Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Just recently, my desktop theme will not display correctly. The wallpaper is locked on 1 image instead of a slideshow. When I try to manually advance to the next image, nothing. I did try to save a solid background, which it let me do but when I tried to go back to my wallpaper, it would not let me display. Also, Windows will not let me create or even save my unsaved theme. I have used system restore to get a background image back but I am unable to change or save any settings in regards to desktop themes. My computer IQ is slightly newbish so any help is appreciated.
Specs:
Model- Asus CG 1330
Processor- AMD Phenom II X6 1045T
Graphics- ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series
RAM -8 GB
OS-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Thanks in adavance for any help you may have.

Reply 1 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

I going to guess Aero is not enabled. Let's try something really safe.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/13/how-to-turn-on-and-enable-aero-in-windows-7-enable-aero-peek/

Let's hope it's that.
Bob

Reply 2 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Thanks for the reply. Tried that and it says it can't identify the problem. My graphics rating on the Windows experience is 4.9. I have been able to use aero without problems and it does let me enable/disable it, change the sound settings but not the wallpaper. still stumped:(

Reply 3 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Also, I just noticed that when I right click on an image to set it as a destop backgroung, Windows will not set it as a new background.

Reply 4 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Try this. Create a new user and log in on that new account. Do things work there?

Reply 5 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Well, I created a new profile and it works. Thank you. Question...I am the only one that uses the desktop (wife likes her laptop). How do I get my old account settings to this new account. Do I just delete my old account and rename the new one with the old account name. If so, would my settings transfer (new account did not show my network drive or printer)? Or do I need to start all over again. Thanks again for your help.

Bret

Reply 6 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Sorry if I write badly here. The issue of corrupt profiles are legendary. Not only that, Microsoft has never published a tool to repair them (that we know of.)

If you google "Windows 7 corrupt profiles" you find plenty of discussions but no cures short of abandoning the account that has problems.

DO NOT DELETE ACCOUNTS! Doing so finds folk that forgot to backup or copy files over to the new account or WORSE!!! (what's worse? think no backups ever.)

Sorry but you've been stung by a long standing Windows annoyance.
Bob

Reply 7 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

Bob,
Thank you for answer. Explains a lot. I Googled and found this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile. Will give it a shot and see what happens. Will back up my user settings before trying. Learn something new every day. Thanks again.

Bret

Reply 8 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

The title is "fix a corrupted profile" but the article never fixes the corrupted profile! It abandons the account!
Bob

Reply 9 : Win7 will not display or save desktop theme...

OK!! FIXED but Windows code is still the root cause!! This equivalent problem has bugged me for MONTHS! I have four Windows 7 machines of very similar architecture. Two have this problem and one began emulating this yesterday.

RECAP: Every time windows opens there is an Unsaved Theme. No existing saved themes seem to be used thou they are functional and saved in the user directory. The usaved theme is similar to my saved theme but intermmitently it loses the slide show. Displaying only the last picture used. BUT, it always loses the presentation, setting it to Stretched as opposed to Fit.

This fix DOES NOT involve any Upgrade (clearly that is only a patch and the problem can return).

After setting everything how I wanted it and saving that theme. Through REGEDIT I looked at the Control Panel/Desktop in CURRENT USER and noted all of the settings. I then went to HKEY USERS and set ALL of the sub functions that contained similar Desktop data to the same settings. Two were NOT equivalent!.

Problem eliminated! Only Save themes are used after reboot and so far it appears stable.

Caveat: There are only Two Users on my machine, both are me. The newer one was created to investigate whether a new profile, identically structured, contained the issue, which it did not.

I repeated this on all machines and it appears to have fixed the problem. I don't think the source creator is fixed as this is clearly a coded Windows issue, but the problem is fixed without reinstallation or new profile creation, and it is repeatable.