Microsoft Breaks Down the Windows 7 Desktop Wallpaper with the Last Update

According to the Windows lifecycle page, Windows 7 reached the end of support on January 14, which means that no new updates would be released for the 2009 operating system after this date.

But what happens if Microsoft breaks down something with the final update for Windows 7?

This is the question that we’re all eager to find the answer to, as the last update that Microsoft shipped to Windows 7 devices breaks down the desktop wallpaper and replaces it with a black background.

It turns out the issue is caused by monthly rollup KB4534310 and security-only update KB4534314, both of which were published on January 14 as part of this month’s Patch Tuesday cycle.

Windows 7 is out of support

A report from The Reg points to a reddit discussion where several users confirm the problem, explaining that their desktop wallpaper was replaced with a black background after installing the said updates. What’s worse is that the issue also appears to happen on enterprise PCs where wallpapers are typically company logos or custom photos that are deployed in the entire network.

By the looks of the things, the bug is mostly experienced on devices where the wallpaper is configured to use the “stretch mode,” so switching to a different setting could, at least theoretically, resolve it – however, some images don’t fit the screen correctly in other display modes, so not being able to use a stretched wallpaper is quite an inconvenient.

The question right now is how is Microsoft planning to resolve this? Given Windows 7 is officially out of support, the company shouldn’t normally release a patch to fix the bug, albeit I honestly expect a hotfix to be published any day now.

I have reached out to the company to ask for more information, so an update to this story will be published when and if an answer is offered.