On Friday, another Windows 7 TAP-delivered build leaked, this time only about a week old numbered 7068. While Paul Thurrott was loading all the SKUs on his various machines peppered around his house, he tipped me off to the fact that in Windows 7 Starter Edition – the SKU slated for the netbook market – has been gutted of its desktop personalization controls.
Now, look. I’m all for gutting premium features to lighten Windows footprint and price but this is ridiculous. Why the regression? At this point, you may get more functionality out of an OLPC laptop.
As for the technical side, a new licensing bit was introduced – ChangeDesktopBackground-Enabled. On Starter Edition SKUs, this bit is set to 0, disabling background setting capabilities in Windows Photo Viewer and the Display/Theme Control Panel applets. The infection goes deeper into system files shell32.dll and themeui.dll too, hard-coding the wallpaper to %windir%\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg.
Workarounds:
- As an Administrator, reset the permissions on img0.jpg, and overwrite file with picture of Mom.
- Use third-party software (note: changes will likely not persist, untested)
Here’s a screenshot I shamelessly lifted from Paul’s Windows 7068 Starter Edition Screenshot Gallery:
Installed Oceanis’s background updater a couple days ago, worked fine. Got a load of Windows automatic updates yesterday and today (Jan 11), background was reset, and now Oceanis doesn’t do anything… WHAT is the point of this madness?
haii, ihave overwritten img0 in my windows 7 7068…but ican’t still set my wallpaper.
pls help me
EASY FIX FOR THIS!
1. Get Fedora Linux (http://www.fedoraproject.org). Download Fedora 12 650+MB ISO file.
2A. Get Fedora’s USB Live-Image Creator (or whatever they call it) also available from same site.
3A. Use the two to create a USB drive Live-Install of Linux.
(Alternatively)
2B. Burn image with ISO burning software (don’t just cut/paste it to a disc, it won’t work) to a CD-ROM
3B. Go to step 4
4. Boot into Linux. Open the “My Computer” icon, select “media”, then navigate as follows down into the Misro$oft Win/DOS directory structure as follows:
Go to (Whatever your hard drive is called, select the hard-disc icon), go to Windows, go to Web, go to Wallpaper, go to Windows (again), and rename the file called “img0.jpg” to something else, like “screwM$.jpg”
(Alternatively)
4A. If you have another windows jpeg of the same size and shape, copy it to the same place and give it the original filename. You can simply delete the original image, but I’ve found it’s sometimes handy to keep originals like that around for archival purposes.
5. Reboot into Win/DOS. :) Ugly M$ Win/DOS logo is gone, screen is plain blue. A definite improvement.
(Alternatively)
5A. While looking at the Linux Live-CD/Live-USB install, note how nice it is to be able to do whatever you want with your own computer, without @$$40135 in Redmond, WA dictating to you what you can and can’t do with their wretched CrippleWare, and realize you’d be better off just wiping all M$ garbage off your harddrive, and living free, with Linux!
If you must continue to use Misro$oft Win/DOS 7 Starter/Crippleware Edition, at least you don’t need the constant reminder that Misro$oft thinks you are a worthless pile of d0g$h1t, for not paying to use their oh-so-much-better (and of course,) more expensive Win/DOS version.
Misro$oft will slowly drive all their own customers away with their arrogance and stupidity, and when they fail, (which they will,) GOOD RIDDANCE I say!
/rant.
Hi guys,
I too have this background problem, and when I saw Gabe’s solution I was more then thrilled! But in my enthusiasm I forgot the jpg extension! So when I restarted it, the screen went black. I tried to undo the process entering the old key (%windir%\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg), but an error came across, as you can see here: http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/5423/backgroundfs.jpg
What should I do now? :D Cause I do wanna change my background!
Thanks srg84 and Gabe for posting the noob version. Fuck starter so hard.
I like the wallpaper (how its B&W plus the colored fish), is there a way to get it in widescreen, maybe 1680×1050 or 1920×1200?
you know, i actually just found a far more simple solution
you open de image file in mspaint, goto file (the icon thingy) and select “set as desktop background” in de dropdown
there is a slight possibility this worked because i have an altered version of 7 starter (for eee701)
It doesn’t work, Iron. :|
Iron’s method is fake and gay.
Nah just kidding. Would have been fun if that worked though :P
hi all. i just bought a dell mini 10 with windows 7 starter. im able to change my wallpaper by using stardock mycolors, it really works. You can download it for free. I downloaded the diamond theme, then from there the wallpaper can be changed. i hope this helps.
I was about to purchase a netbook until I found out about the limitation of Windows 7 Starter. I’m holding this purchase until these notebook offer the home version. At the same time, I’m exploring netbook with Linux. I think this is a huge mistake by netbook manufacture and perhaps Microsoft.
NOTE: Do not post crap hosted on Mediafire (or any file hosting service) in my comment areas.
If you want to change your windows 7 background and it doesn’t let you you should try out http://www.mediafire.com/?h2g5hdmz0nn it really work try it. when i first used it it actually worked. just go to the link and press download and save it or run it, which ever you want it. next it will pop up a box saying do want want this to make a few changes to your computer click yes and a small box will pop up. then click browse pick any picture click apply then it will say you must log back on to your computer so it can make the changes and when you try it will be changed thanks for reading this post comments if it didn’t work.
