Question: I am using windows 8 (not yet updated to 8.1)

The code I am using is

> 
> import ctypes
> 
> 
> SPI\_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
> 
> 
> ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI\_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, "word.jpg", 0)
> 
> 
> print "hi"
> 
> 
> 

For some reason regardless if i give it a valid image (in the same directory as program) or not, regardless of type of image (bmp, gif, jpg) the code always ends up setting my background to a black screen.

Why is this? How can it be fixed?

Answer: 
Try passing `SPIF_SENDCHANGE` (which is *2*) as the last parameter. You might also need to bitwise-or it with `SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE` (which is *1*).
Sorry, I know this is late, but the problem is that you need to include the path. Instead of "image.jpg" do r"C:\path to file\image.jpg" Otherwise python doesn't know where to look for the image.