1. Open regedit (aka registry editor; you can access it from the star menu by typing “regedit” in the search box…)
2. Go to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\” folder and click on it
3. On the right hand side find there are a bunch of entries. Find the key named “Wallpaper” and double click on it and put the path of the picture you want as your new wallpaper (example path is “C:\Users\Bob\Pictures\new_wallpaper.jpg”)
4. Right-click on the “Desktop” folder in regedit that you found in step 2 and click Permissions.
5. Click “Advanced”
6. Go to “Owner” tab, highlight your name in the box that says ‘Change owner to’ ( There are only two choices the other is Administrator )… once your user name is highlighted click “OK”
7. Click on “Advanced” again
8. Uncheck the button that reads “Include inheritable permissions from the object’s parent”… click “Remove” when prompted
9. Click “Add”
10. Type “Everyone” and click “OK”
11. Check Allow “Read Control” and click “OK”
12. Click “OK” again
13. Highlight “Everyone” and check to Allow “Read” and click “OK”
14. Restart Computer and enjoy new Wallpaper

Help!!

Thanks… it is really simple when I look back at it

Is this the button I have to uncheck:
http://i33.tinypic.com/2hobds3.png

Then I get this message:
http://i36.tinypic.com/260skr4.png

That would take some time to accomplish and in the meanwhile I’ll keep checking this page often (or not often).
Wonder if that a simple wallpaper issue would cause someone to reformat and reinstall OS from scratch, would this happen to a lot of people or just some ;)

@Rafa: You’re right, it’s OEM. My bad I thought it was retail. That was the rest (Home, Pro, Ultimate). I just noticed the product key was OEM.

Probably there’s a mixup with OEM versions awhile back when I’m juggling through different versions of beta and rc DVD images but what the hell… my Win7SE works better.

As I said before, I never thought of having to install the edition but all the PIDs for RTM I got was a Starter and a Ultimate. The rest was for either Beta or RC so, I never installed SE before. (So from which image does exactly this one emerges? Likely I have to find that out.)

That’s why I just stumbled upon this page just a few days ago after figuring out about the wallpaper restriction. Only later did I noticed that Rafa is the boss and the article was more than six months old, and refers to older release, duh ;)

http://img40.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=77453902.png

————————————————————————————————————————————
Regedit go to key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper put the path of the image first, then righ click permissions->Put yourself as owner, then unchek the inherit button delete all users, then add the user ‘everyone’ and give read only permissions SOLVED :D

————————————————————————————————————————————

Quote: “I’ve reverse engineered the code that checks your license”
My license? How do you get your hands of…

Or do you mean ‘that kind of license’… :)
Well honestly, this one isn’t using any kind of activation hacks, so me too has to ‘reverse engineer’ or.. actually reinstall… heh..

P/S: I wonder about your earlier statement about screen resolution. Seems I don’t have any issue about that one too. Am I downloading from a wrong Microsoft server or… BTW I’m using retail (7600.16385.090713-1255_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD) not OEM so in my knowledge editing ei.cfg is sufficient enough or do I have to redownload the real starter DVD again, what do you think? Forget the AIO DVD of course…

Does AIO considered as a hack? Let’s say I messed up some other editions files with other editions installation. But for godsake it’s just WIM files.

Anyway thanks for suggestions, my top priority is to reinstall RC first and figure it out, then probably older Betas providing the activation codes are still valid… only this slow PC took longer to install than using newer PCs.. about two hours.

And oh, I tried srg84’s registry method and it works. So just in case I messed up the registry I created another User account and try it there and it works. Actually it doesn’t require the read-only part at all. You just need to logoff and then re-login but thats a pain in the ass.

So to me (for now) all the fuss about Win7SE wallpaper issues are either in the past or some kind of (un)intentional bug…

To convert editions, and the checksum verifies (told you that all needed is one iso download!) you can use:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/10/31/windows-7-iso-image-edition-switcher-free-download-for-direct-convert/

I didn’t use that one, I did by hand last time (and integrated x86 and x64) but a simpler way now exists. Have your ISO ready and patch to a universal x86 or x64 (one ISO for each architecture):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/11/01/create-windows-7-universal-iso-with-all-editions-selection-on-install-with-ei-cfg-removal-utility/

Hope this clarify about genuity of installer being used. Now back to the issue of setting wallpaper… :)

Still not convinced about a real starter edition? This is the real deal. I don’t know how anymore real can it be. FYI I’ve tested betas, rcs and rtms on a lot of machines already, and my gut says this starter edition does look as starter as it can be ;) compared to Premium or Professional or Ultimate.

And how does a ‘real’ starter edition System Properties window should look like. Anyone with a screenshot?

This is a real copy. Downloaded from MSDN, intgrated x86 & x64 editions. There’s a bunch of guide on how to do that, perhaps in the process some of the ‘required’ files from other editions were being copied to the starter edition, I don’t know.

All you have to do is copy everything, unlock the editions by deleting ei.cfg and burn. Details:
http://www.windowsvalley.com/blog/create-windows-7-aio-all-in-one-dvd-or-merge-all-editions-of-windows-7-in-single-dvd/

Also here, but seems it has been removed by Microsoft:
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (Microsoft Store, now removed) http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool

But what I do know is, before activation, the wallpaper cannot be set, only after activation it does. Although I signed up with both MSDN and beta test programs I have all RC and Beta releases, but so far I only tested Starter Edition with RTM build 7600. Maybe I have time I’ll reformat and reinstall an older release. I already messed up product keys for different editions :P

As for the screen resolution, I’m using a WS 1440×900, and during instalaltion it’s 640×480 in 8-bit color, can’t see any button, minimize and close button, progress bars etc. But I keep going and download appropriate video driver, surprisingly old WinXP driver works on mine. And one more thing: You DO NEED AN OLD SYSTEM, OR underpowered system, as per requirement (See Win7 requirement changes on official Win7 page).

For summary: Need 260GB or less (used 160GB, partitioned for only 80GB, used abt 6GB). 1GB RAM or less (used 512). 2.0GHz CPU or less (used 1.5GHz Pentium 4). So the system DOES satisfy the requirements.

You might be one of those who confused Starter Edition with Home Basic!
Starter Edition is sold worldwide and for less capable systems. Home Basic is not for retail, only OEMs for less developed countries. Take a look at official page, there’s a Starter, Home Prem, Prof and Ultimate.

For the sake of argument, I’ll probably re-try the RC build, if the activation for it still available, later. For now I’m trying to enjoy this crippled release for a few more hours or days :)

No SHA calculation or registry hack or 3rd party software ever needed. Win7 RTM build 7600 Starter Edition.
Using in-built Explorer function and bundled Windows Photo Viewer (hey, associate GIF to it, seems M$ forgot to do so..)

Who does look closely will notice that my clock was messed up so don’t let it cloud your thinking.

Two easy ways:
1. Double click on a picture and Windows Photo Viewer will launch. Right-click and choose Set As Desktop Background.
2. Just open Windows Explorer. Use thumbnail view, then right-click on a picture and choose Set As Desktop Background.

Just got a scrapped away HDD and installed 7 starter on a P4 1.5 with 512 (shared VGA memory, have to install VIA/S3G WinXP driver for display but that worked, WHQL indeed). Screenshot at http://tinyurl.com/7wallpaper

Regedit go to key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper put the path of the image first, then righ click permissions->Put yourself as owner, then unchek the inherit button delete all users, then add the user ‘everyone’ and give read only permissions SOLVED :D