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Unable to change wallpaper to a photo of my choice.

N

n7vy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 7, 2011
16
4
I have a Studio M1-Max and I am unable to change the wallpaper to a picture of my choice. I can take a JPG that is on my desktop and I can right click and it gives me the choice to make as desktop picture but after clicking on it, it doesn't ever change. When I go to the wallpapers line in settings I can only choose the wallpapers that come with macOS Tahoe. Am I missing something really simple?
 
Screenshot 2025-09-17 at 12.22.44 PM.png


Is the "Your Photos" option not available to you?
 
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n7vy said:
I have a Studio M1-Max and I am unable to change the wallpaper to a picture of my choice. I can take a JPG that is on my desktop and I can right click and it gives me the choice to make as desktop picture but after clicking on it, it doesn't ever change. When I go to the wallpapers line in settings I can only choose the wallpapers that come with macOS Tahoe. Am I missing something really simple?
Click to expand...
I’ve got the same exact problem on Macbook Pro M1 Max 16 inches. Very frustrating.
 
The add photo link doesn't seem to have made it into the final release.
 
Just did a complete restart. Didn't help. Maybe I need to wait for the first update.
 
Well my wallpaper changed by Right clicking on the image and choosing set as desktop. The change took about 5 minutes to switch. and lasted about a minute. UGH.
 
I have the same problem on a MacMini M2 Pro. I was able to add one desktop photo by dragging it to the window. But it doesn't stick as wallpaper on all screens including the Lock screen. It will revert to the first landscape (Tahoe) after a few minutes. Also the screensaver is intermittent non-functional. I can add a folder, but hot corners won't activate it up. I can see the preview in the dialog box, but not on the screen if I click it.

I also don't have a right-click add to desktop option on any photo that I select.
 
I don't even have the 'Your Photos' section on mine! Well, I did for a couple of hours but even then it wouldn't do anything, but now it has disappeared. I have tried reinstalling the OS but that made no difference at all.
 
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Well, it appears that the wallpaper and screensaver issue that I reported have "fixed" themselves after a day or two. Did Apple install some latent AI in teh OS?

Now if I can only get iPhone mirroring to recognize my new 17 Pro Max instead of the old 15 Pro.........
 
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BossBurt said:
Well, it appears that the wallpaper and screensaver issue that I reported have "fixed" themselves after a day or two. Did Apple install some latent AI in teh OS?

Now if I can only get iPhone mirroring to recognize my new 17 Pro Max instead of the old 15 Pro.........
Click to expand...
Maybe it finished indexing
 
Still waiting for 'Your Photos' to reappear, guess its never coming back to me....

Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 8.20.11 am.png
 
M4th said:
Can someone post a screenshot of the menu after right-clicking on any image file?

Does "Set Desktop Picture" even appear in that menu in Tahoe?
Click to expand...
On my system (MacMini M2 Pro) if an image is on my computer or on a removable disk, set desktop picture is not part of the right-click menu. However, if the photo is on a web page, that option is indeed available.
Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 9.44.16 PM.jpg
Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 9.41.50 PM.jpg
Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 9.44.16 PM.jpg
Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 9.41.50 PM.jpg
 
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Mine shows up under the Services submenu.
 

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BossBurt said:
There is no Services submenu in either of my examples...:(
Click to expand...
I think this is the sort of problem ChatGPT may have the answer to. Ask it how do I right click a picture in Finder and set it as desktop picture when there's no such option in the context menu. I know you can run a terminal command to do it. But how to integrate that into a context menu in Finder
 
thebart said:
I think this is the sort of problem ChatGPT may have the answer to. Ask it how do I right click a picture in Finder and set it as desktop picture when there's no such option in the context menu. I know you can run a terminal command to do it. But how to integrate that into a context menu in Finder
Click to expand...
Well I did that and got a plethora of options to try.. Basically, Apple removed the set desktop function. I have several options to look at and some of them haven't paned out for me. "it suggested" creating a shortcut apple script to add it back in with options. I may try that, but I am definitely not mucking with the command terminal-I screwed up once already. 😄
 
BossBurt said:
Well I did that and got a plethora of options to try.. Basically, Apple removed the set desktop function. I have several options to look at and some of them haven't paned out for me. "it suggested" creating a shortcut apple script to add it back in with options. I may try that, but I am definitely not mucking with the command terminal-I screwed up once already. 😄
Click to expand...
Oh, try this:

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard shortcut > Services > Pictures > Set desktop picture. Set a keyboard shortcut, like shift+cmd+option+p or something. Now in Finder, select a picture and press that shortcut.
 
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