Here is a shell shortcut for Windows 10 1803+ pointing to the classic desktop background selector which is the only method to select different backgrounds per monitor without a third party app.
Needless to say MS all but removed any other way to access it leaving only this:
However when dopus is assigned as the default file manager this opens in dopus and since it cannot host the custom content we get a blank page.
The workaround seems to be to open the recycle bin (which opens in the old explorer) and paste the shell address in its addressbar.
Would it be possible to have a sort of shell whitelist/blacklist which would send this and other similar paths to the classic explorer even if handled by dopus?
We'll look into excluding that style of path from Explorer Replacement.
The UI you get via desktop right-click > Personalize supports that. Right-click one of the images and it has options to place them on only one monitor:
How do you create a shortcut to that? Nothing I have tried works as it isn't a valid path.
Also tried launching it via Shell Execute, as the main path, and also as an argument to explorer.exe, but neither worked. (One complained it was not a valid path, while the other just opened Explorer at the Documents folder.)
Well it's not a shortcut per se. I just keep it in my run (Win+R) history.
On other PC's running it via the run box (Win+R) opens it in windows explorer.
On mine pasting it in windows explorer's address bar seems to do the trick since dopus intercepts it otherwise.
HAH. Never expected them to add it. It's a half-assed option though since you can't browse an entire folder and pick them more easily.
Thanks! (Another one of those weird differences between Win+R and typing commands directly into the Start Menu. It only works in Win+R.)
The next version will no longer intercept that path, and should also avoid all other control panels which it wasn't already avoiding.
(BTW, with the current version, you'll only run into problems if you have selected Replace Explorer for all folders or Replace Explorer for all but the following folders. If you select Replace Explorer for all file system folders (recommended) then it will already be ignored. The next version will ignore it in all three cases.)
The trick here is to understand that when Windows Explorer opens a folder, and the folder "extension" is a COM CLSID, it locates and runs the CLSID handler.
The Icon is immediately replaced with a monitor configuration icon, and the CLSID extension disappears.
With explorer, double clicking on this opens the control panel object.
With Dopus as an explorer replacement (even with the "Replace File system folders only" option, double clicking on this opens an empty folder. You can get around this with right click->Open in Explorer.
The following has a huge list of CLSIDs you can use in this way.
