As the title suggests I try to change my desktop background and it will not accept the image. It will simply put a solid colour there instead. I have tried from the settings panel and even from the image viewer. The image viewer results in an error and suggests I need to activate Windows. It is activated.
Thanks for taking the time to read my question.
One thing to check. Go to the Ease of Access Centre, either at:
Settings > Ease of Access > Other options
or:
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Ease of Access Centre\Make the computer easier to see
and make sure 'show windows background' hasn't been turned off.
Hi Bree, thank you for the info. It was set to show a background.
OK, so you've tried from Settings and it didn't work, but there's another way to set a background - find an image in File Explorer, right-click on it then select 'Set as desktop background' (apparently this should work even if windows isn't activated). Try it with the standard wallpaper in C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows
Apparently at least one other has got the 'Settings' method to work again by doing just that.
Can't Change Desktop Wallpaper
that just changes the background to a solid colour too.
It does sound as if your Windows is behaving as if it isn't activated. Have you ever had a background image? Did anything change recently that may have caused activation problems? Have you re-installed Windows or changed any hardware, for example.
This tutorial may help, https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...dows-10-a.html
Though I fear you may end up needing to use 'OPTION FOUR To Activate Windows 10 by Phone' here...
Activate Windows 10
Open gpedit (Right Click Start Choose Run and enter gpedit.msc) if you have Win 10 pro or higher and go to User Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Start Menu and Taskbar look for an entry called Prevent users from customizing their start screen and make sure it's set to Not Configured or Disabled
I recently had this update:
Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3176493)
I have noticed Cortana is not working either.
shishom, I right click and nothing happens. It's looking more like I need to reinstall windows. I did a deep scan with my (paid) antivirus and it's shows no issues. So whatever is wrong is either not detected or still a mystery.
if you're reinstalling Windows you might as well upgrade to the Anniversary Update. I always clean install Windows when there's a major change like the AU and run the ISO I download through a program called MSMG Toolkit to remove what I don't need before installing and I rarely if ever have any issues with Win 10. Sounds like you have corrupted files and running sfc /scannow could help but since you say nothing happens when you right click Start go to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe right click it and choose Run as Admin and see if it helps. You might have to run it 3 times so run it then restart then run again
Before doing that it may be worth trying to repair the existing system with sfc/scannow and dism. See...
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html
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