Change desktop background every N minutes broken

so i posted about this before, where i had my background set to change every 5 minutes, but it would happen more often. i was recommended to delete and rebuild the the particular plist controlling this... thought it did the trick, but now i've changed it to every 15 minutes, and it still changes every 3-4 minutes.

there is only one advice to give in this situation - rebuild that plist again.
Delete the file homedirectory/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist and log out/in.

Similar Messages

HT2478 how do you make the setting to change desktop background every time you shut down your mac

how to make setting to change desktop background every time you close your mac
because i want to make it if anybody tries to change my dekstop picture i want it to go backto set desktop picture

Don't let other people access your Mac in admin mode - they might change something a lot more important than the Desktop picture.
However you can use Automator: create an Application in it, and select 'Set the Desktop Picture' from the Library. Choose the picture you want. Save the application, then go to System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items and select the Automator application you just created. This will then run at startup and set your chosen picture.

Change background every N minutes broken?

i'm running 10.5.3 on a 2.4GHz blackbook... i have my desktop background set to change every 5 minutes from a folder of about 375 pictures. it's changing the picture *at least* once a minute though, not 5 as i have set. i've updated the setting several times too. buggy?

Before deleting the plist, try running this command on it:
plutil -lint ~/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
I'm curious to see if this "plist check" routine will help solve many plist errors folks are having.
("username" is the name of your home directory -- your account's "short" name)

Change Desktop Background Every Day

This works every 5 seconds, every minute & I suspect all the other choices (based on posts by others in various Mac forums) but, it does not work when I select “Every Day.”
It does change if log out & then in or restart.
I have tried deleting Mac HD/Users/ (My Folder)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist. Then I logged out & back in.
Has anyone been able to get this to work?

I have not tried (recently) to repair permissions. I will do it now & restart.
BTW, the change every 30 minutes DOES work.
A thought: My iMac is set to turn on screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity. Put the display to sleep after 10 minutes and to put the computer to sleep after 20 minutes.
I noticed when I returned to my iMac after several hours with the desktop set to change every 30 minutes that it had NOT changed from several hours ago. I was about to assume the 30 minute setting didn’t work. Yet as I worked for the next couple of hours the background did change each 30 minutes. So, I wonder if going to sleep &/or having the display sleep -- stops the background from changing?
Anyway, I will set it to change daily & then repair permissions & restart.
Thanks! I hope it works as I like the idea of a new look every day.

Change Desktop Background Broken 10.8

When I "2 finger (right click)" click on the desktop and select "Change Desktop Background", System Preferences comes up and I can change my background. I then close System Preferences and try it again and System Prefrences doesnt open. It will work the 1st time after a reboot, but not work anytime after.
Is anyone else having this issue?
Is there anyway to see what that command is doing on the context menu? "Change Desktop Background"

I'm having a similar problem after installing Mountain Lion on a new MBP Retina. Sorry I didn't see your post before I duplicated it (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4217330?tstart=30).

Wallpaper not showing up in "Change Desktop Background" window

I just noticed an odd issue today on my Mac Pro. When browsing the built-in wallpaper folders (Nature, Plants, etc) in the Change Desktop Background window they are empty. My "Pictures Folder" one shows all the images correctly as well as browsing the ones from iPhoto. (I also have Aperture 2.1.2 installed but no projects yet so that part is empty.)
I performed a permissions repair, checked that the actual files were there in /Library and removed the com.apple.desktop.plist pref's file. After doing that all the pictures showed up again UNTIL I browsed around the picture folders in the Change Desktop Background window then they stopped showing again.
Could something in my Pictures Folder be causing the issue? Any ideas?
Thanks,
-Jim

Thanks for clarifying. I don't do right or left click, but occasionally do CONTROL-click and doing that brings up the contextual menu item "change desktop background" which leads to the Desktop prefPane. Now, why you're having issues, I have no idea. However, I suggest creating a new admin user account, logging into it, and seeing if changing the desktop picture works there.

