# Getting a picture from my desktop -Windows XP **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130 "2004-10-02T01:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/1 "2004-10-02T01:24:31Z")
Several months ago I took a terrific picture of my cat and set it as my desktop wallpaper. In the meantime, I must have deleted it because I’ve searched for it several times (I know the exact file name) and nothing’s come up. Is there a way to save a desktop picture as a JPEG so I can get the photo developed? Thanks for your help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/2 "2004-10-02T01:28:07Z")
You can put it on a disk or CD and take it to just about any photo delevoper and they can get you a real picture. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/3 "2004-10-02T01:41:42Z")
> [@tsarina](#): > > Several months ago I took a terrific picture of my cat and set it as my desktop wallpaper. In the meantime, I must have deleted it because I’ve searched for it several times (I know the exact file name) and nothing’s come up. Is there a way to save a desktop picture as a JPEG so I can get the photo developed? > > Thanks for your help. 🙂 Ummm… if it’s your desktop wallpaper, it’s on your computer somewhere. Try checking your display properties and looking to see what desktop it thinks you have. If it’s set to ‘internet explorer wallpaper’, try searching the hard disk for a file named that. (Probably under ‘documents and settings.’) It’ll be a bitmap file, but you can convert that to a jpeg through paint. If you set it up as an ‘active desktop item’, that’ll be harder, but it should still be on your hard drive under some file name. I never use active desktop myself. hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/4 "2004-10-02T02:04:40Z")
Desktop imagines are stored in the Windows/System folder. Start, Run, type explorer.exe Select your C drive and scroll down to the Windows folder. Double click on it and look in the System folder. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/5 "2004-10-02T11:47:15Z")
> [@Oat1957](#): > > Desktop imagines are stored in the Windows/System folder. > > Start, Run, type explorer.exe > > Select your C drive and scroll down to the Windows folder. Double click on it and look in the System folder. Ummm… (takes a look.) There’s nothing even remotely image-like in _my_ windows/system folder. OCX controls, DLL libraries, DRV driver files… there are some bitmap files in the /windows folder itself, all included in windows itself. I’m not sure if there’s any completely easy way to say where a customized desktop image is stored… but if you go through the ‘display’ control panel, you can at least find out what the file name is. Then do a total hard drive search if you have to ---
**Author:** ![wilsta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@wilsta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wilsta)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/6 "2004-10-02T12:09:25Z")
I would suggest running a search again. This time leave the name field blank, select bitmap as the file and select… lets say 500kb as the minimum size. This should give you a reasonably small list of bitmap files and hopefully one of them will yield a pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/7 "2004-10-02T12:57:46Z")
> [@Oat1957](#): > > Desktop imagines are stored in the Windows/System folder. > > Start, Run, type explorer.exe > > Select your C drive and scroll down to the Windows folder. Double click on it and look in the System folder. Not necessarily. That may be where the ones that come with Windows are stored (I’d have to check), but you certainly don’t have to store your own desktop wallpapers there. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/8 "2004-10-02T13:48:31Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Try checking your display properties and looking to see what desktop it thinks you have. > [@chrisk](#): > > Ummm… (takes a look.) There’s nothing even remotely image-like in _my_ windows/system folder. I think you were on the right track, earlier. Start \>\> Settings \>\> Control Panel \>\> Display, select the Background tab, then scroll through the list of wallpaper options. The current wallpaper name _should_ be highlighted, but if it is not, it should have some recognizable name. (Either the name should describe the pic or, unlike the Windows-delivered names, it should not have a short name like “Bricks” or “Ocean Wave.”) Typically, a user-created wallpaper will be the final entry in the wallpaper selection list. I would suggest using Explorer to scan “My Computer” for that name (just the name, without an extension) and see what comes up. (My wall paper was taken from a family photograph and is stored in a folder I created two operating systems ago. There is no need for it to be in any particular place.) ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/9 "2004-10-02T14:50:02Z")
None of your suggestions has worked so far, aaarrgh. ISn’t there a way to take a picture of the desktop itself? ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/10 "2004-10-02T15:02:09Z")
> [@tsarina](#): > > None of your suggestions has worked so far, aaarrgh. ISn’t there a way to take a picture of the desktop itself? Yes there is - just remove all the icons from the desktop, minimize the start bar, and then hit the Print Screen Button. Open up Paint or some other image manipulation program, and then then goto Edit \> Paste. The image of your desktop should appear. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-picture-from-my-desktop-windows-xp/267130/11 "2004-10-02T15:02:28Z")
You can hit Print Screen on the Desktop, open Paint and do a Paste into a new .bmp file. (Before doing that, I would suggest clustering all your Desktop icons over in some corner of the screen that you don’t mind cropping.) I am curious what name your wallpaper is stored under in the Control Page/Display/Wallpaper window.