How do I add downloadable wallpaper to Win2K's list? (W2K)

[kef999]

I remember meeting this problem in Win98 but now that I have Win2K and happened recently to want to download and install some additional wallpapers, I thought I'd put this question to those Windows gurus among you.

How exactly should I download and install wallpapers from a website? I find that, if you do a straight "Set as Wallpaper", the picture gets added to the Windows set (as selectable in the Background tab of Display) as 'Internet Explorer Wallpaper'. But, if you download a second one by the same method, the first one simply gets overwritten (and lost).

When you select a scene to download there are three options there, when you rt-click:

Save Picture as...
Set as Wallpaper
Set as Desktop Item

So, which of these should be used in order to place the downloaded image ADDITIVELY into Windows, so that the previous one in Windows isn't automatically deleted?

As an interim measure, I've downloaded a handful of selected images and stored them in My Documents as bmp and jpeg files.

[kef999]

I forgot to add that, with an image simply downloaded from "Set as Wallpaper", when you subsequently choose and apply one of the standard Windows backgrounds in the list, the downloaded one gets deleted.

[Nana]

ptneale,

In my WinMe system, every picture in My Pictures folder is available for me to use as Wallpaper in Display Properties/Background. What about using 'Save Picture as' instead of 'Set as Wallpaper'?

I don't know if W2K will work the same way, but it's worth a try.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[Nana]

ptneale,

Sorry, I forgot to mention that *.gif, *.jpg and *.bmp images all work as wallpaper on my system.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[kef999]

Thanks, Nana, for your suggestion. As I pointed out initially, I've already downloaded a few images using the "Save Picture As..." procedure. However, that merely stores the images away in a folder of your own choice, it doesn't, by itself, automatically add the images to the Background list. Clearly, there's a second operation to perform, to achieve that. Anyone know the method?

[Nana]

ptneale,

Sorry I wasn't able to help.
On my system, they must be made available as wallpaper automatically because I haven't knowingly intervened. There are a gazillion pix on my system (courtesy of Microsoft), but only the pictures from that one - My Pictures - folder appear in DisplayProperties/Background.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[DanK]

ptneale, Nana is right.
Right click the picture & choose save picture as, save the picture into your my pictures folder. It will then appear on the list of available wallpapers

[kef999]

I've finally cracked it! But it's thanks to you, Nana and DanK.

It seems the My Pictures folder (part of My Documents) has the special function of containing images that appear in the list in Background/Display. I didn't realise this. On MY PC, that folder contained only ONE of the many default Windows images, so I didn't cotton on.

What I did yesterday was to download the images to My Documents and then use the Browse button in Display to copy each image file, one by one, to the Background list. However, you find once again that, when you reboot, all but one of these added ones disappear from the list.

However, now that I've taken your advice and moved the image files from My Documents to My Pictures (the equivalent of Save Picture As..), all of them not only appear in the list but they stay there.

So, many thanks, Nana and DanK. Without your help, I doubt whether I'd ever have realised that.

[Nana]

ptneale,

You're welcome. I'm glad we could help. It's great that you told us what you had to do to fix it. Now anyone else having the same problem in W2K can do a search of the forums & find out how to fix the wallpaper problem.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[kef999]

Yes, thanks again. It's annoying that this method is so little known. The built-in Help guides mention nothing about this. I've got books on Win98 and Win2K but, again, other than setting a single webpage image as wallpaper, nothing else is mentioned. I'm just thankful for forums like this one.

Presumably, you can equally DELETE images from My Pictures? (But it seems you can't delete the Windows default images).

[DanK]

As Nana has already mentioned, we are only glad to help

[kef999]

I raise the point about deleting because, from time to time, a downloaded image will turn out to be of unacceptable quality on one's screen and therefore there's no point in keeping it in the Background list.

Generally, I find that only official wallpapers that are properly described as 1024 X 768 resolution will present acceptably on my screen. Smaller resolution images tend to show pixelation if stretched and made full screen.