"Change desktop background" instantly hides when opened

I have a rather strange issue that's a nuisance. When I right click on the desktop and select "Change Desktop Background," the system preferences pane opens, but automatically is hidden (similar to if you press cmd+H). I have to click the icon to restore the window.
This does NOT occur if I first open System Preferences and then select "Desktop & Screen Saver," or if I open "DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefpane" from quicksilver.
I have tried deleting com.apple.desktop.plist and restarting, but this did not solve my problem. I think I may have experienced this problem in Lion as well, but I currently experience it on Mountain Lion.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

This same thing happens to me, and while not the end of the world, it is defintely annoying. Have you figured it out? Thanks!

Change Desktop Background - Stretch Picture

I noted a strange thing when i right click and select Change Desktop Background, i once noted the option of whether to Stretch the picture. But now it is gone.
Does anyone know how do i enable it?

The option is only offered when it is actually needed, most likely your images don't need stretching.
Mario

Issue with desktop Opt/Click (right click) & 'Change Desktop Background'

I have an issue with the opt/click in the desktop in ML 10.8.2. The 'Change Desktop Background' using opt/click (right click) works after reboot, but fails to open (work correctly) thereafter. The 'System Preferences' icon bounces in the dock but nothing else happens, I have either click on the SP icon or re-opt/click (R click) again to get it working. All else seems to be in order but not this. I have tried this with 2 complete full installs & still doesn't work correctly (same issue. I have reported it to Apple, but I was wondering if anyone else experiencing this problem?

So, here's what I've learned so far.
Fresh reboot. Works fine. Close and try again, doesn't work. This you already know.
Here's what I tried to see if it makes a difference:
I removed:
~/Library/Caches
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.*, com.apple.systempreferences.* and com.apple.desktop.*
That didn't help.
I tried it in safe mode. Same issue.
Here's something interesting I noticed. If you open terminal and killall Finder, that refreshes it and makes it work again... for 1 try.
This does, in fact, seem like a bug.
For reference, I'm currently on a mid 2012 macbook pro. Running fully updated on mt lion.

Changing desktop background issue12

hi, I have an issue with my macbook pro retina display 13" running mountaion lion os.
I was trying to change my desktop background, so I right-clicked my mouse and choose 'change desktop background option'. The first time I did this, nothing happened (however i noticed that the 'system preferences' icon on my dock was bouncing after I did that). When I tried to do the same thing again, it worked. I did this several times and I noticed it will only work on the second time. fyi I was not having this issue till today. Anyone else facing the same issue? Do I need to format my laptop or re-install my ios to remove this bug?
sorry for my bad English. Thanks!

hi! thanks for the reply.
I tried to follow the instructions, but I don't understand with the last instruction which says "Restart the computer and open System Preferences (or problem program) and reset all your preferences again"
I went to restart my computer (after deleting the com.apple.system...), and it doesnt solve the issue. However, I noticed that deleting the com.apple.system the "change desktop background" will work once. but if i close and do it the again, it wont work (same thing if i restart my laptop). I know i am just being anal about this small issue lol, but i noticed some other users experience the same thing as well as me.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22567888#22567888
or
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4146106
thanks for the reply =) I will try to ask my friend whether he is having the same issue as me.

How to change desktop background in AppleScript in 10.7?

I'm just now upgrading from 10.6 to 10.7, and I'm having trouble with a script that I wrote that worked fine under 10.6. In part, it executes the following command:
     osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to set destop picture to POSIX file \"<path>\""
to change the desktop background image to one of two different files based on other conditions.
In 10.7, this command completes with no error code, but it only changes the background of one of my four desktops. Is there a way to programmatically change the background image of all of my desktops simultaneously? Failing that, is there a way to a) find out how many desktops I have and b) loop through them, setting each of their backgrounds in turn?
I did search the web and found the following suggestion:
     osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to set picture of every desktop to \"<path>\""
Unfortunately, that also changes only the current desktop's picture.
The larger script is in Perl, so I'd prefer a technology that works well with that language, but if I have to change to a different scripting language, that's not the end of the world.
Thanks much for any suggestions!
Richard

