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Known issues
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Horribly slow to load content. I just installed this on a brand new Alienware Aurora 16 running Windows 11 Pro. Not sure why Deskscapes seems to always have a bad connection to Wincustomize. My network settings are optimal since websites and everything else is snappy to load.
Horribly slow to load content. I just installed this on a brand new Alienware Aurora 16 running Windows 11 Pro. Not sure why Deskscapes seems to always have a bad connection to Wincustomize. My network settings are optimal since websites and everything else is snappy to load.
Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know, how long did you actually need to download a file and how large the file size. I just checked on my system and I just need less than a minute to download a 4K animated wallpaper.
Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.
Searching Installed background with "Only search for static backgrounds" and "Search for local backgrounds" crashes DeskScapes 26.
My system is Windows 11 Pro - 26200.8973; and DeskScapes 26.0.1.1
Searching Installed background with "Only search for static backgrounds" and "Search for local backgrounds" crashes DeskScapes 26.
My system is Windows 11 Pro - 26200.8973; and DeskScapes 26.0.1.1
Thanks for the report. Seems there's something unusual when "Search" is clicked, will get looked into.
As it is now, if you press Enter on your keyboard instead, does it function for you normally?
Best regards,
Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist
As it is now, if you press Enter on your keyboard instead, does it function for you normally?
Yes, it works as expected if you use the Enter key.
I'm still experiencing DeskScapes 2026 not surviving an Explorer restart. However, once I right-click the desktop and select "Show more options..." DeskScapes starts.
My system is Windows 11 Pro - 26200.8973; and DeskScapes 26.0.1.1
I'm still experiencing DeskScapes 2026 not surviving an Explorer restart. However, once I right-click the desktop and select "Show more options..." DeskScapes starts.
My system is Windows 11 Pro - 26200.8973; and DeskScapes 26.0.1.1
Are you sure the service is starting up as that would typically be the reason.
Are you sure the service is starting up as that would typically be the reason.
Are you referring to the Stardock DeskScapes 11 service?
Following an Explorer restart, I opened Services and the Stardock DeskScapes 11 service is running. I restarted it from the Services panel and nothing happened.
The only thing that works is to right-click the desktop and select "Show more options..."
From what I've read online, clicking "Show more options" forces Windows 11 to load classic shell extensions and legacy context menu handlers tied to background processes. This action wakes up a stalled or sleeping background service that failed to initialize properly during startup.
I'm still experiencing DeskScapes 2026 not surviving an Explorer restart. However, once I right-click the desktop and select "Show more options..." DeskScapes starts.
My system is Windows 11 Pro - 26200.8973; and DeskScapes 26.0.1.1
Just to clarify: By "not surviving", can you describe more completely what you're seeing happen? Do you mean a crash, a background disappearing, or some other symptom? When I restart Windows Explorer (Win11 25H2 build 26200.8893), none of this occurs for me.
If there's a crash, collecting a crash dump could help get more information.
Best regards,
Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist
Just to clarify: By "not surviving", can you describe more completely what you're seeing happen? Do you mean a crash, a background disappearing, or some other symptom?
There is no crash, the restart of Explorer simply doesn't load DeskScapes after the restart. Something is blocking the DeskScapes Service from starting, or it stalls until an action ("right-click the desktop and select "Show more options...") forces Windows 11 to load classic shell extensions and legacy context menu handlers tied to background processes. This action wakes up a stalled or sleeping background service that failed to initialize properly.
Just to clarify: By "not surviving", can you describe more completely what you're seeing happen? Do you mean a crash, a background disappearing, or some other symptom?
There is no crash, the restart of Explorer simply doesn't load DeskScapes after the restart. Something is blocking the DeskScapes Service from starting, or it stalls until an action ("right-click the desktop and select "Show more options...") forces Windows 11 to load classic shell extensions and legacy context menu handlers tied to background processes. This action wakes up a stalled or sleeping background service that failed to initialize properly.
After restarting Explorer, and DeskScapes not loading properly, manually starting DeskScapes services, or launching DeskScapes64.exe, or DS11Srv.exe do not help either. Is it possible that a background extension or DLL is not loading properly, and activating Show more options in the Desktop context menu forces this background extension or DLL to load?
My Vintage Animated wallpaper stopped working
Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please share which Animated Wallpaper not working? Share a link so I can download and test it.
Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.
Just to save some time, I believe he's referring to the dream "Vintage" - the hybrid dream that used to ship with DeskScapes, had the red drive-in, a blue car, birds flying past, girl in a dress talking to the guy in the car.
Just to save some time, I believe he's referring to the dream "Vintage" - the hybrid dream that used to ship with DeskScapes, had the red drive-in, a blue car, birds flying past, girl in a dress talking to the guy in the car.
I believe, I don't have it in my system to test it out. I have forwarded this issue to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience. Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant
Hello and thank you for your post.
My Vintage Animated wallpaper stopped working
I'm not seeing a Dream matching this name or description on the WinCustomize site. However, it sounds like it could be an issue with that Dream specifically, rather than DeskScapes2026 itself. Can you check to see if any other animated Dream works for you?
If they do, you might try reaching out in the WinCustomize community to see if they have more information about that Dream to help.
Thanks again and best regards,
Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist
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Personal info removed by Moderator. Please don't include your email or product keys in a public forum.
Again, if the issue concerns only a specific wallpaper/theme/etc, the WinCustomize forum is mostly likely the best place to ask about that.
If other animated wallpapers available from the DeskScapes 2026 app itself are working for you, then the app is apparently functioning as expected.
What you have appears to be a "Theme" purchased 2011, which includes a .wba file and some .jpg files. My understanding is this would be for WindowBlinds theme, which is a different product. DeskScapes 2026 uses .Dream files for animated wallpapers.
Best regards,
Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist
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