How do I change my Windows desktop wallpaper programmatically?

Question

I\'d wish to set a wallpaper for Windows XP using C#. I\'ve developed the code so it perfectly works in Windows 7, but apparently it\'s not the same for XP. I add that wallp

Answer 1

Well, this is a bit awkward, but I'll answer my own question with what I found.

I had to reuse more code from the accepted answer here. Basically the problem in XP was that it needed to use a bmp file, so I managed to convert a project resource to a bmp file using that previous example and a little of tweaking. The Set method works perfectly this way:

public static void Set(string wpaper, Style style)
{
    using(System.Drawing.Image img = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(Path.GetFullPath(wpaper)))
    {
        string tempPath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "wallpaper.bmp");

        img.Save(tempPath, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp);

    }

    RegistryKey key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"Control Panel\Desktop", true);

    if (style == Style.Stretched)
    {
        key.SetValue(@"WallpaperStyle", 2.ToString());

        key.SetValue(@"TileWallpaper", 0.ToString());

    }

    if (style == Style.Centered)
    {
        key.SetValue(@"WallpaperStyle", 1.ToString());

        key.SetValue(@"TileWallpaper", 0.ToString());

    }

    if (style == Style.Tiled)
    {
        key.SetValue(@"WallpaperStyle", 1.ToString());

        key.SetValue(@"TileWallpaper", 1.ToString());

    }

    SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER,
        0,
        tempPath,
        SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE);

}

The important part is on the third line of this code (System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(Path.GetFullPath(wpaper));).