Solved Windows 8 - Folder Backgrounds (Like XP, or Win7 with app)

[my2cents]

Yep, you prompted me again to test and I got the same results as you. This is definitely not what the OP wants. Moreover, I could not find anything that meets his needs except your windows blinds recommendation. I'm done. Best of luck to the OP and thank you as always. Cheers.

 

[David Bailey]

If you just want to change icons for folders you can right click one & choose another.
If you want to change icons for ANYTHING you need Microangelo on Display.
Window Blinds changes THE BACKGROUND color or background IMAGE in Explorer, -- It doesn't change icons.

A picture:

 

[animehunter123]

Hello,

Thank you for your help with my research. I was able to follow the unblock steps, and it launched but it does not do folder wallpapers as you have mentioned. Thank you for teaching me.

Unfortunately, I will continue to try and hunt for a application method that will make per-folder wallpapers to help our blind handicapped users see better. We have about 20 folders that east must have a color coded background, and we used to use Windows XP which automatically created a Desktop.ini/CustomizeThisFolder, and it worked well at the time. However not that XP support is ending we bought many PCs with Windows 8, and are desperately trying to figure out how to make each of the 20 folders have unique wallpapers to match the previous behaviour.

I will update this thread if I find anything, or if you find anything please dont hesitate to post your results in this thread. On behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind, I thank you everyone for your help.

Hopefully we can figure out how to do this.

 

[my2cents]

Good luck to you in your quest.

 

[Mohsin]

Yes there is a program you can try

Hello, I tried to use W7FBC, but it does not seem to work on my machine. Here is a photo. My old XP machine has a lot of folders with customized backgrounds for our handicapped users (who cannot see with bad eyesight), so I am trying to find a way to make folder wallpapers.

Any ideas? Thanks for all the commentsView attachment 27668

window blinds is a super program that is a solution to your problem

 

[brotherboard]

Hello, I tried to use W7FBC, but it does not seem to work on my machine. Here is a photo. My old XP machine has a lot of folders with customized backgrounds for our handicapped users (who cannot see with bad eyesight), so I am trying to find a way to make folder wallpapers.

Is it possible you could run it all in a virtual m/c? Perhaps someone with more tech knowledge than me could advise

 

[animehunter123]

Folder Backgrounds (on folder per folder basis)

Hello everyone, I am still researching many solutions but no avail. As mentioned in the original post, my goal is Each Folder to have a different wallpaper. In windows XP, this was done via (right click > customize this folder wizard), in windows 7 this was done via (3rd party application: AveFolderBG, works perfect)... However in Windows 8, there is no known solution. Has anyone found any ideas for Windows 8 applications.



Winblinds works but all the folders will have the same wallpaper, which will not help my problem. I need a different wallpaper for different folders to help those who are visually impared (handicapped). For example: MY music folder background = Yellow, My desktop folder background = green. I require this to be done via wallpapers and not folder icons.



Does anyone have any guidance? On behalf of the blind/handicapped I send my thanks for any guidance or support

 

[animehunter123]

Ahhh! I think i might have a solution!




The new version of AVEFolderWin7, works on Win8.1 and you have to right click the installer bat file and RUN as ADMINISTRATOR and reboot. Remember to never renam the bat file and the dlls ever again and reboot, then afteryou right click a folder you will now see a new tab for avefolder7. This is great! I got it from avefolderbg dot soft32 dot com slash /free-download/




The good thing is it worked on win8.1. Now for my Win8.0 i will test later on but it should be good to go. This is great because ALL OF MY FOLDERS have a DESKTOP.ini file that was made in XP which already has all the pictures for each folder saved in DESKTOP.ini so im hoping that AVE will automatically see that and FIX IT UP! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY




Thank you all!

 

[animehunter123]

AveFolderBG (v1.0) works on Windows 8.1 with PER FOLDER BG

On behalf of myself and future viewers, thank you to EVERYONE who helped with this thread. I found the solution, and...

Attached it (it is freeware, thankfully!) to this thread in case it gets deleted from the web, because i could not find its developer website. Its basically a Batch file with a a DLL. Nothing special.


I hope to share this with eightforums in case others who want PER FOLDER WALLPAPERS can use it.


Enjoy!

 

[Freak]

First of all thanks for keeping the thread up to date
I've been looking for this solution since a long time, cause i have lots of folders with background allready.
(But in Win8.1 I don't see them)

Ahhh! I think i might have a solution!

The new version of AVEFolderWin7, works on Win8.1 and you have to right click the installer bat file and RUN as ADMINISTRATOR and reboot. Remember to never renam the bat file and the dlls ever again and reboot, then afteryou right click a folder you will now see a new tab for avefolder7. This is great! I got it from avefolderbg dot soft32 dot com slash /free-download/

Thank you all!

