Forum Discussion
Desktop slideshow doesn't work with multiple virtual desktops
To reproduce the bug:
- If you don't have multiple virtual desktops press Win Key + Tab and click the "New Desktop icon.
- Press Control key + Win Key + left arrow to go to Desktop 1.
- Right click on the desktop and select "Personalize"
- Click the "Background" panel.
- Select the "Slideshow" option from the drop-down box.
- On the "Choose a picture album for a slideshow" panel choose a folder with some pictures for the slideshow.
- On the "Change picture every" panel choose 1 minute from the drop-down box.
- On the "Shuffle the picture order" panel turn the switch to "off".
- On the "Choose a fit for your desktop image" choose "Fill" from the drop-down box.
- Dismiss the "Personalization > Background" by clicking the X at the top right of the window.
- Press Control key + Win Key + right arrow to go to Desktop 2.
- Press Control key + Win Key + left arrow to go to Desktop 1.
- Right click on the desktop and select "Personalize"
- Click the "Background" panel.
- You will notice that the drop-down box is showing "Picture"
Windows 11 will not let you keep a slideshow if you want to move from one virtual desktop to another.
Hi
I've been encountering the same issue lately and this solution worked for me!
- Reboot your computer
2. Don't switch virtual desktop during next steps
3. Open settings and set background to slideshow
4. Open registry editor and remove key "Wallpaper" in each subtree in \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VirtualDesktops\Desktops\ (each subtree is one virtual desktop)
5. Reboot the computer again
6. Right-click somewhere on wallpaper and click "next desktop wallpaper"
Now you can safely switch desktop or reboot your computer.
- Reboot your computer
15 Replies
Here is a slightly simpler version that worked for me:
- Set Personalization background to "Slideshow"
- Open the registry editor and remove the "Wallpaper" value in each subtree of \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VirtualDesktops\Desktops\ (each subtree is one virtual desktop)
- Bring up Task Manager, go to Details, and select explorer.exe. Then click the "Restart task" button in the upper right (or right-click on explorer.exe and select Restart).
It is not necessary to restart your computer.
I did this about six months ago, and it has worked perfectly until today. I believe it reverted to some prior state as part of a recent major Windows Update. I had been putting it off for a while, but after I let the computer update itself, all of the desktops were reset to some random picture. I performed the procedure again, and all of the desktops are now showing the slide show. In an ideal world each desktop would display its own set of random slideshow images (I have multiple monitors). Of course, it would be really nice if Microsoft fixed the issue by deleting the Wallpaper values from the Registry automatically whenever a user switches to a Slideshow background.
Here is a slightly simpler version that worked for me:
- On any desktop set the Personalization background to "Slideshow"
- Open registry editor and remove the "Wallpaper" value in each subtree of \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VirtualDesktops\Desktops\ (each subtree is one virtual desktop)
- Bring up Task Manager, go to Details, and select explorer.exe. Then click the "Restart task" button in the upper right (or right-click on explorer.exe and select Restart).
It is not necessary to restart your computer.
Amusing that that this is marked as a "Solution" rather than yet another bodge we have to make.
Great if you are an experienced hack. But what about the other 90% of users ?
Agentics going to fix this one day maybe ? 🤣
Thanks! Worked for me, 25H2
This issue is still happening.
MyKeg do you have any kind of solution to this?
No, I'm afraid not.
In fact I updated Windows yesterday to:
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
Installed on ‎Sun ‎10/‎11/‎2024
OS build 26100.2033
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.23.0and for the first half hour it was even worse. I have set different photos on each desktop because the slideshow won't work and yesterday, after the update, when I went to a new desktop it showed the photo which I wanted for that desktop for a second and then it flipped to showing the picture from the previous desktop. I also checked to see if the slideshow was working and found that it still wasn't.
Mike.
Hi
I've been encountering the same issue lately and this solution worked for me!
- Reboot your computer
2. Don't switch virtual desktop during next steps
3. Open settings and set background to slideshow
4. Open registry editor and remove key "Wallpaper" in each subtree in \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VirtualDesktops\Desktops\ (each subtree is one virtual desktop)
5. Reboot the computer again
6. Right-click somewhere on wallpaper and click "next desktop wallpaper"
Now you can safely switch desktop or reboot your computer.
- Reboot your computer
