Desktop/background properties issue

When I right click > Properties I get the Display Properties, and everything works OK except for the backgrounds under the Desktop tab. I can change the color, I can choose Stretch, Center, or Tile, and I can choose Customize, but I can't select anything from the Background box; the word Background is greyed out, and I can't scroll thru the list or select anything that's currently showingin the box. I found a reg key online that allowed me to get the original background up and running. I'm thinking some malware was forcing the 'Active Desktop' to be permanently enabled. When I changed a reg key from zero to a value of one, the background picture came back (it's a pic of my friend's wife and kid). But I still can't change any background stuff; it's still greyed out. Here's the key(s):
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
^^^^^ same as above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \Explorer
^^^^^^^^also same as above^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \Active Desktop
If anyone knows what values I need to enter or new DWords or keys I need to create, please post 'em!!!! Thanx!

hd2k

 

Re: "Cannot change my desktop background - Background is greyed out" hopperdave2000

My first guess would be that somebody's been messing with gpedit. Try this:

Start > Run: gpedit.msc

Then proceed to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Display > Set "Prevent changing wallpaper" to either "Disabled," or "Not configured."

That should work, however if it does not work, try this link and scroll down to the answer given by the geekstogo.com Tech Staff Member "gerryf" (in Post #5).

Please Note: Many had the same issue and that geekstogo staff member's post worked for them (12729 downloads of that reg fix so far since June 2005!) - I'm not sure exactly what it did but it did appear to work at fixing the registry files for the "Background is greyed out" problem for those folks.

In any case, be sure to set a system restore point, just to be on the safe side.

Good Luck!

 

Thanx anyway, but the problem has been solved. I compared the reg keys above on a healthy (normal) PC to the keys on the problematic PC. It turns out that there were 2 full sub-keys that shouldn't have even been there! I saved 'em (just in case), then just right-clicked and deleted. A reboot later and all is well :celebrate :hyper

hd2k