Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

Could it be cause im using a .jpg image Is .bmp recommended?

Why don't you just try it and find out!?

I think JPG wallpapers required IE4 (Active Desktop).

I did and still same issue and I have IE5.5 installed.

non compressed formats are better for performance;

Disable Active Desktop? (Right click on desktop, and uncheck active desktop / view as webpage)

I think there's an update that causes this glitch. The same happened to me when I had 95c installed on my pentium mmx system.

iirc there is a 24 real color update for windows 95 included in its PLUS "expansion". save the same image as a 24 bit bitmap and you wont need to use active desktop to display the image. This saves alot of memory and hassle.

Stock Win95 displayed 24-bit color BMPs fine.

I don't see active desktop anywhere.

I'm using win95c with the unofficial service pack and IE5.5.

When win95 logs in there is box in the corner that says "windows is now setting up the following item" my desktop refreshes then goes to a solid color background.

Have fun reinstalling and installing the IE 4.0 with Active Desktop before installing IE 5/5.5.

Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

When win95 logs in there is box in the corner that says "windows is now setting up the following item" my desktop refreshes then goes to a solid color background.

You should check which items are running at startup, or just check Task Manager to see if there is anything unexpected running.

Got it working, had to reinstall everything like this Win95->IE4.01->IE5.5->SP1 Now everything is working great! I had no idea IE4.01 would change the whole explore layout.

Had to reinstall windows, i did the exact same same route and now im getting that same problem i cant even change to a solid background.

Apologies if this is considered unwarranted necro but I think I have some useful information to add. I was having an identical issue to the above, also using OSR 2.5.

After a few reinstalls, I narrowed down the problem to the unofficial service pack. Without it, I am able to set and retain a (bmp) wallpaper but only if active desktop is enabled. I have yet to work out which component of the service pack is causing the problem.

One other thing:
You can use the "Internet Explorer Administration Kit" to make a customized installer for IE5 or IE6 that includes Active Desktop. That way you don't have to install IE4 before the version you really want.

IEAK was a tool for sysadmins that lets you make an installer with customized default settings. One of the checkbox options is to include Active Desktop.
I did it with IE6 (for NT4) a long time ago, but I think the same process can be used on IE5.
Once you've made an installer you can just keep the file and never have to go through the IEAK procedure again.

IEAK sounds like a handy thing to have around.

One more reinstall and I've solved my problem. This time, I used the lite version of the unofficial service pack instead of the full one. I still don't know which component was responsible but at least it's working as expected now.

That computer is long gone now, but I do have a win95 era laptop to mess with. Yea its definitely something up with the unofficial service pack. I'm thinking about trying this out https://www.razorback95.com/projects/win95dl/index.php

Oldskoolmaniac wrote on 2021-10-11, 04:25:

That computer is long gone now, but I do have a win95 era laptop to mess with. Yea its definitely something up with the unofficial service pack. I'm thinking about trying this out https://www.razorback95.com/projects/win95dl/index.php

Tried to access this site but it's blocked by Bitdefender Antivirus over here. Could be a false positive but be careful.