Desktop background and system preferances

everytime i turn on my mac the desktop background changes and the system preferances page is open?.....why?

please someone help..........everytime i turn on my mac the desktop background changes and the system preferences page is open......also with the web browser open......i keep changing my preferences but they never stay the same........a pop up said that my disk might be full?....what does that mean?

Similar Messages

  • Using Photos (iPhoto) as Desktop Background and system startup time

    I've been beating my head against the wall trying to figure out why my iMac is taking longer and longer to boot (mostly after software updates).
    My stopwatch shows a little over 3 minutes from chimes until there is a usable UI.
    Through process of elimination, I finally found the problem. We have over 24,000 pictures in iPhoto, and like to cycle through them as the desktop background. The problem with wanting to do this is OSX seems to have to enumerate through all 24,000 before it selects a "startup background", which takes around 2.25 minutes. Not bad, considering, but still an awful startup experience. I was starting to think I was running Vista or something.
    Wondering if anyone else had run across this and if there was any known workaround, short of picking another style of desktop background?

    I keep my favorite photos in a separate wallpaper folder. I select my photo for the desktop manually, but I wonder if you could not set up a folder of favorites and rotate among these. Perhaps with fewer photos in a folder, your computer would not have to take so much time going through them all.

  • Can't Find Change Desktop Background in System Preferences... and other ???

    I can't remember the last time I changed my desktop background, but it's been on the default plain blue. I tried to change it recently, and I cannot find the option to change background pictures in the System Preferences. I tried right-clicking on the desktop and used the context menu. That launched system preferences, kind of... the program opened, but the viewer did not... the actual window with all the options. I don't think my computer can find it either! I read a few discussions on this topic, and found to delete the plist from preferences folder.. tried that to no avail. Please help.

    Hi again agapean,
    Sorry to take so long to post back for you.
    I found a screenshot of the System Preferences for 10.2 Jaguar and I see that you have two separate preference panes for Desktop and Screen Effects. In my Panther, the two were combined as one pane known as Desktop and Screensavers.
    In the row below the toolbar of your System Preferences (It should be called Personal for that bar of preference "panes") there should be an icon for "Desktop".
    See: Jaguar System Preferences
    Is that not what you are seeing when you open System Prefences? If the Desktop pane is missing then it sounds as if it has somehow become deleted or corrupted.
    I use Application Enhancer, windowshade, uControl, and Lite switch. They are all properly registered, but the icons are weird at the bottom... almost squished together? And the International icon shows up 3 times in System Preferences, once in Personal and twice in Other, where the other programs are located as well.
    Third party hacks such as those can wreak havoc on the OS and things can become corrupted and cause a variety of system problems. It may very well be that that is what is causing the anomalies with your Desktop pictures/preferences.
    Personally, I would uninstall them, if possible, and Repair Permissions from Disk Utility and try applying the 10.2.8 Combo update from Apple's downloads.
    Back when I was using 10.2.8 I remember many problems users were having with system hacks like those back then. Perhaps others here may have a simpler approach to straightening out your situation.
    littleshoulders

  • Can't change Desktop background in System Preferences

    Hi. When I try to change my desktop background, either by right-clicking on the desktop or by opening System Preferences, the screen for Desktop options is blank. None of the options show up, grayed out or otherwise. While in System Preferences, if I click on Screen Saver, everything there works fine. But the button for Desktop becomes grey and I can't click on it.
    I've tried Repair Permissions and this didn't work. I've seen similar posts here, but they don't seem to have the same problem I do, nothing freezes up, the Desktop screen is just blank. Do you have any ideas?
    Thanks!
      Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    1. OK, let's try some more trashing: 1. Quit System Preferences if it is open.
    2. Open your Home > Library > Caches folder, then trash the following two files therein:
    - com.apple.preferencepanes.cache
    - com.apple.preferencepanes.searchindexcache
    3. Trash the file
    com.apple.systempreferences.plist
    in your Home > Library > Preferences folder.
    4. Trash the file
    com.apple.systempreferences.xxx.plist
    in your Home > Library > Preferences > ByHost folder, where xxx is an alphanumeric string.
    5. Empty Trash.
    6. Launch System Preferences and see if the problem is resolved.2. You wrote"I still have my Desktop Pictures folder."I presume you mean the Macintosh HD > Library > Desktop Pictures folder I cited previously. How about the contents of that folder? It should contain five folders:• Abstract
    • Black & White
    • Nature
    • Plants
    • Solid Colorsand a collection of .jpg images for a total of 28 objects.
    3. I know you earlier said you ran Repair Permissions. I presume the permissions on Macintosh HD > Library > Desktop Pictures are:You can: Read & Write
    Owner: system
    Access: Read & Write
    Group: admin
    Access: Read & Write
    Others: Read OnlyYes?
    4. If none of the above sorts it out, let's see if it's isolated to your account. Do you have a second user account defined on your system? If so, log in to it and see if the problem happens there. If it does, it is probably a system-wide problem. If not, it is something with your user account. If you don't have a second account on your system, you can create a new one using System Preferences > Accounts. See "Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Adding a new user account to your computer."
    5. Immediately after the problem occurs — i.e. you open Desktop & Screen Saver preferences and either cannot select Desktop or Desktop is blank — check the ends of these Console logs for clues. Let's see if console can tell us if the Desktop preference pane is corrupted.
    6. Do you have any personal Web space? If so, can you take a screen shot of the problem and upload it to your personal Web space? If so, post a link back here to the image. It may help if I can see what you're seeing, though I think I understand it from your description, "a picture is worth..." etc.
    7. As a general check, run the procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.
    8. To what was / is your Desktop image presently set? One of the Apple collections or images? Something from your iPhoto Library?
    FYI: I number my points so you can respond by number.
    Good luck!
    Dr. Smoke
    Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
    Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
    I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

