How to find current desktop pic

If the original were removed, lost or destroyed after choosing it
as a desktop image, that image could still be stored as a data
file in Mac HD> Library> Caches> Desktop Pictures.

From what I can find, this is not an image type of file that can
be copied or duplicated then re-named to be opened in Preview.
The result does not open, due to 'corruption' or other causes;
so this is not an image as we'd know it in a conventional sense.
Or what I've found is not the correct item/item location.

You may be able to try and locate the file name of the image in use
by Desktop, and perhaps search for it that way, but the AppleScripts
I've found evidence of appear to be from the Tiger era of tinkering.

• Get the name of the Current desktop image - mac os x hints (2006)
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060507041822864

Perhaps someone else can elaborate on ways to further this task?

Good luck & may +the force+ be with you! 🙂

It looks like the path to where the picture file was located at the time it was designated as the Desktop picture is included in this preference file, which is the same file referenced in the Applescript link given earlier:

home > Library > Preferences > com.apple.desktop.plist

If you don't have a property-list editor you can Quick Look that file by selecting it and hitting <space>. Look near the bottom under the ImageFilePath key.

However if the picture file has since been deleted or moved, the Desktop will continue to display the image because it was cached by the system, unfortunately in a form not directly recoverable as a picture file - see Francine's post in this thread:
*Desktop background picture, where is the active one?*
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1856987

As she suggests there, if you can't locate the original file you can create a new file by taking a "window camera" screenshot (command-shift 4, <space> ) of your current Desktop. It would have the same resolution as what is on the screen, probably lower than the original image file.

While there may be a way to capture the image you still can see on
the desktop, most of the methods I can think of won't save it as an
equally high resolution as an original; and perhaps not as large.

Depending on what source the image was brought into the computer
from, and if it was via a User account or put into a system file, an
image could be hard to locate; if the original is still in the computer.
And I have (out of curiosity) looked into my system stuff for an image
I've added to the Desktop as a background; while knowing a duplicate
or an original was available in another location, or a source folder.

I've noticed at different times, usually after performing some levels
of maintenance where certain caches and other items throughout
the System are affected, that a personally selected folder or image
file that had been accessed and available from the System Prefs
Desktop & Screensaver control panel, is no longer found. However
since I usually bring images into my computer by Date, from my
digital cameras, I can go back to locate them in at least one place.

And have not been successful in finding a System location for a
lead on where to look for the image, apparently so orphaned.

You could try to get a screen shot, for later sight comparison in
your other user folders. And also if you happen to make a clone
of your complete system for later access, since it may save the
image as a desktop background so long as it was present at a
point in time when the Clone was made.

I've made clones and found the same screen background to be
very distracting when booted into a familiar scene. So I change
them eventually (for reference that I've booted from a clone.)

Perhaps someone who has gone searching their folders & files
for the source of a Desktop image currently presented may be
of help in re-tracing steps to find where your latent image is in
hiding; since you can't find the source image you first loaded.

Sorry to be of little/no help.
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

PS: Not sure where you'd look to find a background image if it were Hidden.
But you can make otherwise 'invisible files' appear, if one knew where to look.
(Maybe in the User account's Desktop folder?)

And I've read several posts online, over several years, with similar questions
as the one you pose here. All the usual suspect locations come up blank.
Just as they will if you are searching for a current image, and know where to
find the original; but wanted to also know where a chosen one is stored for use.

If you Control + Click the desktop, the Contextual menu appears; but one
miss-click and you may lose the only evidence of the background you like!

However it goes...
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Of course, I'm assuming the OP has looked in all the obvious places.
That's what I do before I ask a question; & generally haven't a manual.

But I've been wrong before. In fact, I've looked in my own systems to
see if I can find direct reference to an image (I know mine, its in a folder
elsewhere in my System) & the best alternative may be the AppleScript
suggested in the link I'd posted, +if you can't find the actual first Image+
file that was put into the computer by the user. And he hasn't a copy.

Extrapolating the image file from the data file which often is the only
remaining evidence (if the user trashed the file, or if a system crash
wiped out the user file where the image was first stored) can take time.
So, I could have erased all my earlier posts; & just put a one-liner here.

Anyway, depending on the severity of the situation where an image is
missing from traditional and expected locations in the System and User
account locations, I've found levels of difficulty will dramatically increase.
And it helps if the image's name is known; which is part of the OPs issue.

(Of course, after using most OS from 6.0 to 10.5.8, in over 144 Macs, & before
internet, I look a little deeper; even when I don't have that kinda time anymore.)

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

I'm not sure why you are responding to my post. Sometimes the simplest suggestion is the place to start. There was nothing in his post that suggested he trashed the desktop pic. I may be wrong. So be it. I was not trying to say that you were. It was just a suggestion. You seem very knowledgeable on this topic & I was in no way trying to call that in to question. Sorry, if it was taken that way. Good Luck to you also.

Library/Desktop Pictures