Windows background wallpaper registry settings enables users not just to change the wallpaper itself but users can also choose to restrict or allow the change of wallpapers. Such a feature may be applicable for companies who do not want their employees or public users to modify the wallpaper of their desktop PCs or laptops. On the other hand, if you find that you are not able to change the wallpaper of your personal computer, you may want to look at the registry settings to see if the change of wallpaper has been restricted and thus undo it. Let's look at how to modify Windows background wallpaper registry settings.
Let's look at how you can restrict or enable the change wallpaper feature. You will need to prepare a registry file with the following content:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
(blank line)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/policies/ActiveDesktop] (please replace the forward slashes with backslash)
"NoChangingWallPaper"=dword:00000001
Save the file as "XXXX.reg" and double click on it. Select Yes when prompted and the Windows background wallpaper registry setting should have been applied. However, if your PC is affected by a group policy which may be the case for company desktops, then this method may not work.
If you would like to change the wallpaper using registry, go to Start --> Run and type in regedit. Go to folder HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop and look for Wallpaper, double click on it and change the path to point to your desired wallpaper.
If the above steps to tweak Windows background wallpaper registry settings are just too much hassle for you, you can download a free tool known as Tweak UI (Just do a search on Google). This freeware not only allow you to play with Windows background wallpaper registry settings, but also other aspect of Windows UI such as the taskbar. Users of slower computers can use it to improve performance of Windows by turning off fanciful graphical features on the operating system.