  • Aperture makes desktop backgrounds and iphone backgrounds blurry.

    So, I don't know when exactly this started happening, possibly after 2.1, but here is the issue.
    I organize my desktop and iphone backgrounds in aperture with one project for each, with smart albums dividing it up so that I can have different categories. Each photo just has one or two keywords to keep it organized. Then to change my desktop I go into system preferences and choose it from the drop down there. Before this specific time that I can't remember, the desktop would change and it would be perfectly clear and sharp, like the picture. Now when I change it to a background added after that time, it is blurry and pixelated. Also, the same thing occurs with my iPhone. The backgrounds are exactly the size of the iPhone's screen, but pictures added after that time come out blurry on the iPhone.
    I've reinstalled OS X a few times and Aperture from scratch a few times but have kept the same library throughout. What could be the issue? I hate not being able to have new backgrounds, for about a few months now.

    Success!  Well sort of.  I went into Mission Control Preference Pane (in System Preferences) and fiddled about with a few ticks. The one that seemed to make the difference was the one called Show Dashboard As A Space.  Make sure it's ticked.  This is a bit of a bummer if you want multiple desktops with different personalised photo backgrounds but you don't want the dashboard as a space.  It's still a fault Apple! So if someone finds this solved their issues then please don't mark the post as "this solved my problem", maybe just "this helped". 
    Because the issue is not resolved for those who don't want the dashboard as a space - those people can only have Apple's own backgrounds on their desktops!  And it is worth point out that without the Show Desktop As Space box ticked, even with Mission Control set to just one background, the Aperture photo would not be reatained through log out and restart etc. AND the actual Desktop/Screen Saver preference dialogue box didn't work properly, taking ages to select a picture and the picture not changing on the background itself until the user threatens to exit the box.  As I say though it all went swimmingly with the Show desktop as space box ticked.
    Dear oh dear Apple, with every step "forward" you take there's always the odd lurch backwards into the murky days of Windows 1.0!

  • Blinking gray desktop background and no dock/launchpad/mission control

    I just updated to Mountain Lion and my desktop background keeps changing from the picture to a gray screen. My dock also wont appear on the bottom of my screen and launch pad and mission control also do not work. I called Apple once and I reinstalled ML once already and its still doing it. Any suggestions?

    reboot, hold CMD+R .
    you'll be in the recovery partition.
    go to disk utility, and Verify and Repair your boot disk and its permissions.
    exit out of Disk Utility and then go to the area that says reinstall Mountain Lion.
    Do so.
    This will hopefully fix your issues.

  • Desktop Background and screen saver panel won't open at all

    When I try to change my background on my macbook pro, it says can not open my backgrounds & Screensaver preferences........ I don't know what to do????

    Hopefully you have cured this by now. I had the same problem after the Yosemite upgrade. The only cure I found was a complete reinstall of everything NOT using the migration tool to bring data over. I installed each and every piece of software - including Yosemite - after reformatting my hard drive. All is now well. A pain, but it worked.

  • Why is my system services crashing every time I want to change my desktop background??

    I want to change my desktop background and every time I try my system services crashs. I tryed to changed it for 5 times and did't work, I restarted and shut down my computer and nothing happens. Please if someone knows about it let me know, I am a brain new apple's user and I dont know what its going on.

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    Try deleting the Desktop settings file. Open a Finder window, select the Go menu (on the menu bar) > Go to Folder, and type:
    ~/Library/Preferences
    Then, delete "com.apple.desktop.plist" and "com.apple.systempreferences.plist", and restart. Finally, open System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver, and change the desktop wallpaper

  • "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!

