How can I lock the my wallpaper on windows xp home?

Hi, I was wondering if there is a way to lock the wallpaper image on windows xp home edition? I know how to do it for xp pro, but since I don't have it, that doesn't help me. I heard you can do it through editing the registry but I couldn't figure out which entry it was. Thanks.

 

Find the image you want to use in Windows explorer, right click on the file/pic and select "preview". This will open the picture in image viewer. Right click on the picture and select "set as wallpaper".

I believe this is what you are looking for, please let us know if it is not.

 

No it is not. Thanks for the try though. I know how to set wallpapers, I'm pretty computer savvy, and I know quite a bit about windows. However, I want to be able to lock the wallpaper to where it can't be changed through the "set as wallpaper" command or through properties or control panel. I know with Windows XP Pro, you can use gpedit.msc, and that gives you an option to lock your wallpaper. It doesn't work for XP Home however. I was just wondering an alternative way to do that. I heard there is supposed to be a registry file called nochangingwallpaper, but I could not find it. Let me know if anyone knows any alternative ways. Thanks.

 

Oh and I'm perfectly fine with editing the registry, btw.

 

Then you would know where to go for the following:

NoChangingWallpaper - Disable the ability to change wallpapers.
NoComponents - Disable components.
NoAddingComponents - Disable the ability to add components.
NoDeletingComponents - Disable the ability to delete components.
NoEditingComponents - Disable the ability to edit components.
NoCloseDragDropBands
NoMovingBands - retrict adjustments to desktop toolbars
NoHTMLWallPaper - only allow bitmaps (BMP) as wallpaper


These restrictions can be used either on a user by user basis by adding it to HKEY_CURRENT_USER or on a computer wide basis by adding it to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

[font=verdana,arial]Settings:[/font][font=verdana,arial]User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
ActiveDesktop][/font]
[font=verdana,arial]System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
ActiveDesktop][/font]
[font=verdana,arial]Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)[/font]
[font=verdana,arial]Value: (0 = disable restriction, 1 = enable restriction)[/font]

 

Ok Thanks. The NoChangingWallpaper works, however people can still set wallpapers from the internet by right clicking pictures and setting them as wallpapers. I tried using the NoHTMLWallpaper restriction, but setting wallpapers from the internet still worked. Let me know if there are any alternatives I can try, cause I used all those restrictions in the registry and only NoChangingWallpaper worked for what I wanted, although not completely. Thanks.

 

You know, http://www.winguides.com is a great place to go. I got the registry tweaks from their Windows Registry Guide, which you should keep on hand also.

[font=verdana,arial]This tweak removes the context menu that would normally appear when the user right clicks on the desktop or in the Explorer right results pane.[/font]

[font=verdana,arial]Settings:[/font][font=verdana,arial]User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer][/font]
[font=verdana,arial]System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer][/font]
[font=verdana,arial]Name: NoViewContextMenu[/font]
[font=verdana,arial]Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)[/font]
[font=verdana,arial]Value: (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)[/font]


Also if you are using Pro, you can secure the machine with GPO, or download the "Shared Computer Toolkit" from Microsoft.com

 

This is good info. Also setting permissions to: HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper to read only, can effective BLOCK changing the background!

Changing registry permissions is a good way to block a lot of things.....

 

Yes, including Windows itself.

 

Quite true!

One must be VERY careful, with setting permissions within the registry.