The new Version you mentioned is from 2010 ???
And it did't work in my explorer :-(

I get the explorer integration in the Properties Window of Explorer but if I apply the Properties the Explorer freeeze
Have you any Idea?

Edit:
I have tried different Locations of the dll (without spaces / in programm files / in AppData )
Please check if a restart of the whole system is necessary or if it also apply after restarting the Explorer App

Edit:
If I restart the Pc or the Explorer sometimes I see the Picture in the Explorer. But after a Folderchange its gone and never come back
Is there a kind of "Aktiv Desktop" what covers the Picture?


Thx in advance

 

[ronthai]

Can't get this to work.
I installed it as Admin, even got the extra tab under "Customize this folder ..."
When I select an image the preview just stays white, same result after apply or OK,
Even did a reboot, after image selection, just to be sure, no joy also.

Only one time got an desktop.ini created in a folder, but that was also useless.
All other times the desktop.ini was not even created.

Too bad, would have liked this.
Guess I will just have to change the registry color to soften the white, as a last resort.

 

[Narcissa]

Excuse me, I know this post has been a while now, but I really hope someone could explain to me how the AveFolderBGW works after I download it? Does it mean if I have the AveFolderBGW, I can now used W7FBC in windows8? I'm sorry I'm such a noob in these computer's matters so I kinda need step to step lead

 

[marshmelo33]

AveFolderBG

Hello,


Animehunter, how can i make it work on Windows 8.1 ? iv'e done all the the step's but it does not work. help please

 

[Kratos]

Has anyone else managed to do this? I really need to make this work because I have 100s of folder backgrounds from Windows 7 in desktop.ini format and I can't get used to the blank white background in my favourite folders.

Please, can anyone help me with this? Using Win 8.1.

 

[kidjesus]

Windows 8 is the worst

I can't believe there still isn't a relevant solution to this problem (WindowBlinds is NOT a solution). None of the mentioned solutions in the thread work on Windows 8.1 and there aren't any available anywhere else on the web, to this date. I don't understand it. This, and the fact that Windows 10 does away with Windows Media Center are the 2 reasons I will downgrading back to Windows 7 at the earliest chance.

 

[Kratos]

I really like Windows 10 and i'm glad i upgraded it. However this win7 folder background tweak also dosen't work on Win10. I sorely miss this.

 

[Kratos]

I can't believe there still isn't a relevant solution to this problem (WindowBlinds is NOT a solution). None of the mentioned solutions in the thread work on Windows 8.1 and there aren't any available anywhere else on the web, to this date. I don't understand it. This, and the fact that Windows 10 does away with Windows Media Center are the 2 reasons I will downgrading back to Windows 7 at the earliest chance.

Hey bro! I figured it out. I download the avefolder from this link and used the 64-bit one and now all my folders are working. Although i had to manually set the background for the each one again (right click>properties>folder background tab) as they didn't read the old desktop.ini files automatically as was the case with Win 7.

I'm using Win 10 though but i'm sure it will work on Win 8.1 as well. Check this screenshot for proof:

okay i see there's no need to do it again for all previously working folders from Win 7. All i had to do was remove the read only option from these files\folders.

 

[Kratos]

hmm...there seems to be a problem with this. The read only square box reappears and after sometime the background disappears. If i remove the read only, they appear again but when read only comes back again they again vanish. This is frustrating...

update:
It seems folder background only works when you have opened up the properties windows of any folder containing the desktop.ini file. As soon as you close the properties box, the backgrounds disappear shortly after 2-5 seconds. So it seems something is causing it to shutdown or something...

 

[Blonk]

I am having the same issue as Kratos with the release build of Windows 10 (x64). A workaround is to bring up the property sheet of any folder and drag it off till it's almost invisible. Maybe some scripting gurus can come up wit a script to do this and make the property sheet window invisible so this can be done at startup. Or better still, hopefully the OP will release an update that keeps whatever needs to be kept in memory when the property sheet is closed.

 

[kidjesus]

I can't believe there still isn't a relevant solution to this problem (WindowBlinds is NOT a solution). None of the mentioned solutions in the thread work on Windows 8.1 and there aren't any available anywhere else on the web, to this date. I don't understand it. This, and the fact that Windows 10 does away with Windows Media Center are the 2 reasons I will downgrading back to Windows 7 at the earliest chance.

Hey bro! I figured it out. I download the avefolder from this link and used the 64-bit one and now all my folders are working. Although i had to manually set the background for the each one again (right click>properties>folder background tab) as they didn't read the old desktop.ini files automatically as was the case with Win 7.

I'm using Win 10 though but i'm sure it will work on Win 8.1 as well. Check this screenshot for proof:

okay i see there's no need to do it again for all previously working folders from Win 7. All i had to do was remove the read only option from these files\folders.

Thanks for the update! However, it appears you're still having some issues. Hopefully someone who knows a whole lot more about coding than we can resolve this in the near future...