Screen Saver Problem in Windows XP

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Here’s a good one. Usually when I download a screensaver in XP it goes into C:windows and then all you have to do it go into Control Panel and select the screensaver you downloaded.

Well I downloaded Titanic Screensaver; it deposited itself in C:windows, BUT I couldn’t find it in Control Panel. I then used the compatibility wizard because it was a Win 95/98 screensaver, and that still didn’t work.

What I have to do whenever I want to use the Titanic Screensaver is right click on it,and then click on configure. When the screensaver goes off (after I press the spacebar), the only way to get it working again is to right click on it and then click on configure.

Can anyone tell me why this particular screen saver will not show up in Control Panel so I can choose it there? All the other screensavers that I have downloaded do.

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Try moving the SCR file into the SYSTEM32 directory and see if it shows up in the list of screen savers.

I assume by ‘Control Panel’ you are referring to the screen saver selection in the Display Properties pop-up?

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Yes I am referring to ‘Control Panel’ and screen saver selection in the Display Properties pop-up. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Well I moved it System32, and rebooted.

Unfortunately, NO LUCK!!!!!!! Do you think it could be because it is really optimized for WIN 95/98/ME? Like I said I tried compatibility Wizard and that didn’t work either.

Nancy

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Uh oh, you asked what I thought. Can of worms mean anything?

‘Optimized’ sounds mightily suspect to me. Since Windows XP includes DirectX and all the other whiz-bang things – supposedly – that 9x/ME had, then I don’t know why it would make a difference. Unless….it’s hard-coded into the screen saver to only run on the 9x platform, which XP is not. That would be a first for me but it’s a possibility. The SCR files are read when you open the screen properties from both Windows and SYSTEM (in 9x) or SYSTEM32 (in NT/2000/XP). It should at least show up.

Just for grins and giggles open a command prompt: Start – Run – CMD and then type this in:

SET %systemroot%

and then press enter. You should get an error message that contains what we want to know: Environment variable C:WINDOWS not defined would be what we want to see. If it’s anything else, the answer to your problem is to move the file to whatever location ius there in place of C:WINDOWS.

Also, can you provide a link to where you downloaded this from? I’d like to see if it appears in my screen saver list if I download it. If it doesn’t work on my XP system, it’s pretty conclusive that it won’t work on yours either.

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Harumph. I went out and found what I am sure is the screen saver you are having trouble with, and I made an interesting discovery. If you right-click on the TITANIC.SCR file and select Install, it will run at the preset period – mine is set for 7 minutes when I have a screen saver active. It does NOT, however, show up in the selection list no matter what you do. I can only conclude that it is not coded very well – it is an older saver, but it does state that it is compatible with NT, and XP is borne from that older brother.

I think in this case you’re out of luck, if you want to change screen savers often – but if you like this one then select the option as I noted above and it should work.

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Yes, you and I are of the same conclusion that it states it is compatible with NT and XP is borne from that. However, NT 4.0, 5.0? and XP is 5.1 so maybe XP is a sorta kinda different animal. It’s ok, though, I have been running it the way you said. It runs forever until I hit the space bar and/or click on the mouse.

Thanks for all your help. As far as I am concerned, I have a love/hate relationship with XP. Everything is still there, only Bill Gates moved things around. He must have been taking too many drugs. LOL

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I had a similiar issue witrh a screensaver made with a program called screen saver maker deluxe. It does not hsow up in the list of screensavers in display. I tried your advice and it did not work.

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