Fix: Desktop Background Resets to “Solid color”

When you access Personalize in Settings and set the background to “Picture”, it immediately reverts to “Solid color”. Let’s see how to fix this issue.

Fix: Desktop Background Resets to “Solid color”

To resolve the issue, follow the steps below.

1) Delete the TranscodedWallpaper file

Open the following folder using File Explorer

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

Rename or delete the file named TranscodedWallpaper.

See if you can select the “Picture” option in Personalize – Background settings.

If that doesn’t help, follow the next step.

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2) Turn off the syncing of Themes

Turn off the syncing of personalization settings, especially if your desktop background resets to “Solid color” across your Windows devices.

Open Settings, and click Accounts.

Click Windows Backup.

Turn off “Personalization”.

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3) Choose the default Windows theme in Settings

Open Settings → Personalization → Themes.

Select the default Windows theme and see if you can change the desktop background.

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4) Check for ASUS utilities

Do you happen to have an ASUS system? If so, one of the ASUS utilities may be changing the background type setting.

It could be the AURA wallpaper service from Armoury Crate, ASUS OLED Shifter, or a similar ASUS app.

If you can’t determine which app or service is causing this, please clean-boot Windows using the MSConfig utility. See the Microsoft support article How to perform a clean boot in Windows for more information.

(If your problem does not occur while the computer is in a clean boot environment, then you can determine which startup application or service is causing the problem by systematically turning them on or off and restarting the computer. See the section “How to determine what is causing the problem after you do a clean boot” in the clean-boot article.)

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5) Check your “Ease of access” settings

Go to Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Ease of Access Centre → Make the computer easier to see.

Uncheck the “Remove background images (where available)” option, and click OK.

You should now be able to select the Picture option in the Background settings.