hello! i am having the same exact problem! i cant change anything on my backgroud except the color? i used to have a pic and now its gone until i shut down, then for a brief second its there, but when i turn the pc back on, its not there anymore, settings are whited out and will not change, like the author of this thread i tried a system restore but i cant do it? its been like this a few months, everything else works fine, just no background! i have windows xp on a compaq presario! any help will be much app!! thanks.