Windows Desktop Background Photos

[Wittyservant7]

I am unable to find what folder where the Windows Desktop Background Photos are. Does anyone know where this folder is and the name of the folder? Thanks

 

[clifford_cooley]

Look in the registry for

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]​

under this key

"Wallpaper"="_________"​

There you will see the location of your current wallpaper.

 

[Kalario]

How do I look at the registry (read-only of course)? I have never done this before, as the registry scares me.

 

[#Flizr]

I think he meant the default Windows wallpapers that come along with OS. They can be found at: X:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper

(X = Drive Letter, eg. C)

 

[TrainableMan]

Kal, in start menu search type regedit. And it's NOT read-only, if you change anything it will be saved, so delete or modify with caution. It's like playing with matches, they can be quite useful when used properly or they can burn the house down.

 

[Wittyservant7]

Couldn't find them in Registry

When I went to Control Panel and then to Change Background, there were photos in C:\Users\Rod\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes, but when I went to C:\Users\Rod, there was no folder AppData. How does one find the hidden folders in Windows 7?

 

[Nibiru2012]

Wittyservant7 - We "believe" you're talking about the Desktop Wallpapers.

Firecat gave you the info once, but here it is again. You don't need to use regedit or any fancy "tricks".

Go to: C Local Drive, then Windows Folder, then Web folder, then Wallpapers. This is how it looks: C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper

If you want to delete the individual folders the you'll need to "Take Ownership" of the folder(s).

 

[clifford_cooley]

Open explorer and insert "C:\Users\Rod\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes" in the address bar. Just because its hidden doesn't mean you can not access it. The folder is there for you to access, all you need to know is the folder names.

If you want to change the folder options to show hidden files. Open explorer and select "Tools>>Folder Options". If the file bar is not visible press the "Alt key" to show the bar temporarily. From Folder Options select the "View" tab. Scroll down to "Hidden files and folders". From there you can select whether to show or hide your folders.

 

[TrainableMan]

It's a hidden system folder. In Windows Explorer go to Organize, select Folder and Search options. Under the View tab. Check "Show hidden files, folders, or drives."

 

[#Flizr]

Firecat gave you the info once, but here it is again.

I did...

 

[Wittyservant7]

I want to delete some photos in my Windows Background, but when I try, it states that I need permission from TrustedInstaller. I changed that to allow me to delete, but I still cannot delete the photos. These photos were a part of the OS (not ones that I have added)..

 

[Nibiru2012]

What you need to do is to "Take Ownership" as I stated in my previous reply.

Taking ownership of system files or folders in Windows 7 or Vista is not a simple task. Whether you use the GUI or the command line, it takes far too many steps.

Thankfully somebody created a registry hack that will give you a menu item for “Take Ownership” that will handle all the steps for you.

Here’s what the new right-click menu will look like after installing this registry hack.

Install
Download and unzip the files contained in the zipfile. Double-click the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file and click through the prompts. No reboot necessary.

Download TakeOwnership.zip


Do this and you won't have any problems getting rid of the photos in the Wallpapers section.
I use this tweak to delete entire Wallpaper "Scene" folders because I use my own custom Wallpaper folders and the ones supplied by Windows 7 are pretty lame, in my opinion.