How to Fix the Wallpaper Size in XP Using Regedit

Normally you could change the size of the wallpaper on your Windows desktop by modifying the display properties. In some cases you may not be able to access the correct menus to change the wallpaper, such as if your computer has been infected with a virus or your network administrator has disabled the display properties window. You can get around these problems by directly changing the wallpaper values in the Windows XP registry editor.

Instructions

1. Open the Start menu and click \"Run.\" Type \"Regedit\" into the Run menu text box. Press \"Enter\" to load the registry editor window.

2. Open the \"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\" folder in the registry editor. Navigate through the sub-folders to the registry folder named \"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop.\"

3. Scroll through the registry values listed at the right side of the window. Locate the value named \"WallpaperStyle.\"

4. Right-click the registry value and choose \"Modify.\" Delete the existing value in the text field.

5. Type \"0\" to center the wallpaper image at the middle of the screen and leave solid blue outside the edges of the image. Type \"1\" to make multiple tiles of the same image across the desktop. Type \"2\" to stretch the image to fit across the entire desktop.

6. Click \"OK\" and then close the registry editor. Restart the computer to fix the wallpaper size.

Tips & Warnings

• The size and number of tiles created by using the tile feature will vary depending on the size of the image. A large image will only have a few tiles while a smaller image will create proportionally more tiles on the desktop.

• The wallpaper size will not change until you either restart the computer or log off your current profile and then log back in.

References

• PC Tools: Specify Wallpaper Options in Registry
• Microsoft: Changing Wallpaper Style

Resources

• Microsoft: Registry Editor Support