Question Desktop wallpaper solution desperately needed

[DrWho345]

I have Monterey. I have my photos I want shuffled as my desktop in a folder.

Using the Desktop and ScreenSaver panel in System Preferences I can't add the folder to the list of options, I have tried manually adding them to the folders in the Desktop Pictures location, and it says it's not writable.

I have tried numerous wallpaper apps, and none allow you to use your own photo collection.

I have even tried dragging the folder manually into the desktop panel, and it is not working.

Is there a terminal command, or an automation I can use/create?

The folder with all my photos is just photos nothing else, no subfolders.

I don't understand why this is not working correctly.

 

[geofelt]

If your windows is not activated, you will not have personalization options.

 

[USAFRet]

If your windows is not activated, you will not have personalization options.

This is on a mac, not Windows...

 

[DrWho345]

Posting again as I didn't get much with my previous post, I tried to delete it, but I couldn't.

I still have an old iMac running High Sierra. As far as I know, Apple used to have the ability if you wanted your photo collection shuffled as your background wallpaper, you navigated to a folder, with a bunch of subfolders in it, each folder filled with images.
Apple would scan each one, and shuffle them as your desktop background wallpaper.

On Monterey, Apple no longer does this, so you have to have all of your images in a folder, without any subfolders just images.
It has taken me months, but finally I have correlated all my photos together (well over 1mil) into one central location (I backup as well) and it is finally working. My problems are that it is immensely, soul crushingly, agonisingly labor intensive, and I think it may be damaging to my iMac, and I am desperately seeking a faster/more efficient solution.

I apologise ahead of time if I am breaking rules by mentioning apps I use to make this work.

So I have my personal photos, as well as others I get from InstaGram of people I follow, using 4KStogram. I run it either ever 2 weeks or once a month, it finishes, I then use Carbon Copy Cloner, to put it into three locations, 1 that is a complete backup, 1 that has some accounts omitted, as well as thumbnails and mp4 files (this goes to my screensaver program called ArtSaver) and 1 that just copies the photos only.

Then using FolderTidy I move all the photos out of each individual subfolder and shove them into one central folder (this takes the longest as I am unable to tell the program to just look for anything new, and it does everything, every single time, usually over 400 thousand photos sometimes more.

Once that is done I use SyncTime to move them into the folder I use as my background wallpaper.

I tried an app called Hazel but I could not get it to work correctly.

I am desperate to make this work as quickly as possible, not be too taxing and not take so long every single time

As well as that I have included a screenshot of my Desktop and ScreenSaver System Preferences to show that, for some unknown reason, I can't add my folder with all the images. I have tried everything, I am unsure if it is a matter of manipulating the plist desktop file or some terminal command?

It is shuffling my photos, but it never loads any of them, nor does it put my folder in the selection window, I am unsure what I am doing wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/5vif6fxobkdpozn/Screen Shot 2023-01-04 at 10.16.14 pm.png?dl=0