Solved Options for Adjusting Content after Windows Update

silvanet · Jul 7, 2024

Windows Update last night removed my desktop background image personalization setting. I don't necessarily want to remove the update completely, but I do want to return my original background picture. It's been the same for ages. I don't remember its name or location. I've searched for *.png and *.jpg but that returns tons of results. Does anyone have an idea how I can limit my search or filter to find it, or should I reverse the installation to locate it, then reinstall the update?

Megahertz · Jul 7, 2024

The image could be anywhere so you have to narrow the search.
Was a picture you took or a image from the internet?

You can try to uninstall the update, find where is the image storage d and its name and reinstall the update and then reconfigure the background image.

silvanet · Jul 7, 2024

No, it was a picture I took with my phone camera.

Megahertz · Jul 7, 2024

silvanet said:
No, it was a picture I took with my phone camera.

If you have an idea when took the picture you can search by date on pictures folder.
The best search engine is Everything
It is a very powerful tool
Everything support

Brink · Jul 7, 2024

Hello silvanet,

Does the picture still show in your desktop background "recent images" history?

If so, then you can use the same registry path from option two in the tutorial below to find the file location.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers

Delete Desktop Background Wallpaper History in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to delete all or specific recent images from desktop background wallpaper history for your account in Windows 11. You can change your desktop background in Windows 11 to be a picture, solid color, a slideshow, or Spotlight collection. Windows keeps the last 5...

www.elevenforum.com

desktop_background_wallpaper_recent_history_regedit-1-png.18205

silvanet · Jul 7, 2024

Thanks @Brink , no the picture was not showing in the recent images. I was about to look in the registry when it occurred to me to search for images on my network in another desktop PC running Windows 10, and there I found a long list of images that I thought might include the one I had used for my Windows 11 Desktop background. Almost at the very end of the images I found it! The date wouldn't have helped much. I knew it was not a recent picture, but neither was it at the very end of all the pictures sorted by date.
Thanks also to @Megahertz , yes I have Everything and that's what I had been using to search for it. As always, you guys are the very best. I really appreciate your help.

Brink · Jul 7, 2024

I'm happy to hear you found it. :party:

silvanet · Jul 7, 2024

Megahertz said:
The image could be anywhere so you have to narrow the search.
Was a picture you took or a image from the internet?

You can try to uninstall the update, find where is the image storage d and its name and reinstall the update and then reconfigure the background image.

This probably would have been the best method.

glasskuter · Jul 7, 2024

To put a bug in your ear, once you download a them or build a theme of your own, save the theme in settings>personalization>themes>name it something you recognize>save.
Then go to the file location Brink gave you above and copy that theme to a safe place. From then on, the theme can be reused on your system or moved to another system easily.