Windows – Cannot change Windows 10 background – Get black screen

desktop-customizationwindowswindows 10

When I try to change my desktop background in Win10 I only get black, as if it can't locate the file I selected. I've tried different methods of changing the background (right-clicking an image and setting it as my background as well as the personalization menu) to no avail. The only background that works is the default blue windows logo, which is what I had it set to from the beginning.

Note that I was previously able to change backgrounds upon installing Win10.

Also note that I recently did a boot/data drive separation, where Win10 is on an SSD (C:), and my User and Program folders are being redirected to my Data drive (D:) through changing the target location of the folder. While I don't see how this would change anything because I specify the path of the desired background image when I try to set it, I also don't know what else could be causing the problem.

It's frozen up on me 2x already in the past week or two. Win7 never froze :/

Best Answer

I had the same problem - it came out of nowhere. I didn't do anything with my computer.

This is what I did:

  • Right mouse on background personalize -> background -> changed background picture to slideshow - the background came back, but I couldn't do anything.
  • So I looked in windows themes and found transcoded wallpaper without .jpg extension, I added jpg and rebooted the PC - problem solved.

It's usually found in:

  • C -> Users -> Your name -> AppData -> Roaming-> Microsoft-> Windows Themes
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