You can easily get tired of staring at the same wallpaper all the time. Setting a new one is a great way to personalize a new computer and make it feel like your own. But, it can be really annoying when you can’t change the desktop wallpaper on your computer. In this article, we’ll explore several different ways to fix this problem on Windows 11.

Fix: Can’t change Desktop Wallpaper on Windows 11

Method 1: Reset Transcoded Wallpaper Cache

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. Then, type the following command, and click OK:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

Run command

2. Once the Themes folder opens up, rename or delete the “Transcoded Wallpaper” file. Right-click the file, and select “Rename“. Change the name to “Transcoded Wallpaper.bak” or something else.

rename Transcoded

3. Next, open the “slideshow” file by double-clicking on it. Once the file opens in Notepad, select all the text and delete it.

open slideshow

4. After completing these steps, try changing the wallpaper again.

Method 2: Disable Slideshow Feature in Settings

1. Open Windows Settings, and navigate to “Personalization” > “Background“.

Go to background settings

2. Click the drop-down menu next to Personalize your background and select “Picture“.

select picture

3. Then, choose a picture below or use the “Browse photos” option to select an image from your computer.

Choose an image

Method 3: Change Desktop Background using File Explorer

You can’t change the wallpaper on Windows 10 and 11 if your Windows is not activated or if the trial period is over. But if you want to change the wallpaper on your unactivated Windows 11 system, follow this easy trick:

1. Right-click the image you want to set as the wallpaper, select “Open with“, and click “Paint“.

Open with > Paint

2. In the Paint app, click the “File” menu, hover over the “Set as desktop background” option, and choose a fit.

choose fit

3. Alternatively, double-click the image to open it in the Photos app.

4. Click the three dots button, hover over “Set as“, and select “Background“.

Three dots > Set as > Background

Method 4: Turn Off Remove Background Settings

1. Open the Control Panel, change the “View by” to “Large icons“, and click “Ease of Access Center“.

Click Ease of Access Center

2. Under Explore all settings, click on “Make the computer easier to see“.

Make the computer easier to see

3. Uncheck the “Remove background images (where available)” and click “Apply”.  Then, click “OK“.

uncheck remove background images

Method 5: Make Changes to the Windows Registry

1. Press Windows + R, type “regedit” in the Run dialog box, and hit Enter.

regedit

2. In the Registry Editor, copy-paste the following path in the address bar and hit Enter:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

Go to Policies

3. Under Policies, select “ActiveDesktop“. If you don’t have this key, create it.

ActiveDesktop

4. On the right, right-click an empty area and select “New” > “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.

New > DWORD

5. Then, rename the newly created DWORD to “NoChangingWallPaper”.

Rename DWORD to NoChangingWallPaper

6. Double-click the DWORD and make sure the value is set “0″.

Set to 0

7. Then, restart your PC to apply the changes.

Method 6: Modify Group Policy Editor

1. Open the Run Command, type “gpedit.msc“, and click “OK“.

open local group policy editor

2. Once the Local Group Policy Editor opens, go to the following location:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization

Select Personalization

3. On the right-pane, find and double click the “Prevent changing desktop background” setting.

Select Prevent Changing Desktop Background

4. On the new window that appears, select “Not Configured” or “Disabled“, and click “Apply“. Then, click “OK“.

Select Not Configured

Video fix

For further assistance, checkout this video fix demonstrating above solutions:

That’s it.

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