Where does Windows store its wallpapers?

I run Windows XP and the wallpaper I used to have got lost. I have backups of the system itself, so if I knew where to look, I could find a copy of the old wallpaper.

I have some idea of the original filename (searching now), and I recall it saves it as a bitmap, but an exact location would be helpful.

It was a photo/JPEG that used to be on the filesystem, and I don't have backups, so the Firefox, and Internet Explorer wallpaper locations are unlikely. I checked %SYSTEMROOT%\system32 as well - so I'm assuming it's somewhere else.

Solution 1:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft

Should be in this location.

In Windows 10 (also 8.1) the wallpaper is under this folder location:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\RoamedThemeFiles\DesktopBackground

Solution 2:

It should be here, at least if it is a stock wallpaper:

C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper

If it is custom, it is here:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Internet Explorer Wallpaper.bmp

With FF 4, it saves it to:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Desktop Background.bmp

After you clarified that you actually wanted the location that Firefox saved it to, I noticed something: If you go to the location where the wallpaper is set, the name of it there, is the name of the actual file. So as in this screenshot,

the name is Desktop Background, so doing a dir "desktop background.bmp" /s would find it. I would assume this would work even if another browser saved it to yet another location, or file name.

Solution 3:

Using Windows 10, I found mine in the registry on key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers