SimpnSlide | Windows Simple SlideShow RADomizer

What is it?

Simpnslide is a lightweight Windows app designed with simplicity in mind. It has one primary task: set the folder used by the Windows desktop background. Everytime you run the app it will randomly select a new sub-folder from your Pictures folder.

By default, the app works with your Pictures folder. For instance, your Pictures organized like this:

Pictures\Nature  
Pictures\Steampunk 
Pictures\Space

Every time you run the app it will pick a different sub-folder excluding the currently selected one as the source for your desktop background slideshow.

Conceptually this is just a quick and easy way to change your desktop wallpaper theme with the click of a button or however you choose to run it.

You can customize features such as how fast the pictures rotate, how they are shown, and the default desktop background color.

How to use it?

Just run it however you want to call a windows exe! (shortcut, from streamdeck, doubleclick) Every time you launch it, Simpnslide picks a new folder to use for your desktop slideshow.

Why does it exist?

Simpnslide was created to make it easier to change desktop wallpaper themes.This app automates the process, of going into the Personalization settings to change the current Slideshow folder. Thusly each time you run it you get a diffeernt 'SET' of desktop wallpaper backgrounds with minimal effort. Just create some folders with different picture themes and this will cycle through them each time its run.

If you use a Stream Deck, you can set up a button to 'change' the slide show theme with the click of a button. Or run the app from a pinned shortcut on your taskbar.

Its doing the same thing you can do in Windows 10 or 11 by using the Windows Settings under Personalization, setting your Background as a 'slidehow' folder, and configuring Advanced Slideshow settings without all of the repetitive clicks just to change the folder.

Where is it?

Download: (win32 .net 6 single file exe) simpnslide.exe (v1.0 05/17/2025) Tested/used on Win10 and Win11. (readme html) (.md)

Command Description

help information and available commands.
about Show version and build date information.
setroot Set a new wallpaper root folder and apply slideshow.
show Set slideshow from a specified folder.

Example Usage:

simpnslide.exe getcurrent
simpnslide.exe setroot "C:\Users\halrad\Pictures\Wallpapers"
simpnslide.exe show "C:\Users\halrad\Pictures\Wallpapers\Nature"
simpnslide.exe aboutS
simpnslide.exe help
simpnslide.exe getcurrent --nooverlay

First-Time Setup

Nothing to do to setup, just download and run it. If you dont have the .net runtime it should prompt you to go to the appropriate Microsoft site to get the .Net runtims.

If you want to remove it just delete the file and 2 log|config files.
When you run the app for the first time, it creates two files in the same folder as the application, and it will write to both one as a log file and the other as a config and state file.
You can disable the logging but the config file is also used to ensure the last folder selected is not selected next.

Log File (simpndslide_app.txt): Logs folder selections and settings.
Config File (simpndslide_config.json): Stores customizable settings.

Example configuration folder structure for WallpaperRoot: 'Pictures\Wallpapers'

Pictures\Wallpapers\One  
Pictures\Wallpapers\Two  
Pictures\Wallpapers\Three

If these sub-folders exist, the app randomly selects one of the sub folders (One, Two, Three) in this example, each time the app runs.

Note: by default when WallpaperRoot is null it will use sub-folders of the 'Pictures' folder, such as for example Saved Pictures, or Screenshots that are usually here by default.

In this example will cycle through folders under 'Pictures\Wallpapers'. 
{
"LoggingEnabled": true,
"WallpaperRoot": "C:\\Users\\user\\Pictures\\Wallpapers",  
"SlideshowInterval": 60,  
"DefaultBackgroundColor": "0,0,0",  
"DefaultWallpaperPosition": 0,  
"LastPickedFolder": "C:\\Users\\user\\Pictures\\Wallpapers\\one"
}

LoggingEnabled: true by defualt , set to false to turn off logging. The logging lists time and folder selected as the app is run.
WallpaperRoot: If left null, it defaults to your Pictures folder. Otherwise, you can specify a folder containing sub-folders for the slideshow.
SlideshowInterval: Time in seconds between wallpaper changes.
DefaultBackgroundColor: RGB values for the desktop background color. Defaults to black (0,0,0).
DefaultWallpaperPosition: Values correspond to desktop wallpaper positioning:
- 0 = Center
- 1 = Tile
- 2 = Stretch
- 3 = Fit
- 4 = Fill
- 5 = Span
LastPickedFolder: Tracks the last used folder to ensure the app selects a new one during the next run.

SimpnSlide

Overview

SlipnSlide is a command-line utility for managing Windows desktop wallpaper slideshows. It allows you to set, randomize, and manage wallpaper folders, as well as display overlays with folder information. The application supports configuration via a JSON file and logs actions for troubleshooting.

Command-Line Usage

Available Commands

Command	Description
`help`	Display help information and available commands.
`about`	Show version and build date information.
`getcurrent`	Show the last picked wallpaper folder.
`setroot`	Set a new wallpaper root folder and apply slideshow.
`show`	Set slideshow from a specified folder.

Global Flags

--nooverlay Suppress the overlay display for this operation.

To suppress overlays, add --nooverlay to your command.

Command Details

help

Displays help information, including all available commands and their descriptions.

about

Shows the application version and build date.

getcurrent

Displays the last picked wallpaper folder.
If overlays are not suppressed, an overlay with the folder name is shown.

setroot `[folder_path]`

Sets a new root folder for wallpapers and applies the slideshow.
If overlays are not suppressed, an overlay is shown.

show `[folder_path]`

Sets the slideshow to use images from the specified folder.

Configuration

The application uses a JSON configuration file located in the application directory, named {AppName}_config.json.
File contains settings for the application, including logging options and default wallpaper settings. This file is created automatically on the first run and can be edited manually.

Example configuration fields:

LoggingEnabled: Enables or disables logging. {true/false}
WallpaperRoot: The root folder for wallpapers. (default: users Pictures folder)
SlideshowInterval: Time in seconds between wallpaper changes. (default: 30 seconds)
DefaultBackgroundColor: RGB value for the desktop background. (default: 0,0,0)
DefaultWallpaperPosition: Wallpaper position (e.g., Center, Tile, Stretch, etc.). (default: Center)
LastPickedFolder: The last folder used for the slideshow.

Logging

If enabled, actions and errors are logged to {AppName}_app.log in the application directory.

Overlay

When not suppressed, the application displays an overlay with the current or selected folder name using a native Windows overlay window.
Use --nooverlay to suppress the display of the overlay.

Example Usage

simpnslide.exe getcurrent 
simpnslide.exe setroot "C:\Users\halrad\Pictures\Wallpapers" 
simpnslide.exe show "C:\Users\halrad\Pictures\Wallpapers\Nature" 
simpnslide.exe about 
simpnslide.exe help
simpnslide.exe getcurrent --nooverlay

License

SimpnSlide and overlay wrapper - Developed by Halrad.
Adopts the MIT License.
Includes: IDesktopWallpaper-dotNet - https://github.com/9eck0/IDesktopWallpaper-dotNet

Shout-out

Special thanks to 9eck0 for the IDesktopWallpaper-dotNet project from 2022! The IDesktopWallpaperWrapper class made handling the Win32 API's IDesktopWallpaper interface much easier!!

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.