Soulbender88

Q: Desktop Background pic reverts after restart.

I have a 30” and a 24” monitor and for almost a year now whenever I changed my background image it would change to the “Ocean wave” image after I restarted. I was on the phone with Apple about another issue and asked him about this and he said it was “Yosemite bug” So I ignored it until I updated to El Capitan yesterday. I discovered it was still an issue.

 

I was going to delete the com.apple.desktop pref file and guess what, its wasn’t there!!!

 

So this is what I did:

 

I deleted the “Ocean Wave” desktop image, changed the image on the 30” to the “El Capitan image” and a different image on the 24”

 

Restarted

 

While it was starting up, the desktops were blurry but finally came on and they were the El Capitan image on both monitors.

 

I right clicked, selected Change desktop and both monitors went blue and in the window there was a question mark where the selected image should be.

 

So I selected an image and as soon as I did, the “Fit to screen” dropdown menu disappeared.

 

So after reading about another article here I trashed the desktoppicture.db file.

 

Changed both screens to 2 different images, restarted, both screens changed to El Capitan images, right clicked, the screens didn’t turn blue but the dropdown menu is still gone.

 

one more thing, I read an article about “Teamviewer” causing the blue screen. Awhile back I was on the phone with Autodesk tech support and I think Teamviewer is what they had me use to help solve my issue. I did a search and found only the installer for it, I probably trashed the app itself.

 

Can anyone help with this please?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 14, 2016 10:37 PM

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Q: Desktop Background pic reverts after restart.

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  • by pedro d,

    pedro d pedro d Apr 16, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Soulbender88
    Community Specialists
    Apr 16, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Soulbender88

    Hello there, Soulbender88.

     

     

     

    It seems you're having an issue where your background is referring to a blue image or ultimately not offering the option to change it. One option to try is found in this Knowledge Base article about testing in another user to see if the behavior occurs:

     

     

     

    How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

     

     

     

    Before trying another user account

    If you're seeing unexpected behavior on your Mac try these steps first:

    Try searching Apple's knowledge base for the specific symptom or alert message you're seeing. There might be simpler steps you can take to resolve the issue.

    Try starting your Mac in Safe Mode. Restart your computer. Hold the Shift key when you hear the startup sound. Release the Shift key when you see the Apple logo appear. This starts your Mac in Safe Mode. Safe mode performs a directory check of your startup disk, and removes some cache data. After your Mac finishes starting up, restart your Mac normally (without holding the Shift key) and see if the issue is resolved.

    Make sure your software is up to date. The issue you're seeing might be addressed by installing available updates.

    Check to see where the issue happens. If an issue appears before you see your desktop, it's less likely that it's related to a user account or setting. If an issue happens with a website, see if pages from other websites load correctly first. There might be an issue with the site and not your Mac.

    How to test with another user account

    You can figure out if unexpected behavior is related to user file or setting by trying to reproduce the issue from another user account. This process includes creating a new user account, logging in to it, and testing for the issue.

    Create a test user account

    1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
    2. Click the Users & Groups icon in the System Preferences window.
    3. Click the lock icon, then enter an administrator name and password.
    4. Click the Add button ( + ) below the list of users.
    5. Choose a type of user from the New Account pop-up menu.
    6. Give the user a full name, account name, and password.
    7. Click OK.
    8. Close the System Preferences window.

    If there are documents from your original user account that you want to test with, place a copy of these items in the Shared folder in the Users folder. Press the Option key while dragging a file to this folder to create a copy.

    Log in to the test user account

    Log out of your current user account by choosing Log Out from the Apple menu, then log in to the new account you created. If you're prompted to sign in with your iCloud account or Apple ID when you log in, skip this step.

    Try reproducing the issue

    Try the same steps that caused the unexpected behavior to appear before. For example, if you were unable to print, try printing from this user account. If you were unable to connect to the Internet, try browsing a website from this user account.

