Set Background Picture

[Jason]

Read a great article by @rtrouton on multiple methods to set the background picture. I ran through the one to replace the desktopbackground.db file and was curious if there is a way to get it to take affect without needing to logout/logon. Any ideas?

[nessts]

most likely killall Finder cfprefsd

just a guess though.

[scottb · Accepted solution]

I thought I recall that the Dock had to be restarted.

killall -HUP Dock

[franton]

Pretty much what @nessts said.

[bentoms]

Hi guys,

Just to chime in, Graham Gilbert has a blog post on the changes as well as links to a python script that sets the background (which i'm using on 10.9).

http://grahamgilbert.com/blog/2013/10/28/setting-a-desktop-picture-in-mavericks/

[Aaron]

+1 for the Python script @bentoms][/url mentioned. I prefer this method as it will change the background of all screens, not just the primary screen (if you're multi-screening). And doesn't require killing any processes.

[Jason]

@nessts][/url I tried this and I saw the desktop reload but the background stayed the same. Unsure if it SHOULD work for 10.9.5 but just didn't seem to during my quick tests.
@boettchs][/url I tried this command after replacing the db and the background DID update. Thank you!
@bentoms][/url I might switch to this process down the road. I personally like the idea of using a script to tell the system to change the background to something else rather then replace the whole database. I didn't see in the script that it actually ran a command to refresh the background once its been told what the new background is, but perhaps that isn't needed with this (which would be nice).

Thanks to everyone for their helpful responses. JN is the best community out there!

[scottb]

@Jason, when I was looking at this myself, I was also using @rtrouton 's info. I had that written down as what I needed to get it working here.

Glad it worked for you. I'd know nothing if it wasn't for this place and the smart guys that share...