Q. The options to change wallpaper is unavailable or missing in Windows XP?

When you attempt to change your desktop wallpaper in Windows XP, the option is missing form Display Properties or is unavailable (dimmed).

The behavior can occur when you remove malware from your computer, if one or more registry Value Names are set to hide or lock display settings.

NOTE: These registry Value Names may be set by administration policy or by malicious software.

I have scripted FixDisplay.bat to resolve this problem.

The syntax for using FixDisplay.bat is:

FixDisplay

FixDisplay.bat contains:

@echo offsetlocalcall :qu>nul 2>&1if "%OK%" EQU "Y" @echo One for more user settings were deleted.call :qc>nul 2>&1if "%OK%" EQU "Y" @echo One for more computer settings were deleted.endlocalgoto :EOF:quset OK=Nset key=HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem:qbothfor /f "Tokens=1-3" %%a in ('REG QUERY %key% /V NoDispAppearancePage^|Find "REG_DWORD"^|Find "0x1"') do ( Set OK=Y REG DELETE %key% /V NoDispAppearancePage /F)for /f "Tokens=1-3" %%a in ('REG QUERY %key% /V NoDispCPL^|Find "REG_DWORD"^|Find "0x1"') do ( Set OK=Y REG DELETE %key% /V NoDispCPL /F)for /f "Tokens=1-3" %%a in ('REG QUERY %key% /V NoDispBackgroundPage^|Find "REG_DWORD"^|Find "0x1"') do ( Set OK=Y REG DELETE %key% /V NoDispBackgroundPage /F)for /f "Tokens=1-3" %%a in ('REG QUERY %key% /V NoDispScrSavPage^|Find "REG_DWORD"^|Find "0x1"') do ( Set OK=Y REG DELETE %key% /V NoDispScrSavPage /F)for /f "Tokens=1-3" %%a in ('REG QUERY %key% /V NoDispSettingsPage^|Find "REG_DWORD"^|Find "0x1"') do ( Set OK=Y REG DELETE %key% /V NoDispSettingsPage /F)goto :EOF:qcset OK=Nset key=HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemgoto qboth