    If you were using any specific settings that testing depends on (such as using a specific email account or iCloud account) set up the same account in the test user. For email and most other settings you can use the Internet Accounts pane in System Preferences to set up these kinds of accounts. If files from your home folder are needed for testing, copy them to Shared folder in the Users folder (/Users/Shared). After logging in as the test user, copy these items to the same location in the test user's home folder to test with.

    If an issue happens in only one user account

    If performing the same steps in a test user account doesn't result in the same unexpected behavior, you most likely don't need to reinstall any apps or OS X.

    • If an issue only happens in one app, check the app's documentation or support website for instructions on troubleshooting specific preference or setting files.
    • If you need help with a specific alert message or issue, search the Apple Support website for the text of the alert message you're seeing.

    If an issue happens in more than one user account

    If the same unexpected behavior happens in more than one user account on your Mac, try checking for software or hardware issues.

    After you're done

    After you've finished testing, log out of the test account by choosing Log Out from the Apple menu. Then log in to your original user account.

    You can remove the test user account you created when you're done. Make sure you're completely finished testing, and that you don't need any of the files or settings you created or copied there before you remove it.

    Get help

    If you need more help with a software or hardware issue, contact Apple Support. If you work with an Advisor, Genius, or service provider to resolve an issue, be sure to mention any steps you've already tried and the results. Also mention any alert messages you've seen as part of the issue. You can take a screenshot of any messages that appear so you can refer to them later.

     

     

     

    Additionally, I was able to find a bit of information in regard to the issue being related specifically to the "Teamviewer" application.

     

     

     

    TeamViewer Changelog for Mac

     

     

     

    The latest update for the TeamViewer app indicates:

     

    • Fixed a bug which caused that the wallpaper to stay removed when disconnecting from the remote computer and locking the screen

     

     

     

    If you have any additional questions in regards to TeamViewer you might want to reach out to them using their Contact link, on the bottom of their webpage.

     

     

     

    Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

     

     

     

    Kind Regards.

  • by Soulbender88,

    Soulbender88 Soulbender88 Apr 16, 2016 1:11 PM in response to pedro d
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 16, 2016 1:11 PM in response to pedro d

    I guess I didn't explain it right.

    In simpler terms, here is whats wrong:

     

    1. When I change the desktop wallpaper, it go's back to the default picture after restarting.

    2. The desktop background preferences file does not exist. For some reason the file is not being written in the Preferences folder.

  • by Soulbender88,

    Soulbender88 Soulbender88 Apr 18, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Soulbender88
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 18, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Soulbender88

    Anyone?

  • by Soulbender88,

    Soulbender88 Soulbender88 Apr 20, 2016 10:09 PM in response to Soulbender88
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 20, 2016 10:09 PM in response to Soulbender88

    Hello, is anybody there?

  • by pedro d,

    pedro d pedro d Apr 21, 2016 6:43 AM in response to Soulbender88
    Community Specialists
    Apr 21, 2016 6:43 AM in response to Soulbender88

    Hello again, Soulbender88.

     

    Thanks for the follow up on what you're trying to accomplish. Due to the nature of your question, it may be best if we get you in contact with someone who can look into this further. You may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com

     

    Cheers.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Apr 21, 2016 2:00 PM in response to Soulbender88
    Level 9 (71,259 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 21, 2016 2:00 PM in response to Soulbender88

    Might be a corrupt .plist.

     

    Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

     

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and com.apple.desktop.plist.  Move the .plists to your desktop.

    Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plists from the desktop.

    If the same, return the .plists to where you got it  from, overwriting the newer one.

     

    Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

  • by Soulbender88,

    Soulbender88 Soulbender88 Apr 21, 2016 10:44 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 21, 2016 10:44 PM in response to Eric Root

    com.apple.desktop.plist is not there or anywhere else on my computer. That was part of my original post.


    I don't think its a preferences issue because as you can see in the screen shot below, I'm missing the drop down menu for Fit to screen options.


    MissingMenu.jpg