Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background
Windows Vista will have a feature called Dreamscene which will allow us to have a video as a desktop background . Dreamscene will only be available to the people using Windows Vista Ultimate but for people using Windows XP , there is also a way . And that is VLC player . VLC player has a built in feature that can allow you to have any video as a wallpaper . All you have to do is the following things
1) Open VLC and check whether Wallpaper mode is enabled
Goto Settings->preferences->video->output modules->Directx
Just select the advacned option box and you will get the following window as shown below , enable the wallpaper mode , now when you run your videos and right click on it , you will see a wallpaper option .

2) Now to remove VLC from your taskbar go to
Settings->preferences->Interface->Main Interfaces->wxWidgets and uncheck the Taskbar option.

3)Now all we have to do is loop your videos , go to
Settings->preferences->playlists and you will see the required option .
This will work on most of the versions but i recommend you to use the latest version of VLC . I tried it on Windows Vista Ultimate but i got a black screen as a wallpaper which was probably due to some issues with Aero , so if anyone gets it to work in Vista , do comment about it .
via VistaRewired









I’ve tried that before. But even without the steps, I could see the video as my wallpaper.
The settings are reqd when Wallpaper mode is not enabled.
came here through freakitude’s…
nice blog i must say..
would you like to exchange links??
thnx..
Madhur, thanks for this information. I know this feature in Visat, but didn’t know the tweak for XP.
Gili
Great info, will try that soon!
i will try it out…
well, i just came here from Harsh’s blog, and thought i’d like to tell you that this blog is simply superb!! the layout…posts, etc, are really good!!!
for that, will you excange links with my science blog???
http://science-core.blogspot.com/
link to me, and then leave a comment on my blog….i’ll reciprocate within a day.
thanks
srikanth
This one is really cool.Video Wallper…who gave this idea…awesome
I think VLC player had this feature long before Vista introduced it. VLC is also a cool player to have..even better that Mplayer in many aspects.
Yeah VLC had this feature all along . Wish i could have known about it .
@Sahil , Srikanth
I have added you to my blogroll.
I’ve used it a few times with VLC. They’re pretty cool !
This is nice info, but I have not tried out the Vista yet. The XP tweak is good
very Awesome share Madhur
I knew that Vista had this feature but always wanted to try it on XP
Glad I found it
This just made my day. I’ll try this out right away.
[...] How To Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background by Madhur [...]
DreamScene is pure crap really, with its 2.5x explorer.exe RAM consumption.
@Harsh
Has Dreamscene been released
whoa. this sounds pretty cool. I am going to check this one out.
This seems interesting, but I do prefer plain wallpapers, cant say why though..
My main concern is that you can’t guarantee every page of your website will be included in the SERPs. Considering I’m constantly adding new products to my company’s website, I need to be sure that customers can find them as soon as possible.http://www.seoptimizerz.com
you could just use live desktop to insert a video in a html file and view it on your desk top
this also uses way less memory
and live desktop comes already on windows
[...] of ways you can do it in XP too . Not so long ago i wrote a post explaining how the same can be achieved using VLC player . This time we are going to use an Open Source Software [...]
This feature on VLC has never worked for me. I just end up getting a black desktop, but it’s a cool feature nonetheless.
[...] How To Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background [...]
its not working i try evrything i ust dont get wallpaper button on my window vista
Hi,
I tried on Windows XP but got only blank screen on desktop. Tried everything but nothing worked
Is there a way to use a live video as a background without using too much memory????
[...] How To Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background [...]
i tried on vista too but i cant get the wallpaper option button to show when i right-click… u think microsoft might have somehow disabled this option for vista users?
Hello, I have window’s Vista, and VLC media player. Ive done everything the directions say, but still no wallpaper option:( I have also tried other video wallpaper programs, that didnt work either, could you help me out?
i have vista also. microsoft disables this option for us in vlc media player…….. they want us to upgrade to vista ultimate.. jack asses…
I have been doing this on xp but there is an anoying loop that you can notice when it is done
I have XP and the only problem is that the window frame doesn’t go away when the video is a wallpaper. It just kinda stays there… Is there any way to make it disappear when you activate wallpaper mode? Other than that this is a really neat trick! Thanks in advance!
i enabled the wallpaper button and saved, but when i right click it don’t have the wallpaper feature :S
i have tried this with windows vista ultimate.it works as long as you got the latest release of vlc player..download the latest release and it should work
nah no way they could do that.as i said before try downloading the latest release of vlc and it should work
@Dez
there is no way for microsoft to block the feature. try downloading the latest release and that should fix it.
i did this trick but didnt get the result!
I was frustrated to see the author of this blog is not answering the questions that numerous people have asked in the comment section regarding “no wallpaper mode”.
Perhaps they have not dealt with the problem so are unaware of the solution. It has been quite a frustration for me to follow all the instructions and still have no “wallpaper mode” in VLC (Windows vista home).
Here is what I found:
Some other things that must be be done to enable VLC to show the “Wallpaper” mode and to enable dreamscene on the desktop is:
Disable the Windows “Aero theme” and switch it to “Windows Vista Basic”. To do this right click anywhere on the desktop, click personalize>Windows Color and appearance>Open Classic appearance properties for more color options>color scheme. Change the Theme to basic.
In VLC go to Settings > Preferences > Interface > Main Interfaces > wxWidgets; disable taskbar and enable systray to remove the VLC windows from the taskbar.
In VLC for Windows Vista Home you also have to change the “Video output module” to “directx” mode, to enable the “Wallpaper” option in VLC. To do that open the settings dialog and select -> Video -> Output Module (enable “advanced settings”) and change video output module from “default” to “directx output module”.
