[HOME]8:43 AM June 10, 2022

Using A Video As A Wallpaper Using VLC Part 1

(originally two separate articles)

To set a video as a background or wallpaper just open up a video and in the top menu click on Video and then Set as Wallpaper.

Seems simple enough but it doesn't stay simple in my case. The video when set opens on my second monitor with no taskbar or icons. The only way I can get the taskbar to show is to drag an open window/app over on top of the video-wallpaper. Second problem, when the video loops it becomes the active app which means the taskbar gets hidden again. If I use a video clip that's longer, I can work with that open app just as I would if the background was a static picture.

On my Windows 7 computer (single monitor) when the video started playing, I managed to get the taskbar to appear by using Alt + Tab.

Using Command Prompt And Batch Files

You can start this up using command prompts in a batch file. Just create a text file with the following info and rename the .txt extension .bat

This one is a sample one that I created for a small video I used.

@ECHO OFF
CD C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC
START vlc.exe --direct3d11-hw-blending --video-wallpaper --loop "E:\Downloads\stuff6\amy.wmv"

This opens VLC, with the video listed at the end, sets the rendering engine to Direct3D 11, sets it as a video wallpaper and then loops the video.

note: If you are using the 32bit version of VLC or a portable version put in the proper path to VLC. C:\Program Files (x86) for 32bit.

At the end put in the path to your own video.

Replace:

--direct3d11-hw-blending with --directx-hw-yuv for XP systems.
--direct3d9-hw-blending for Vista and Higher.
--direct3d11-hw-blending for Win 8 and Higher.

You can find a list of VLC command line options here: https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_command-line_help/

Using A Shortcut

You can also create a desktop shortcut. Just right-click on your desktop, click on New and then Shortcut. In the box that opens type your command using the following as an example. This is all one line. Again remember to replace the path and video name if necessary.

"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --direct3d11-hw-blending --video-wallpaper --loop "file:///E:/Downloads/stuff6/amy.wmv"

So this works but is somewhat flaky. :-)

Using A Video As A Wallpaper Using VLC Part 2

I wrote about this before. I called it flaky. I went online to try a way to make this procedure more stable. I didn't find anything else online but digging through the VLC settings, I found something that makes it work a little bitter.

Open VLC and across the top go into Tools then Preferences or press Ctrl + P.

Then towards the bottom left-hand corner in the Show settings, click on All. Then in the left hand column scroll down and click on Video. Now to the right check Enable wallpaper mode. And click on Save.

Shut down VLC and open it again.

This automatically sets any and all video you play as a desktop wallpaper.

Here's what to expect

...or least how it behaves on my system. Your results may vary.

  • The video will play full screen without any control bar on the bottom. Even moving your mouse will not bring it up. To get your video controls, right-click on the video.
  • You will not see any of your desktop icons.
  • You will not see the taskbar or star menu of your computer. If you only have one monitor, you might want to open a small program like notepad because you'll need something to switch to by press the Alt + Tab key.
  • Switch to notepad and now your taskbar and start button and menu, are accessible. You need to keep a program active on top of the video-wallpaper to keep the taskbar visible. If you minimize it or close it, the taskbar goes away.
  • If you got dual monitors, you can just open a program on your second monitor and drag it over to the video one and you'll get your taskbar there.
  • If you had a background picture already set before you switched to the video-wallpaper, when you close it down, wait a few seconds before your background wallpaper reappears.
  • This is the way it works on my system. I stand by my original assessment, its flaky, but I think this is just the way works. As cool as it seems, it's not practical enough for me to justify on it's continued use. Again, your results may vary.