Change Desktop Background Every Day

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growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Change Desktop Background Every Day

This works every 5 seconds, every minute & I suspect all the other choices (based on posts by others in various Mac forums) but, it does not work when I select “Every Day.”

It does change if log out & then in or restart.

I have tried deleting Mac HD/Users/ (My Folder)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist. Then I logged out & back in.

Has anyone been able to get this to work?

iMac 24" 2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme, Mac OS X (10.5.4), 4 GB RAM, LaCie d2 Quadra 500 GB HDD (Win XP Pro-Boot Camp)

Posted on Jul 28, 2008 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Jul 29, 2008 4:11 PM in response to growler62000

Just tested the “Every Hour” change Background. Does it work? Nope.

So only the 5 seconds & 1 minute work. I didn’t test 30 minutes or 15 or 5.

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Answer 2

Jul 29, 2008 7:04 PM in response to growler62000

On both my iMac & MBP I have my desktop pic settings to change every day. On the G5 iMac which has Tiger, the pics change anytime after midnight (if I do not restart during the day or evening hours).

On the MBP which has Leopard, the pics can change in the morning, afternoon or evening hours once each day.

Have you tried repairing permissions & restarting?

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Answer 3

growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Jul 29, 2008 10:56 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

I have not tried (recently) to repair permissions. I will do it now & restart.
BTW, the change every 30 minutes DOES work.

A thought: My iMac is set to turn on screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity. Put the display to sleep after 10 minutes and to put the computer to sleep after 20 minutes.

I noticed when I returned to my iMac after several hours with the desktop set to change every 30 minutes that it had NOT changed from several hours ago. I was about to assume the 30 minute setting didn’t work. Yet as I worked for the next couple of hours the background did change each 30 minutes. So, I wonder if going to sleep &/or having the display sleep -- stops the background from changing?

Anyway, I will set it to change daily & then repair permissions & restart.

Thanks! I hope it works as I like the idea of a new look every day.

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Answer 4

pran

Level 1

10 points

Jul 30, 2008 12:51 AM in response to growler62000

Hi. Can you confirm if "Repair Permissions" fixed this issue? I'm also experiencing the same problem. Thanks!

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Answer 5

Jul 30, 2008 10:10 AM in response to growler62000

"So, I wonder if going to sleep &/or having the display sleep -- stops the background from changing? "

Try this:

Change the energy saving options, to put the display to sleep and the computer to sleep at the same time.

Enable (check mark) put the hard disk to sleep when possible.

Lock the padlock.

Optional: Repair permissions &/or restart.

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Answer 6

growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Jul 31, 2008 2:54 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Hi Baby Boomer.

Well repair permissions & restart failed to work. The wallpaper remains unchanged (since I set it to change every day)

I do not want my display & computer to sleep at the same time. But, to experiment I will try it. BTW, I already had selected put Hard Disk to sleep whenever possible.

Thanks for the suggestion.

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Answer 7

growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Aug 2, 2008 10:14 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

OK, experiment failed. Background does not change after more than 24 hours (31 hrs) when set to change every day. Even when I set the display & computer to sleep at the same time. Apparently this feature has bugs

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Answer 8

growler62000 Author

Level 2

195 points

Aug 9, 2008 12:04 AM in response to growler62000

Update:

I did more testing. The change every HOUR setting DOES work IF I do not allow computer or monitor to sleep! But that is not the setting I want. I want the change every day. I tried that & it failed to change after ~ 32 hours so I figured it simply does not work. I decided to leave it at the every DAY setting so it would at least change every time I rebooted. To my surprise after 2+ days It DID change! (w/o my rebooting) I suspect it counts elapsed time when not in sleep mode. I’m not sure & I’ll need to wait & see but a change every few days is not that bad. So those of you who wish to use this every day feature, set it & post here if it changes every few days.

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