_before.reg file containing:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]
"BackupWallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"
"Wallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"TileWallpaper"="0"
"Wallpaper"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Web\\Wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"
"WallpaperStyle"="2"

MyWallPaper.bmp is placed in the $OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper folder. The wallpaper is copied to the C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper folder during the installation according to plans. It is just not set to the default background, so I still get the bliss instead.

Hope you want to try and help me again and can pinpoint what I am doing wrong. Thank you for your help this far.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Barian

[oneless]

mea culpa , i see one major error in your script.

ANY reg file must begin WITH a LINE like

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

or older versions (for win NT) something with version 4

without this kind of line the file will be interpreted as text file , not reg file.

so APPlications_before.reg must be like this :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]"BackupWallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"

"Wallpaper"="c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"TileWallpaper"="0"

"Wallpaper"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Web\\Wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp"

"WallpaperStyle"="2"

my APPlications_before.reg contain more tweaks , and i cut for you only the wallpaper part.

ANYWAY , you can test the reg file without create a new unattended CD.

you can run the .reg file manually (execute it)

and after restart you will see the new wallpaper.

in unattended CD you dont need restart because the tweak is applied early

than desktop appear to you.

[Barian]

When I first tried to run it manually I received the following error message:

"Cannot import c:\..... The specified file is not a registry script. You can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor."

And inside the registry when choosing import I received.

"Cannot import c:\..... The specified file is not a registry file. You can import only registry files."

Then I added the top line "Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00" that you suggested and it made a huge difference, because the wallpaper had changed when I restarted the system. I then burnt a new cd with the top line added in the reg tweak... worked again. In other words, my problem seems to be solved thanks to you.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Now I will try make a few more changes to the cd.

I am not so used to reg tweaking (and would like as little code as possible) so if you are not feeling bored by my questions maybe you have some quick answers to three more questions:

1. Under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]. Wouldn't it be enough just to add the "Wallpaper"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Web\\Wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp" (change default wallpaper) and leave out the two other lines ("TileWallpaper"="0" and "WallpaperStyle"="2"). The reason I am asking is that the two lines are present in the registry with values "0" and "2" by default.

2. What does this reg entry [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]

with "BackupWallpaper" and "Wallpaper" do for the system? The reason I am asking is that the line is not present (not needed?) on my non tweaked computer and I can't see the connection between Internet Explorer and the choice of wallpaper.

3. Why is double back-slash used in the reg tweaks, for example windows\\web\\wallpaper. Wouldn't it be enough with only a single back-slash for the system to be able to navigate to the correct folder and find the files?

[oneless]

Thanks a lot for your help.

with pleasure . welcome to MSFN.

1. Under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]. Wouldn't it be enough just to add the "Wallpaper"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Web\\Wallpaper\\MyWallPaper.bmp" (change default wallpaper) and leave out the two other lines ("TileWallpaper"="0" and "WallpaperStyle"="2"). The reason I am asking is that the two lines are present in the registry with values "0" and "2" by default.

probably is enough , but cost you some the extra 2 lines ?? with them you are sure.

2. What does this reg entry [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]

with "BackupWallpaper" and "Wallpaper" do for the system? The reason I am asking is that the line is not present (not needed?) on my non tweaked computer and I can't see the connection between Internet Explorer and the choice of wallpaper.

i am not sure , but i explained you earlier, XP can set any image file as desktop

any extension , but the real bitmap put on the desktop will be a .bmp file.

if you set a file xxx.jpg, this will be set in "BackupWallpaper" and a temp file created by windows itself

named xxx.bmp in "docs and sett/user...../" will be set "wallpaper" (or viceversa)

anyway , if this is the way to work...

3. Why is double back-slash used in the reg tweaks, for example windows\\web\\wallpaper. Wouldn't it be enough with only a single back-slash for the system to be able to navigate to the correct folder and find the files?

reg tweaks use double back-slash . this is the syntax. if you put only one you will see in regedit

something like C:WINDOWSWebWallpaperMyWallPaper.bmp who is not a correct path+name.