How to Enable / Disable Changing Themes, Wallpapers, Screen Savers and Other Desktop Settings?

In Windows you can change desktop wallpaper, screen saver, themes and other appearance settings by right-click on Desktop and select "Properties".

When you enter Windows XP desktop properties, it looks as following:

And Windows Vista desktop properties looks as following:

Sometimes you might want to disable all or a few options in Desktop Properties to restrict users or you might want to enable those options in case they are disabled by your system administrator or a virus infection.

Following tutorial will help you in enabling or disabling all or a particular option in Desktop Properties:

NOTE: This tutorial will work for almost all Windows versions.

A. Disable Themes Tab in Desktop Properties:

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ Explorer

If "Explorer" key is not present, then create it. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoThemesTab and set its value to 1 to disable it.

B. Disable Desktop Tab in Desktop Properties:

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ System

If "System" key is not present, then create it. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDispBackgroundPage and set its value to 1 to disable it.

C. Disable Screen Saver Tab in Desktop Properties:

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ System

If "System" key is not present, then create it. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDispScrSavPage and set its value to 1 to disable it.

D. Disable both Themes and Appearance Tabs in Desktop Properties:

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ System

If "System" key is not present, then create it. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDispAppearancePage and set its value to 1 to disable it.

E. Disable Settings Tab in Desktop Properties:

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ System

If "System" key is not present, then create it. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDispSettingsPage and set its value to 1 to disable it.

NOTE: When you'll disable all above mentioned tabs in Desktop Properties. You'll get a similar Desktop Properties window as shown in following screenshots:

Windows XP Desktop Properties Window with all Restrictions Enabled:

Windows Vista Desktop Properties Window with all Restrictions Enabled:

BONUS TIP: In case you want to enable a restricted tab in Desktop Properties, just delete the required DWORD value as mentioned above or change its value to 0 instead of 1.

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This article was posted in Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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27 Comments

Niranjala

I need to get rid of the "You May be a Victim of Software Counterfeiting"sign from my desktop. My Windows XP was installed a few years ago by a technician when I bought my computer ware. How do I do this. Is this OK to do it now.

Also. I keep setting my Desktop background to Ascent and it keeps going black after a few minutes. Why is this happening? And how do I correct it. I tried to download drivers and it rejects it now because I don't have Genuine Windows.

I appreciate if you reply to my email.
Thanks

Niranjala
Paul

I have a screen saver set up by my company that gets in the way when I'm trying to run certain tasks. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel and dissabled everything there, but it permanently shuts off the screen saver function so I can't get access to the screen saver console. This is okay, but as soon as I plug back into my company network, it turns the screen saver back on again. Is there any way to fix this so I have full control over my screen saver? Thanks!
VG

^^ It seems the server is implementing some group policy on each client system, thats why you are facing this problem. Unfortunately nothing can be done afaik.
Niranjala

I get this message below when I try to log onto to my account this morning:

"Windows cannot load the locally stored profile: Insufficient security rights or a corrupted local file. Windows has logged you in with a temporary profile any setting you make will not be saved". I cant access ANY OF MY OLD FILES NOTHING.

I Googled and found an answer asking Me to try and create a new user account. And I did that. But How Do I retrieve my old User account files? There is nothing on the desktop. Why has this happened.?
Give me instructions please.

I think my hard disk may be full. And I will have to get it cleaned up as well. In the meantime I need to access my Microsoft outlook.
Thanks

Niranjala
VG

^^ You can access your documents from "Documents & Settings" folder in system drive where Windows is installed. It should contain a folder with the same name as your previous login name.
Niranjala

Thank you for the above Advice,

I have a new issue. I have Genuine Microsoft Outlook 2007 installed. I have a product ID key etc. Today the updates have installed the star shaped icon on my task bar identifying Outlook as not genuine. But it is. What do I do to get rid of it?
I don't know what has happened as I had this software for two years now.
VG

^^ Did you share your key with someone else? If the icon showing its not genuine, then its not at least now.
Niranjala

No I haven't. I have been using this for two years and why now? There is also a message along with this asking me to purchase the Microsoft Outlook. and that I should install OGAPluginInstall.exe. now to verify its genuine further. What should I do.

I cant understand why I should buy it again. I paid for it once. And it is definitely not pirated.
Thanks, I appreciate any advice soon. There must be an error.
VG

^^ Install the OGAplugin installer and it'll tel you whether your outlook is genuine or not.
sukhvir

THis is great work dude.
You are doing awesome social service