I'm experiencing some strange behavior: I have set the following policies:
User Configuration\Administrative templates\Desktop\Active Desktop
- Enable active desktop [enabled]
- Active Desktop Wallpaper [set to local path — quadruple checked; path is correct]
- Allow only bitmap wallpaper [disabled]
gpupdate /force, log out, log back in, and the background is just black. If I go into themes, and select Windows 7, the appointed background then shows (it also flashes when logging out).
I've tried:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverGP/thread/a1ebfe81-421e-4630-8c1f-8068222ee533
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;977944
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproui/thread/5b9e513a-d504-451d-a121-b4f94893d96d
and a few other things, but nothing seems to be working :/
Thanks for any help/tips/advice.
It seems like for some reason the desktop background color is taking precedence. If I go to change the desktop background color, and click "OK", the background image appears, but upon logging out and logging back in, the background is just the color I changed it to…
Best Answer
I experienced the same problem as you described above...
If you applied all your aforementioned items (registry/hotfix) and you are still experiencing issues, you can try rebooting the "Desktop Window Manager Session Manager" Service and see if the wallpaper appears. If this fixes it, then you can create a batch script that will restart this service upon login. I know this is a kludge, but it's better than nothing.
As for me (and as of today with the latest stock windows updates), I did not apply the registry update and I did apply the hotfix. This hotfix resolved my issue...
The hotfix I am referring to is kb977944. It can be downloaded from Microsoft without any waiting by clicking the "View and request hotfix downloads" at the top of the KB.
Hope this helps someone...
Andy