Actually, “repeat with k from 18 to (18 + N - 1)” was not a good idea, since it works only with N < 5, as I discovered after posting the script.
So here's an improved version of the previous script that should work with any number of desktops:
set theFile to POSIX file "/Library/Desktop Pictures/Isles.jpg" -- just an example
-- Find out how many desktops you have:
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "shortcutsTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
    tell application "System Events" to tell window "Keyboard" of process "System Preferences"
        set N to count (UI elements of rows of outline 1 of scroll area 2 of splitter group 1 of tab group 1 whose name begins with "Switch to Desktop")
    end tell
    quit
end tell
-- Loop through the desktops, setting each of their backgrounds in turn:
tell application "System Events" to key code 18 using {control down} -- Desktop 1
tell application "Finder" to set desktop picture to theFile
repeat (N - 1) times
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events" to key code 124 using {control down} -- ⌘→
    delay 1
    tell application "Finder" to set desktop picture to theFile
end repeat

How to change desktop background at specific time of day

Pretty much all in the title, although i guess i should add that it would be good if I could have the background change on all desktops at once. Basically I'd just like to have daytime themed images in the day and nighttime themed ones at, you guessed it, night. Thanks in advance!

A hacky way of doing it would be:
Make 12 copies of the daytime image, but give them different names
Make 12 copies of the nightime image, but give them different names
Put the images in a folder.
Opern the folder in System Preferences ----> Desktop
Select the images. Make sure it is set to change the pictures every hour.
But the question is ----> Will this work if you switch your mac off ? XD
Probably not.
Perhaps you should look for an app in the app store that can do this.

Mac laptop screen going to sleep and changing desktop background

last weekend my daughter called to say that her Macbook was acting strange. On Friday night she saw the battery icon said 25%, so she shut the system down. The next morning she plugged it in and booted. It took a while and the desktop background had changed to something grey. Also, the screen would blank out after 30 seconds to a minute. If she hit the space bar it would show and then go black after the 30 to 60 second time period. I had her shutdown and boot to her external drive where she had a month old image of her system. It took a minute or two to boot (it always seems like a long time when you are on the phone). It came up as her normal system and background. She left it for over an hour and it did not black out or go to sleep. We were planning on doing a restore the next day, but when she did a normal boot later that day from the internal hard drive, it came up with her normal background and the screen stayed active. She had not tried to set any settings. Is there something that a low battery would do to change the energy settings? We were going to explore the settings when the system magically worked as normal. It seems strange that a boot to the external drive would restore settings so that the system worked normally.

Energy Saver and third party USB often don't go well hand in hand. I would though contact OWC and let them know you are having this problem, since they have a good track record of supporting the Mac platform. In the meantime, use Screen Saver instead of Energy Saver.
And always keep your data backed up at least twice as my FAQ explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

Changing desktop backgrounds

The OSX on my Mac Mini has developed the annoying habit of changing the desktop background when I log in or restart or turn the machine on.
I haven't got the box for the random desktop option checked in the desktop system preferences.
I choose my desktops for a reason-I want to see them and don't like them changed arbitrarily by the OS.
I've tried the advice of deleting the following files:
com.apple.systempreferences.plist from ~/Library/Preferences folder
com.apple.systempreferences.plist from the Library/Preferences folder at the root of the HD &
com.apple.windowserver.plist from the same spot( HD root).
After this I lost the 'name' of the computer in the finder windows and I had to put in all my internet connection info again.
Are there any other solutions to this or is this just something I'll have to live with?
Mac Mini 1.25 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I do actually agree with your sentiment regarding permissions. I believe this is due to Apple's implementation of Unix permissions - if they become corrupt (and it appears they do all too often) then the OS may not be able to gain access to files that it requires. As I understand it the repair permissions function that is advised so often ensures that this is not the problem. It's a reasonably quick and safe catch all solution - much like the 'check the electrical power cable...' answer to hardware issues.Much like a modern car that doesn't need the levels checking before every middle distance journey - OSs are getting better - but aren't perfect! I wonder what Vista/Leopard will be like?
Good Luck
mrtotes

Change Desktop background from another account ?

Hi Guys,
Just wondering if it's possible to change a desktop background from another account on the same machine.
I'm running 10.6.8, and there's no particular reason for doing this at present, but we do have a couple of work machines where the user has been restricted from making changes to the machine, and it'd be easier to do this from the administrator account.
Also, is it possible to change a desktop background via Apple's remote desktop?
Thanx in advance.

This same thing happens to me, and while not the end of the world, it is defintely annoying. Have you figured it out? Thanks!

Change desktop background every N minutes broken

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for