restore desktop background

Question

Level 1

40 points

restore desktop background

A few months ago as I was browsing the web, I found a picture of one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Unfortunately it was just a pic with no caption to ID the location. I set it as my desktop background with the intent of eventually finding where it was and visiting there. This morning at the end of an 11 hour shift, I went to set a screen saver, and accidentally changed my desktop background. Since that pic isn't a default mac background, and I didn't physically save it anywhere, I don't know how to restore it. I spent about 40 minutes browsing images on the web again, with no luck. I checked the default location for desktop images and as expected, there are just the usual images. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mac mini (Mid 2010)

Posted on Dec 13, 2014 4:44 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Dec 13, 2014 5:29 AM in response to unxrules

If you selected the image in Safari and then right clicked on Use Image as Desktop Picture and then changed to another it appears it is gone since I just tried it and then tried to search for the name of the picture and it was not found.

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Answer 2

kahjot

Level 4

2,463 points

Dec 13, 2014 7:38 AM in response to unxrules

Did you actually save the image to your hard drive when you first found it? If I find an image that I want to use as a desktop image, I right click on it and choose Save as…, then save it to a folder I have set up for desktop images in my Pictures folder. You would think that "Use as desktop image" would save a local copy, also. But if you don't know the name of the file, it'll be hard to find.

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Answer 3

kahjot

Level 4

2,463 points

Dec 13, 2014 7:06 PM in response to lllaass

lllaass wrote:

If you selected the image in Safari and then right clicked on Use Image as Desktop Picture and then changed to another it appears it is gone since I just tried it and then tried to search for the name of the picture and it was not found.

Does this mean that the image is being loaded from the web? That seems kind of unworkable: does the image go away if you are not connected to the Internet? And if it doesn't it must be stored somewhere. But if it is, apparently hidden?

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Answer 4

unxrules Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 13, 2014 7:35 PM in response to kahjot

I checked all the images on the hard drive, no success. It's a little sad. I've been dealing with some health issues, and pretty much every day as I was thinking about transience, I would look at that background. Just seeing the sheer beauty would, for a short time, grant me some peace, and even a little bit of acceptance. In all reality, even if I find the picture again, I know I'll never be able to travel there. At any rate, thanks everyone for trying to help.

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Answer 5

unxrules Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 13, 2014 7:02 PM in response to lllaass

Unfortunately, I just selected Use Image as Desktop Picture, I didn't specifically save it. I spent another 30 minutes scouring the web, no success.

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Answer 6

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Dec 14, 2014 1:24 AM in response to unxrules

I Would expect that it got moved/was in a temporary cache with a different name since, as I said, I did you what you did and knew the files name and could not find it with Spotlight search.

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