Wallpaper Folder Windows

Adding wallpaper background to your folders' file panes is a simple way to give the folders some pizzazz. But beyond aesthetics, custom backgrounds let you easily recognize and differentiate folder windows--particularly if you have backup folders on a removable or network drive with names identical to the originals on your own hard drive. Though Microsoft appears to have removed folder wallpaper from Windows XP, you can change your folders' backgrounds in that OS, too.

If the custom folder background that you want will include text, choose Start, Programs, Accessories, Paint (or in XP, Start, All Programs, Accessories, Paint). Create or load an image that's about the size of your typical file pane; then uncheck Image, Draw Opaque, and use Paint's text tool to compose your message on the image. Be sure to use muted colors and large margins so your text doesn't interfere visually with the file pane's icons and icon labels. When you're done, save the picture as a bitmap (.bmp), GIF (.gif), or JPEG (.jpg) file in an appropriate folder (such as My Pictures), and close Paint.

Now you're ready to apply your background to a folder. In Windows 9x, 2000, and Me, open the folder whose background you want to wallpaper, and select View, Customize This Folder. In Windows 9x, select Choose a background picture. In Windows 2000 and Me, click Next, select Modify background picture and filename appearance, and uncheck the remaining check boxes. In all versions, click Next and then Browse to select your image file from your hard drive (thereafter, your file will be included in the list on the right).

Under 'Icon caption colors' or 'Filename Appearance', click the colored button next to 'Text' to select a color for the folder's icon labels. Choose a color that contrasts with your background picture, and then click OK, Next, Finish. To get rid of the wallpaper, select Remove customization in the Customize This Folder Wizard, and then click Next, Next, Finish.

To add wallpaper to a folder in XP, open the folder, choose Tools, Folder Options, and click the View tab. Under 'Advanced settings', select Show hidden files and folders (you may need to double-click Hidden files and folders first). Uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and click Yes when you see the warning. Click OK, and double-click the file named desktop.ini to open it in your text editor (you may not see the .ini extension). If you can't find a desktop.ini file, launch Notepad or your preferred text editor.

In your text editor, type [{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}] (this line contains no capital letter Os, only zeroes) on the first line, and press Enter. Type IconArea_Image= and the path to your .bmp, .gif, or .jpg image file--for example, 'IconArea_Image=C:\My Documents\My Pictures\Blue Hills.bmp.' Then press Enter.

Changing the color of the folder's icon labels is a little tricky. To leave the icon text black, do nothing. For white, type IconArea_Text=0x00FFFFFF (make sure that the x is lowercase) and press Enter. For red text, replace the code that follows the equal sign with 0x000000FF; to make the text yellow, type 0x0000FFFF; for blue text, use 0x00FF0000; and to show gray text, enter 0x00808080. These codes identify values in a 24-bit color scheme that specifies how much blue, green, and red to mix together: 0x00bbggrr (with values ranging from 0 in decimal or 00 in hexadecimal to 255 in decimal or FF in hexadecimal). If you're editing the folder's existing desktop.ini file, save the file and close your text editor. If you created the file from scratch, save it with the name "desktop.ini" in the folder that will house the background picture; use quotation marks to keep Notepad from adding its default .txt extension.

Now give the folder the System attribute. Put the folder window destined for the background picture in front. Press Backspace to move up a level, click Start, Run, type attrib +s followed by a space, and drag the icon for your desired folder to the text box of the Run dialog box. It should now read something like 'attrib +s C:\Documents and Settings\...\My Documents\My Folder' (your path and folder name may differ, of course). Click OK. The next time you open the folder, you'll see your new wallpaper inside (see FIGURE 3). If you don't want to see the desktop.ini file, right-click it and choose Properties. Under the General tab, check Hidden and click OK. Then click Tools, Folder Options, View, and deselect the option to show hidden files and folders. While the Folder Options box is open, recheck Hide protected operating system files if you unchecked it earlier.

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