  • Cannot use iPhoto library to set background in System Preferences

    I'm unable to set any photos from my iPhoto library as a desktop background using System Preferences. When I select a photo, it appears in the little preview window, but the desktop itself just turns blue.
    The Choose Folder option works fine, and I can also set a new background picture from within iPhoto. Any idea why System Preferences can't properly access the iPhoto library?
    Thanks!

    I'm having the exact same problem!!

  • Customise desktop background for all network user accounts

    Hi,
    I have 12 MAC OS X 10.6 Clients on A Windows 2008 R2 Server. I cannot use Group Policies from Active Directory to customise my default user desktops on the MACs. Can I do this from the MAC stations? It has to work for network users not just local accounts?
    Thanks,
    Tim

    If you're looking to make a desktop background universal and system wide regardless of user, then it's easy. The default user folder is in /System/Library/User\ Template
    It's protected from access unless you're logged in as root, either in the gui or terminal.
    Just change the pertenant preference file in the Library folder to reflect your new desktop background and all should be well.  Any time a NEW user logs in, when their home folder is created, it will include that desktop background pref file. 
    If you're running the magic triangle, then you just have to set that preference in Workgroup Manager.
    If you're not sure or comfortable with this, then write back and we'll help you further.  More info on your server set up etc would be helpful in this regard.
    -Graham

  • Changing desktop pictures locks system preferences

    Re MacBook Pro laptop (OS 10.7.5)
    Problem: Changing desktop pictures locks System Preferences
    If I try to open System Preferences, I get windows for the Change Desktop/Background and the whirling beach ball begins until I go to Activities Monitor to Force Quit System Preferences, which informs me that my "System Preferences is no longer responding."
    I have no trouble booting my Mac,
    checked my Disk Utility informing me that there are no errors,
    checked Permissions without errors,
    went to Users>"my name">Preferences>found the plist for com.apple.systempreferences, moved it to my desktop, tried the Apple System Preferences option with same result. Returned plist .  Hmm, just noticed that I have com.apple.systempreferences with one directly after Library ( i.e., not in any folder), and the other in the Library>Preferences folder. Could that be the foul up?  Perhaps one of these plists is misplaced.
    Any suggestions?

    First follow the instructions in this support article.
    If an iPhoto or Aperture library is the source of your desktop pictures, it may need to be rebuilt, or you may need to update the application to the latest version.
    Otherwise, continue as below.
    Back up all data.
    In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
              Go ▹ Library
    from the menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following item, if it exists:
              Caches/com.apple.systempreferences
    and move the following items to the Desktop, if they exist:
              Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db
              Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
    Launch System Preferences and test. If you still have the issue, put the items you moved to the Desktop back where they came from and post again. Otherwise, delete the items.

  • Satellite C50-B-13T - Win 8.1 cannot change desktop background

    Hi folks,
    I'm new to this forum so please bear with me.
    I bought a new Toshiba Satellite C50-B-13T laptop yesterday with Windows 8.1 installed and I cannot change the desktop screen from a blank black one to a picture of my choice... I've tried everything, and even looked for videos on Youtube to see if there's a remedy for it.
    When I look at the control panel the thumbnail shows the picture I've chosen, but the actual desktop (not the smart screen bit) is still plain black. All of my icons work just fine but the background will not change.
    If anyone can help me sort this out I'd be really grateful?
    Thanks everyone :O)

    You ask how to change the Windows background?
    This is not very tricky.
    Microsoft released a useful article regarding Windows system personalization.
    Please check this aricle:
    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/personalize-pc-tutorial
    Note: there is a difference between the desktop background and the lock screen.
    The lock screen is the screen you see when you lock your PC (or when it locks automatically after you haven't been using it for a while).

  • Desktop background foler invisible

    I can't see my custom folder in the desktop background anymore(system preference ->desktop)
    I used to created a folder name wallpaper and now I can't see the folder anymore.
    tried to add the same folder by using the '+'
    I got a popup saying 'Duplicate Folder, the folder you selected is already present in the picture source list' but I can't see it at all.
    Usually there's 3 section,
    1, apple(apple images,nature,plants etc)
    2,iphoto
    3,folder
    and now everytime i open the system preference->desktop
    I saw the folder section then the next second it just disappear.
    pls help.

    today I moved my aperture library to external drive and check the desktop & screensaver again.
    now the aperture project section is gone
    no idea how, the folder section pop back.
    I'll close this thread.
    thank you all for your help

  • FCS showing desktop background images

    I recently purchased and installed FCS, I'm running into an issue where the timeline, viewer, browser, and etc are showing the desktop background and cannot figure out what's going on.

    If you have ShapeShifter installed, uninstall it and the problem should go away.
    -DH

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