Go to Playlist and select Repeat current item to loop it.
It is still has issues but it might work after trying the above!
Cheers!
i tryed vlc but there is black screen on my xp so wat should i do know
hi
i have enabled option “Enable wallpaper mode”
but i could not set any video as a wallpaper.
i tried that hard but hard Luck !
i’ve got VLC 0.8.6i(latest version).
plz tell what to do?
one more thing is that when i put my cursor on “Enable wallpaper mode” the caption pop up like
“Note that this feature only works in overlay mode and desktop must not already have a wallpaper”.
what does that mean—>overlay mode?
plz tell what to do as i am raring to do this.
how could u do this ?
I have gotten it to work in vista. Some videos give me a black screen but some of them work great as desktop backgrounds, I haven’t figured out what parameters makes it work or fail though. Thanks for the info.
i also have set up the enable wallpaper mode in vlc
i run on vista basic as is
but when i right click i still dont get teh option for wallpaper.
govee seems to have the same problem as me
^^
and i think we need to remove our desktop backgrounds but dont know how please help i would love to do this
in the mean time i’ll go make my super video
sorry to be so rude wanted to add
other than that it is a great guide love the pictures and all nice work
@Tom
which version of vlc are you using ?
At first it wouldn’t work for me, but, after following HappyPizza’s instructions, I got it working…
it seems that in vista home premium 32bit it won’t work if there’s any ransparency in your theme… cuz I had a “basic” theme that still ahd some transparency and it wouldn’t work but as soon as I changed to a completely opaque theme(like taskbar, start menu etc) I started to work.
I didn’t realize it was working untill I saw that the video size was expanded to full screen so I just shrank down my VLC player and it was running in the back ground.
Thanks for the walkthroughs and especially to happypizza for giving further instruction for us problematic vista users…
here’s a compilation of the exact steps I used…
Settings->preferences->video->output modules->Directx
-check advanced options in bottom right corner
-check enable wallpaper mode
Settings->preferences->interface->main interface->wxwidgets
-make sure you’ve checked advanced options in bottom right corner
-uncheck taskbar and check systray icon
(so… embed video, size to video and systray are all checked)
Settings->preferences->playlist
-check repeat current item (I’m not sure if you can do it with multiple files by checking repeat all)
Settings->preferences->video->output modules
- change the option from default to DirectX Video Output
Settings->preferences->Audio
-uncheck enable audio to disable sound
now try the right click thing and see if there’s a wallpaper option, if there is then you’re done. if not, continue on.
go to your desktop, right click and go to personalize->window colour and appearance and change to a Windows Vista Basic theme with no transparency.
now try the right click thing and see if there’s a wallpaper option. it should be there now.
then, after that it seems that I can now change back to my theme with transparency and it works…(note after changing themes it show the wallpaper picture and you have to go back into VLC and chech and uncheck the Wallpaper thing in the right click)
yes I know I said it won’t work with transparency at the beginning, but it seems to work now… so… I guess that’s windows for you… I love windows, It’s like opening a present everytime!!! You never know what you’re gonna get, lol.
oh, and I got bored and tested it with the loop all thingy and it doesn’t work for me so far so… no light on that front… anyhoo… good luck with getting yours to work.
to the guys who’se steps I stole in compiling up this list.. sry but it was only to help make it easier for others… hope ya understand, no harm intended if any comes from my recompiling these steps… and sry for rambling…
followed instructions above but the video won’t repeat for me. and yes i did the following step:
Settings->preferences->playlist
-check repeat current item (I’m not sure if you can do it with multiple files by checking repeat all)
But when the video it ends it goes back to my regular pictured background. i don’t get it.
Am i the only one that can’t get the background going. i tried using every VLC version that i could find but it just wont work > PLEASE if u had issues on Vista x64 Business please send me some instructions for my problem…..
My MSN : kara-bg@hotmail.com
THANKS….
if anyone wanted to help me i managed to fix the problem tanks in any case
NONE of this shit works! I have a Vista… I don’t get the Wallpaper on my screen, at ALL… and what exactly do you right-click on, anyway?
X chill out if u have a vista try the uper blog by Clumpen i did as h sad an it works just be patients
anyway you can script vlc to load a video on startup?
[...] How To Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background by Madhur [...]
We can also take screenshot of playing videos in WMplayer by pressing CTRl +I
How do i get the wxwidgets option to appear?
that is awesome!
Happypizza are you a rocket scientist W.^V I got up and running all thannks to you!!!!
You also need to make sure you have “View Desktop Icons” selected otherwise it doesn’t work
thanks for the info on the scripts.
I have VLC and I did all the steps as it said. Then, when I go to the DirectX Wallpaper button, it is grayed out. I can’t click on it. Any one know how to fix this?
P.S. I have VLC 0.9.8a
How do you save the video as Background??? Everytime I close VLC Program the video wallpaper close to..
Done everything like you explained.
My desktop just goes black and that’s it.
(I have WinXPProSP3 and an nvidia 7 series graphics board, if that helps.)
Actually, the VLC wiki advises you to “deactivate overlay”.
I did not know what that was and found a solution:
“ok, Just go to preferences, then go to the bottom left corner and click on all (its in a box that says show settings) then you just click on the item “video” on your left (should be the last item) then on your right it should say on the top “general video settings” go down till you find “overlay video output” and uncheck it, then you can also click on the little triangle (or “+”) that’s next to the item called “video” on your left then click on output modules and on your right should be a drop down list, choose one that you think is the best (usually directx or open gl works fine)”
It’s still not working though. ):
i tried all the steps i even downloaded the 0.9.8 version i have vista ultimate but non of the steps worked..what should i do?
I tried this, but once the video was done, the screen went to an image as a background. How can I continuously loop the video?
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