Why does my desktop screen go black?

Question

I am trying to make a image my desktop image.
My Image path:

#Image Path
import random,os
folder= r"C:\\Users\rkp10\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca\0.91.6_0\backgrounds"
a=random.choice(os.listdir(folder))
print(a)

Opening the image:

#Opening the Image
from PIL import Image
file = folder+'\\'+a
Image.open(file).show()

Making the image as my desktop image:

#Making the image as desktop image
import ctypes
image_path = file
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20 
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, image_path, 3)

Now the thing is the image path is found and it also opens an image.But instead of setting the opened image as desktop image, it just make my desktop image black.

good to know that you found the answer :) – ABcDexter Dec 17 '16 at 17:26 — ABcDexter, Dec 17 '16 at 17:26

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 07 '16 at 12:57

2

This wil do the trick:

import random,os
import ctypes 

folder= r"C:\Users\rkp10\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca\0.91.6_0\backgrounds"
a=random.choice(os.listdir(folder)) 
print(a) file = folder+ '\\' +a
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20 
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER , 0, file, 3)

You had one "\" to many in your folder variable

answered Dec 07 '16 at 12:57

Stan Vanhoorn

526
1
4
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Dint get you , sorry.Explain it better? – White Shadow Dec 07 '16 at 13:00
Your folder variable starts with "folder= r"C:\\Users". But it should be "folder= r"C:\Users" – Stan Vanhoorn Dec 07 '16 at 13:02
So either Windows or Ctypes screws up when handling a path with a \ to many. – Stan Vanhoorn Dec 07 '16 at 13:05
1

@WhiteShadow you use a double \ so the complier doesnt treat it as an escape character but if you use the r infront of the string it takes it literally and doesnt treat them as escape characters, your error was that you had done a mix of both – WhatsThePoint Dec 07 '16 at 13:05

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

0

This article: SystemParametersInfo sets wallpaper completly black (using SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER) I think explains the issue. Seems the Win32Api is written for C, and so expects strings in a particular format - a null terminated char array.

Not entirely sure how to pass data like this in Python, but hopefully this will point you in the right direction

edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

Community

1
1

answered Dec 07 '16 at 13:03

cyberspy

1,023
11
13

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 30 '20 at 15:29

It's not that it goes black, it's that your background turns solid. Go to your background settings, set your background to a solid color other than black. Afterwards, change your background to a picture. Now, run your code. You will see that the issue is that it changes to a solid color, not a black image.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 25 '21 at 18:49

0

Also next solution can help:

import os
import ctypes

folder = r"C:\folder"
file_name = r"back.jpg"

full_path = os.path.join(folder, file_name)
wallpaper = bytes(full_path, 'utf-8')

ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(20, 0, wallpaper, 3)

answered Jun 25 '21 at 18:49

Vetedde

165
7

Why does my desktop screen go black?

4 Answers4