Change Desktop Background Image in Windows 7 Starter/Home Basic on Netbooks

Can’t change the background image in your Windows 7 netbook? If you are unable to change the desktop background picture on your netbook, this is likely because you’re running Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic on your computer. Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic doesn’t have Personalization features found in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. But don’t worry, you don’t need to buy an upgrade of those versions if you want to change the wallpaper in your PC. Although Microsoft doesn’t natively allow to change the background image in Starter or Home Basic, you can still change it third-party tools and via the registry.

 The easiest way to change the background wallpaper in Windows 7 Starter Home Basic is by using programs. There are many programs to do this but to make our life easier, we’re going to use a program called Oceanis. This program lets you create a slideshow so you can use it as the background image. You can download Oceanis here. Then unzip it, and  then install it, and restart your computer. Then run the program and create a slideshow for pictures you want to have as your background images. Very easy to do. You can read more about this program in here.

Changing Windows 7 background image through the registry:

The background image can also be changed through the registry, but do it using Oceanis because is less complicated. To change the background image in Windows 8 Starter in registry, follow the steps below from John The Greek:

1. Open regedit (aka registry editor; you can access it from the star menu by typing “regedit” in the search box…)
2. Go to “HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop” folder and click on it
3. On the right hand side find there are a bunch of entries. Find the key named “Wallpaper” and double click on it and put the path of the picture you want as your new wallpaper (example path is “C:UsersBobPicturesnew_wallpaper.jpg”)
4. Right-click on the “Desktop” folder in regedit that you found in step 2 and click Permissions.
5. Click “Advanced”
6. Go to “Owner” tab, highlight your name in the box that says ʽChange owner toʼ ( There are only two choices the other is Administrator )… once your user name is highlighted click “OK”
7. Click on “Advanced” again
8. Uncheck the button that reads “Include inheritable permissions from the objectʼs parent”… click “Remove” when prompted
9. Click “Add”
10. Type “Everyone” and click “OK”
11. Check Allow “Read Control” and click “OK”
12. Click “OK” again
13. Highlight “Everyone” and check to Allow “Read” and click “OK”
14. Restart Computer and enjoy new Wallpaper <!– / message –><!– sig –>