Wallpaper and Screen Saver problems

[Superman750]

Hello all,

I have been a longtime guest lurker, but decided I should sign up since I recently got an iMac. I don't know if this is just a problem with mine, or if it is a problem across all systems.

If you need any specs, let me know, but otherwise I don't know if they will be needed.

I am having a hard time with my wallpaper and screen savers when I switch between user profiles on my system. There are three profiles on the system. One for me, one for my wife, and one for our business. I will set a wallpaper and screen saver on my profile and it will be fine. After I am done, my wife changes to her profile or the business profile and will be on for a few. She doesn't touch the preferences at all. I go to get back on mine, as soon as I login it is back to the default galaxy. When I go back to the preferences to set it back to my wallpaper, it has a folder selected that was renamed weeks ago. I will go to reselect the folder and picture that I want by hitting the + button. We switch profiles again and everything is reset. The exact same thing happens with my screensaver.

I did a search for this problem and I saw others with somewhat the same issue and they said to go into /Library/Preferences and find com.apple.systempreferences.plist or com.apple.desktop.plist and delete them to reset the preferences. I go to that location and there is no file named either of those there.

Help? Please?

Granted, I have grown up using nothing but windows systems, but when I changed to a Mac system, this seems to be the most user unfriendly system I have ever seen. I know it probably just takes some getting used to but I am getting tired of it taking an hour to do a 10 minute job...

Thanks for the help.

 

[Stan Mikulenka]

Hi Superman,
if you're using Lion OS then the files you are looking for are hidden...
There are several libraries in MacOS...
It is in the 'Users/Library' which is hidden (so users like you don't muck-it-up)...

 

[Superman750]

Hi Superman,
if you're using Lion OS then the files you are looking for are hidden...
There are several libraries in MacOS...
It is in the 'Users/Library' which is hidden (so users like you don't muck-it-up)...

Yes I am using Lion OS. That's where I was looking. I found Users/Library/Preferences and neither of those files were in there...

 

[Butler Trumpet]

So you set your desktop background. Are you using a customer image or one that is built in?

To me it sounds like you are using a custom image, and setting it as your background but not actually saving the image in the right place. If you, for example, have a .jpg file on your desktop and you set it as the background, and then throw the file away it will remain your background until you log out.

But, when you log back in, because the source file is gone, it just sets your background back to default.

Here is what I do.... I created a folder here: Macintosh HD>Users>My User Name>Pictures and called it "Wallpapers". Then I put any customer picture I want in there. Next, in System Preferences, you can click the little "+" under desktop and screen saver to add a folder.

Is that what is going on?

 

[Superman750]

Not at all. You are correct. It is my photo that I am trying to set as the background (and screensavers). I have the photos saved in my pictures folder in finder. I right click on the desktop and go to change background. It brings up the wallpaper and screensaver preferences. I hit the + sign and add the folder. The background (or screensaver) that I select shows up. I do nothing with the folder from there on out.

At that point, I can log into another profile, then log back into my profile and the wallpaper is set to default (galaxy) and the screensaver comes up and says it can't find the folder. If I go to redo the wallpaper (screensaver), the folder that I had selected with the + is gone. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Butler Trumpet]

Interesting. You are not doing anything wrong... those steps should work fine.

So, I wonder what else is causing this. Maybe a permissions issue? Maybe a read/write issue on the drive?

If your wife changes her background, and then logs out and back in, does it stay the same like it should? If it works for her but not you, then its a user specific problem.

Here's is what I would try next.

Open Disk Utility and click Repair Permissions. If that doesn't do it, then... well... we'll go from there.

Good luck!

 

[Superman750]

I will try on her profile real quick and see. I am just around the corner from the house. If that doesn't work, then I will try your suggestion and let you know.

 

[Superman750]

It did stay the same on her profile after switching. Onto the repairing permissions.

 

[Superman750]

I just restarted the computer and my profile just reset to when I first bought it. It lost everything that was on my profile... Not all profiles... Just mine...

 

[Butler Trumpet]

When you say everything in your profile (which Mac users call User Account) is gone... do you mean that all of your personal data is gone now? Pictures, Music, Documents etc...

Repairing permissions shouldn't cause something like that. If this is the case... two things: Do you have a backup? and... This is starting to sound like hard drive failure. (sporadic data loss)

 

[Superman750]

By everything is gone, I mean it started up (only on my profile) as a brand new computer. The other profiles had everything the same. I had a backup, so I redid that. I didn't even get t the point where I reset permissions. I just changed the background in my wife's profile, logged into mine. The computer began acting slow, so I restarted through the screen options. When it came back up, it started as a brand new profile on the computer.

 

[Butler Trumpet]

Yeah... it sounds like you maybe have a failing hard drive. Get the rest of that machine backed up as soon as you can. Then, if you still have them, boot to the disc that came with the iMac by holding the Option key as you turn the computer on. If not you can use a 10.5 or 10.6 install DVD

From there, you can open up Disk Utility from the menu at the top and Verify Disk to see if it is okay.