There is a fix for this posted at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-netbook
In addition to freeing the restrictions on desktop wallpaper this fix also incorporates numerous security and performance improvements.
Wow.. just when i thought windows couldnt get more irritating.
Hi all,
A lot of posts here all saying the same thing, but it really is a simple solution (if you have some basic windows knowledge).
I haven’t tried any of the programs mentioned here (Oceanis, Stardock or other programs), simply because I don’t want to run a 3rd party tool or some guys random executable I don’t trust. You don’t actually need any of these programs, you simply need to follow the following registry instructions described below (and in previous posts).
In a nutshell, “\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper” is the registry location where Windows stores the file name to use as the wallpaper image (for those of you who don’t know, the Registry is simply a place where Windows stores all of the configuration details for every single aspect of Windows, and can be viewed with the program RegEdit.exe). The default value for the wallpaper is “%windir%\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg” (where %windir% is shorthand for your Windows directory, usually c:\windows\). Also by default, this image file is protected and this registry entry is protected. However, you can override these protections by changing the owner of the file and the owner of the “Desktop” branch of the registry.
The reason why people get a black screen after they change either the image, or the image file name in the registry, is because the windows DLL responsible for displaying the wallpaper checks if its the original image file or not. If its not, it clears the wallpaper entry in the registry (resulting in no image being displayed on the desktop, leaving it black). The solution then, is to make the registry entry read only, so that windows cant change the registry entry to an empty value again if the image file is different from the original.
Make sense so far?
So, the easiest solution is this:
Go to the “c:\windows\web\wallpaper\windows\” folder, and rename the img0.jpg file to something else (a backup), and then copy your desired wallpaper image file to this folder, and rename it to img0.jpg. Then open regedit.exe and go to the “\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\” branch. Right click on “Desktop” in this branch and select Permissions from the pop-up menu. Click on the Advanced button, go to the Owner tab, and select your login user name from the list of possible owners. Click OK, and then OK again to close the Permissions dialog. Now go back into the Permissions dialog (with yourself now as the owner of this registry branch). Click on the Advanced button again, and now click on the Add… button. Enter “Everyone” and press OK, you’ll get a list of permissions to choose from next, select the last one Read Control, and press OK. Finally select your user name from the same list of “Permission Entries” / “user names”, and press the Edit button. This is the most important step … from the list of permissions, make sure that Full Control, Set Value, Delete, Write DAC, and Write Owner are NOT selected. Clear them if they are, and press OK. Before you close the Advanced dialog, make sure the “Include inheritable permissions from this objects parent” is NOT checked, and press OK to close the Advanced dialog, and then OK again to close the Permissions dialog.
You are done. Now close regedit, and restart Windows, you should now have your own desktop wallpaper :)
If one day you want to change your wallpaper, simply replace the img0.jpg file with the wallpaper image you want. To make this easier in the future, you can add the “c:\windows\web\wallpaper\windows\” folder to your Pictures Library, so its more easily accessible when you go to My Picutres. You could alternatively change the wallpaper path in the registry again, but you would have to first set Full Control permissions against your user name, and then make it Read Only again afterwards. Just replacing the existing image is probably a simpler solution for most.
So there you have it. Its perhaps not the most convenient/elegant solution for those without a bit of technical know-how, but it does work, without extra programs or spending money to upgrade.
PS: Microsoft, you should be ashamed of yourself.
At least it still blows away MAC!! HA HA HA!!!
well i tried this and it actually worked.. Here’s How:
1. Download the Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 ZIP file below provided by Oceanis.
2. Open the ZIP file and extract the Oceanis_Change_Background_W7.exe file, then run it to install it.
NOTE: Restarting the computer will be required to finish installing this program.
3. When your computer restarts, you will see this as your desktop background. Click on the Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 shortcut to change your desktop background. (see screenshot below)… its great, at least they can be used to our advantage, with the frustration of not being able to customize your damn computer, now you can..
Yeah this one disappointed me as well but there are several programs that let you change the wallpaper of Windows 7 Starter. One of them is Oceanis as one of the people who commented here pointed out. There is also Stardock which lets you change not only the wallpaper but the overall theme as well. There is also another program which I like which is featured here – http://www.techiechips.com/change-the-wallpaper-of-windows-7-starter/
It gives you the personalize option just like in home basic or home premium where you can change the wallpaper.
just download Oceanis Windows 7 starter background changer
I tried Stardock but unfortunately my netbook (Asus EeePC 1201N) didn’t take it nicely. Yeah, the theme & background changed but my speed went low after i did it.
I tried installing Stardock again. It worked fine. then I discovered recently that I can change my desktop background using my ASUS netbook’s Eee Docking feature. what an idiot. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Thank you Eee Docking!
It worked!!!! I tried re-writing img0.jpg with my own image and editing regedit just like Bubbles the Monkey and sgr84 suggested and I now have a beautiful picture on my desktop. F#@% microsoft!!!
Bubbles the Monkey and sgr84, you are geniuses, thanks a lot for your advice!
i have a copy of windows home premium on my laptop can I put in on my daughters note book instead of the starter edition and save a couple of bucks