[pyehac]

Yes, I bought a netbook with Windows 7 starter preinstalled - I had a budget if I wanted a *counts* 4th computer and didn't have enough money to spring for a netbook with '7 Home Premium.

Is there any possible way to change the wallpaper in Windows 7 starter? (all my google-fu has brought up is results saying how starter edition sucks, etc)

(plus, its fun to hack than to buy - and if anything else fails, I'll upgrade to Home Premium.)

[Madoshi]

%windir%\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg

that should be the location of the default (and only) wallpaper. from what i read in a Google search, this filename is hardcoded and you cannot change it's path. not sure how accurate that is though.

there is a registry entry:

(1) HKCU\ControlPanel\Desktop\Wallpaper

this one was set to C:\Users\Wolf\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper.jpg and i changed it to C:\Users\Wolf\Pictures\test.jpg which after a logoff/logon resulted in a black desktop (no pic). i found that changing the wallpaper via "Personalize Desktop" reset it back to what it was. so you might try searching for / fooling around with that filename.

and

(2) HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General\Wallpaper Source

this one was set to C:\Windows\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg; i tried changing it to C:\Users\Wolf\Pictures\test.jpg with no effective change after a logoff/logon. after changing the wallpaper to one of the ones included with Windows (see above) the value reset to C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Sample Pictures\Hydrangeas.jpg (the one i selected)

i do not know if these will take effect if changed.

my guess would be to try to overwrite that file (img0.jpg) with a Jpeg of the same dimensions. from what i read, you will have to change the permissions on the file to allow yer self to overwrite it.

i searched my Windows 7 partition (i am using Home Premium but this may help anyways) and it seems that img0.jpg is in another location - possibly a backup that gets automatically copied or something. it is in some odd-named folder that seems to be machine-specific, so just open the C: drive and search for img0.jpg.

remember, i do not have access to Starter so what i have said is almost a complete guess. good luck and hope this helps!

[pyehac]

bah, I got so frustrated with '7 starter, I installed '7 RC1.

[aussiefloyd_fan]

cool..
hey did they still have that 3 app limit in starter


and what netbook did you get?? please do tell

[ccoltmanm]

The 3 app limit has been lifted.

[M_Lyons10]

AUSSIE_FLOYD_FAN, on Nov 8 2009, 00:59, said:

cool..
hey did they still have that 3 app limit in starter


and what netbook did you get?? please do tell

I was pretty sure that Microsoft announced that they were dropping the 3 app limit... Might be wrong...

I had really hoped they would drop the wallpaper limit. It didn't make sense to me...

[pyehac]

M_Lyons10, on Nov 7 2009, 14:18, said:

I had really hoped they would drop the wallpaper limit. It didn't make sense to me...

Yeah. I guess they wanted to extort money from people who wants the basic features on netbooks.

I got the Gateway LT2030U netbook - yes, it has the same features as the others, but the Eee netbook my local best buy had was 'their version' (specifically the 1005HAB- no bluetooth ). Yes, I know I could have bought online since I knew 10.1" netbooks has the keyboard space I require, but I need the netbook tomorrow for note taking (I did a few test rounds, and I can still type at about 50wpm with no errors).

And so far, Aero runs fine, but I kind of missed Aero peek.

[+GreenMartian]

Wuffy, on Nov 8 2009, 10:11, said:

%windir%\web\wallpaper\windows\img0.jpg

All your information was correct, only missing a slight detail. Microsoft also hardcoded the hash of the original img0.jpg in shell32.dll and will blank out your desktop if the hashes don't match.

There were talks about hacking the stored hash, but I've never seen it done successfully.

[Growled]

M_Lyons10, on Nov 7 2009, 18:18, said:

I had really hoped they would drop the wallpaper limit. It didn't make sense to me...

It seems crazy to me.

[M_Lyons10]

Growled, on Nov 8 2009, 05:14, said:

It seems crazy to me.

Yeah. What's the point of this really?

[Madoshi]

M_Lyons10, on Nov 7 2009, 23:18, said:

Yeah. What's the point of this really?

money

i see this as: do one of those Windows Anytime upgrades and gain the ability to have a desktop wallpaper, else buy a new computer or a new copy of Windows 7. MS wins in any event.

EDIT: so why not grab a shell32.dll from Home Edition?

[aussiefloyd_fan]

Wolf From Madoshi Forums, on Nov 7 2009, 22:20, said:

EDIT: so why not grab a shell32.dll from Home Edition?

or dont even use windows shell .. i no longer do and have never looked back since using a custom shell..

[tuxplorer]

Surely you're read this?

[omnicoder]

What hash algorithm does shell32 use?

[+GreenMartian]

Wuffy, on Nov 8 2009, 14:50, said:

EDIT: so why not grab a shell32.dll from Home Edition?

Again, I don't know. A lot of talk of doing that (replacing the whole dll from another edition / overwriting the hardcoded hash), but I've never seen a successful attempt on the net. I just assumed it wasn't possible...

omnicoder, on Nov 8 2009, 15:58, said:

What hash algorithm does shell32 use?

SHA-256.