desktop wallpaper resets on reboot

I still have the same issue. Also after deleting trash. I am fed up with this....

I have no idea what you mean by the accounts... I have one account I think?

Not sure it has been mentioned here, but the way I resolved this issue was by deleting wave.jpg in the desktop pictures folder and then naming whatever photo I wanted as my default to wave.jpg. Whenever I want to change it, I just delete or move that photo and put a new photo in the desktop pictures folder with the name wave.jpg.

That sounds like a less annoying option until there is a fix.
Where is this desktop pictures folder to be found?
Too bad that this can only work for one destop pic. I have 4 different ones for different desktops.

Desktop pic folder is located in MacHD/Library/Desktop Pictures.

Thanks!

I also found this, slightly different: http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/mavericks-desktop-background-picture -settings-moved-from-librarypreferencescom-apple-desktop-plist/

There it says:

Change OS X’s DefaultDesktop.jpg to set the desktop picture

Going back to 10.5.x, an easy way to set the default desktop wallpaper in OS X has been to replace the /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg file with your own .jpg file. This method still works in Mavericks and is the approach I’ve taken in my own shop for setting the default desktop background for new accounts.

I could not locate the CoreServices folder. I think it has changed in a recent update.

You probably already know this...
This is a confusing thing about the Mac for me, coming from Windows years ago. There are different Library folders. As I understand it.
This one is in the System folder. It has the Core Service folder.

So go to Mackintosh HD and choose System and then Library there.

Hey - i had the same problem too. Went to the system preferences -> background -> there is a little ➕ and ➖ in the lower left corner, clicked on the ➕ and added the folder where my background picture was. Works for me, even after restart.

That would be the first thing you do indeed, but this is not a solution for the issue. Maybe it is for you for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't keep working.

Just wanted to say this worked for me. My MacBook Pro (which has been upgraded through each OS since 10.6) wouldn't keep its Desktop Picture. I'd set it, but each time I rebooted, it would lose its setting. Secure-deleting ~/Library/Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db, rebooting, and setting my Desktop Picture one last time did the trick.

Hi guys, 😀 I had the same issue as all of you. In attempting to fix the issue, what I did was I created a folder in documents tab and added whatever wallpaper i wanted as my desktop picture in that particular folder I created. Then I went into system preferences under the desktop and screensaver section and clicked the + sign at the bottom to add that folder Ive created which contained my preferred wallpaper.

From there, whatever wallpaper you choose from the folder will remained as your desktop picture irrespective of whether you reboot your computer or not.

Hope this helps!

The solution is both very obvious and very logical - there's no need whatsoever to be deleting any system setting files or renaming any pre-existing image files.

All that's happening is that you guys are setting an image you like as your wallpaper and (at least I assume) you're then trashing the image as you no longer require it. So then when you re-boot your Mac it's looking for the wallpaper file and it can't find it, as it's been deleted off of your Mac, hence then it naturally defaults to the first image within the 'Desktop Pictures' folder.

Logical solution:

1. Simply get the image file you want as your wallpaper on your desktop
2. Then in 'Finder' navigate to the following folder: MacHD/Library/Desktop Pictures
3. Drag the image file you want as your wallpaper from your desktop into the 'Desktop Pictures' folder (typing in your admin password if prompted)
4. Hey presto! your Mac (quite logically) can now find the image file every time it boots up and bye bye frustration.

Hi Supreem
I'm sorry to say that the problem is not as easily solved as you suggest. The same issue is when the desktop is set to a color. And it still changes back to "default". So it has nothing to do with where you store your wallpaper images (except keeping them on your internal HD of course.

@andersius What do you mean by "when the desktop is set to a colour"? are you talking about the wallpaper or something else? The wallpaper (desktop background) image issue is entirely solved by my fix above. If you are talking about another aspect of the desktop's appearance then that would be a different thread.

Please elaborate...