Though Windows 7 came with changing wallpaper automatically but including lot of wallpapers from different folder or sub folder is little tricky as you cannot include more folders directly. However Windows 7 Library can help you in including sub folder or any some folder you want to include in changing desktop background, also called as Wallpaper Slide Show.
Default Settings :
Windows 7 lets you browse and select any directory to change wallpapers. Also it has pre-configured folders like Top rated, Picture Library, Desktop Background.
How you can change :
In Libraries, there is a Pictures Folder which is the default place where you can configure to bring all your images for easy access. One of the folder My picture is where all your pictures get stored. Now since Picture Library is supported in Desktop background, any folder or sub-folder can be accessed. Follow the steps :
- Right click on Pictures folders in the Libraries > Click Properties
- Select Include a folder.
- Select which folders you want to include.
- Now since you have all the folders in one place, right click on Desktop > Personalize > Desktop Background.
- Here you will have option to choose Picture Location from the dropdown or you can browse to select.
- Select Picture Library and you will have all the images listed according to the folders. Each folder will have its count also.
Once you apply the desktop wallpaper will change automatically and take images from the folders you have added in the library. You can configure the option for shuffle, time delays and how the image will fill up your desktop.
Thanks for this article but your instructions are flawed or vague. I was racking my brain trying to figure it out, as right-clicking on “Pictures Library” didn’t do anything. I’ve been using computers for 15+ years and am not a newbie. The picture you posted with the drop-down is misleading helped by the fact you wrote “Picture Library” (capital L) which doesn’t exist. There is a library called “Pictures” however, and the drop-down item called “Pictures Library”.
Anyway, for all those reading this, you have to right-click “Pictures” under the Library group in Explorer, select Properties, then “Include a Folder”.
Brandon, Yes the instructions were consuing. I have updated it with better words and also added an image.
I have struggled to get a library to do what I want and your instructions are the closest yet, but I still can’t quite do it.
This is what I am trying to do: I have a folder C:\Users\Harry\Pictures with loads of sub folders and all appear under the Pictures library. I can set the Pictures library as the source for my Windows 7 wallpaper slide show and all the folders seem to be there with all their pictures. However, I want only two folders to appear in my wallpaper. One folder is called C:\Users\Harry\Pictures\Days Out, containing 33 subfolders and growing steadily and another folder is called C:\Users\Harry\Pictures\Walks and that contains 26 folders, also growing in number.
I know I cannot have more than 50 top level folders in a new library but I tried creating a library with two folders, Days Out and Walks, and including the subfolders. But Desktop Background says the library is empty.
How come it can see every picture in “Pictures” including the sub folders but not see the pictures in my new library? Where am I being stupid?
Its just that some people talk more thank they think.
And what if your using the computer for a long time? Doesn’t Matter
True that the article doesn’t have the best explanation but it only takes a few seconds to figure what its saying (if only the readers thinks).
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1.) Right clock picture folder
2.) Include the folder you want to add
and back to wallpaper settings and select picture library
*note: this may take some time to load
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This is stupid. I obviously don’t have only wallpapers in my ‘images’ folder, so if I do that, then the slideshow will include both wallpapers and other images, which is useless.
What the other person wants to express but can’t use proper English is that Desktop Background choice is not at all as flexible as it would seem. The Windows 8 how-to videos are just all music and mouse pointer. I want to drag photos to Top Rated Photos for use as Desktop Background and I can’t! I want to open up from Top Rated Photos to save photos into and I can’t! So Top Rated Photos is just a useless name with nothing that can be saved into. That’s my experience, and my computer is brand new. Apparently what you CAN do is create your own Top Rated Photo File (name it something else) and “browse” it into the Desktop Background location. I can’t even express this properly because the Windows 8 “Search” tool is so crude compared with Windows 2003. I can’t find anything! Everything that is “hardware” or “deemed not needed by the user” is hidden away deliberately. That really sucks and of course it’s deliberate to discourage do-it-yourself technological tinkering! The Help manual is also pretty superficial and cheesy. It’s like you are working with a STUBBORN MULE for a tool rather than YOUR OWN COMPUTER. What’s really weird is I have checked off ALL the photos in hopes of a panoramic view of my past lives every day and for some reason, Windows 8 is ONLY selecting from THE SAME FILE EVERY DAY–and I just checked and all the photos are checked. So yeah, Windows is trying to insinuate it’s an INTELLIGENT STUBBORN MULE that will ONLY SELECT THE PHOTOS IT LIKES TO SHOW ME! How is that for choice?!!! No wonder some of us get angry! Windows 8 is trying to insinuate that programmers, and computers know better or more than their customers, and that really and truly stinks!
Doesn’t work for me on my desktop but does on my laptop. I suspect it is because my actual jpgs are kept in a separate hard drive on my computer and won’t let me pick a higher folder and then include all my subfolders.
As usual Microsoft is anything but easy to use. At least it isn’t Win 8!
I bought a new 960 GB SSD and now have my images (all 12,000 of them) in my C Drive on the Desktop and this method works.
Thank you!