I plugged in a thumb drive to my pc, right-clicked on an image, and chose 'Set as desktop background'. The thumb drive was subsequently stolen. Windows obviously creates a copy on the image since it remains as the desktop background even after the thumb drive is removed. My question is, where exactly is this file stored?
05 Answers
Open regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General key
The name of the key you are looking for is WallpaperSource
While the answers from duDE & CharlieRB is correct
I also think what OP is looking for is in %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\
There would be a file called TranscodedWallpaper.jpg which is the currently set wallpaper
Some wallpapers are also stored in this location: C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets
The images don't have an extension but paint will open them. The larger files are the wallpapers. Copy the ones you want to another folder and add .jpg. List by date so you know when you get new ones.
Wasn't able to verify this because I am on a Windows 7 machine at the time...
You should be able to find the desktop and lock screen images in the C:\Windows\Web\ in there you will find a Wallpaper and Screen folders.
The Wallpaper folder contains the desktop backgrounds while the Screen folder contains lock screen images.
I found it in cached files
\%appdata%\roaming\microsoft\windows\themes\cachedfiles
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