Cannot Remove Personalization

CJW · 2 Weeks Ago

This is long because I tried to be thorough

When I right-click the Desktop & select Personalize, I have 2 problems:
1. Under Background>Slideshow, there is an album that is no longer on my comfuser
2. Under Lock screen>Picture, there is a picture that is no longer on my comfuser

I went into Folder Options & marked 'Show hidden files, folders & drives' as well as unchecked 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)'.

I then searched the comfuser, using both Windows Explorer & Everything, but I cannot find this folder or picture anywhere.

I then searched the Registry & these come up:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\CrawlScopeManager\Windows\SystemIndex\WorkingSetRules\4 →
URL> C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\Sites\LocalHost\Paths\3 →
Path> file:///C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\StartPages\7 →
URL> C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Search\CrawlScopeManager\Windows\SystemIndex\WorkingSetRules\4 →
URL> C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\Sites\LocalHost\Paths\3 →
Path> file:///C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\StartPages\7 →
URL> C:\[4a32f50b-6c56-462d-83ba-95275b04c09e]\Windows\Resources\Themes\Christmas\

But if I delete the Registry entries above & restart the comfuser:
1. The 2 problems are still listed
2. When I click my User Icon on the Start Menu, I no longer see: 'Change account settings', 'Lock' & 'Sign out'

But after 2 more restarts:
1. The Registry entries above automatically came back
2. The 2 problems are still listed
3. When I click my User Icon on the Start Menu, the options came back

So how do I get rid of my 2 problems (from the beginning) w/o my Start Menu>User Icon options getting removed?

Samuria · 2 Weeks Ago

Have got or use more than on pc? If so if you have sync set on it will keep resyncing

CJW · 2 Weeks Ago

Samuria said:

Have got or use more than on pc? If so if you have sync set on it will keep resyncing

No. I have & use just the 1 PC & it's not synced w/any others in the house.

Late last night, I did find where the Lock Screen picture was being held.
There were multiple copies of it behind a few Windows protected folders:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\<User_Account_Security_Identifier>\ReadOnly\LockScreen_*

Once I took ownership of the folders & files, I was able to delete all the pictures & now the Personalize>Lock screen>Background picture I wanted removed (the Christmas Trees) is gone.

Still stuck on getting rid of the Personalize>Background>Slideshow album though.

Brink · 2 Weeks Ago

Hello CJW,

If it may help, you could use the group policies in the tutorials below to disable (prevent) changing the desktop and lock screen background.

Allow or Prevent Changing Desktop Background in Windows 10

Enable or Disable Changing Lock Screen Background in Windows 10

CJW · 1 Week Ago

Brink said:

Hello CJW,

If it may help, you could use the group policies in the tutorials below to disable (prevent) changing the desktop and lock screen background.

Allow or Prevent Changing Desktop Background in Windows 10

Enable or Disable Changing Lock Screen Background in Windows 10

I was able to remove the Lock Screen picture (the Christmas Trees), so that's been fixed.

I don't want to disable the changing of desktop Background pictures, I just want to remove the Christmas album. But it seems that the only way to remove the album is to replace it w/a different album.

For now, the Background is set to a Solid Color. But this is incomplete/lazy coding in my opinion.

Brink · 1 Week Ago

You can reset the desktop background history using the method below.

Reset Desktop Background Choose Your Picture History in Windows 10

CJW · 1 Week Ago

Brink said:

You can reset the desktop background history using the method below.

Reset Desktop Background Choose Your Picture History in Windows 10

Thank you. Resetting the Background Registry entries did indeed help.

The problem I was having trying to remove the Background Christmas album is that the entry in the Registry was NOT labeled Christmas, but instead was a bunch of letters (code pointing to the actual folder possibly?).

But all is well now. Thank you for the helpful reply, Registry download & information.

Cannot Remove Personalization-personalization.jpg

Brink · 1 Week Ago

Great news. Glad we could help.