Greeter wallpaper doesn't change [$50]

[Daniel Fore]

In Freya, it appears that the greeter doesn't pull my wallpaper when it loads, only on user changes. This is kind of weird, it should load my wallpaper when it comes up.

[Pedro Monteiro (pedro.monteiro)]

I found what is in the code just don't know a proper fix, please take a look at this:
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~pedro.monteiro/pantheon-greeter/fix-1324373/revision/276

[Daniel Fore (danrabbit)]

https://www.bountysource.com/issues/3557998-wallpaper-doesn-t-change-until-i-change-users

[Raphael Isemann (teemperor)]

Reason is a race-condition when we start to load the same wallpaper-twice (which happens when the most recent login gets selected on startup). The linekd branch fixes the race-condition.

[Daniel Fore (danrabbit)]

Looks like it's working with contract, but still needs to be fixed with the shell plug

[gmeier (gabriel-meier)]

This bug is marked as fixed, but it is still not working here, with all updateds installed.

[Fred Mwangi (mwangi-frederick)]

This bug still exists. Change your wallpaper then run pantheon-greeter from terminal or logout . It does not display the current desktop.

[Rafael Cunha (rafaelscunha)]

This bug still exists²

It is not working here.

[Edwin (edwinssaputra)]

How could this marked as fixed...

[DarkBen (benoit-bouye)]

Bug always here

[Daniel Fore (danrabbit)]

We also need to fix the "set as wallpaper" contract. I'm unsure which app we ship that with at the moment, so I'm marking Contractor for now :)

[Giuseppe (giuband)]

For me it now works with default elementary backgrounds but not with custom ones.
To make it work with custom backgrounds I have to change the permission of the images and make them readable by everyone (for instance with a chmod 644).
Hope this is of any help.

[fatalGlory (fatalglory)]

I can confirm the fix suggested by giuband. Changing the permissions of my custom wallpapers made them work with the lock screen for me. Maybe there should be some sort of pop-up warning in this case? E.g. if the user tries to set a wallpaper that is not readable by the greeter, the switchboard plugin could warn them and provide a link with instructions on how to fix it? Or even give them a button to auto-fix the permissions?

[Filipe Serras (filipeserras)]

Also confirming the solution by @giuband. Changing permissions makes custom wallpapers work.

[Özgür Baskin (ozgur-baskin)]

When I am using "gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri file:///path/of/my/wallpaper.png" command to change my wallpaper greeter not changing it. This bug not fixed I guess.

[Daniel Fore (danrabbit)]

That is not all that's required to make the image show on the greeter. It needs to be moved to a directory that the greeter has permission to read. Gsettings are not a user facing way to make changes.

[Grant (gsupp)]

> It needs to be moved to a directory that the greeter has permission to read.

For anyone else struggling with this, if you choose to encrypt your home folder (an option available in the default installer), you can't select a wallpaper stored in your home folder (such as in the Pictures folder) and expect the login screen to be able to display it. Best to store custom wallpapers in /usr/share/backgrounds with 644 permissions. You'll need root permissions to save files in this directory, but if you don't know how to do that, a simply elegant distro like elemenaryOS just isn't for you.