Catfood Software Support

Haven't been here for a bit, but I never removed the screensaver, figured I'd just use it for the wallpaper, and the oddest thing happened. I walked away from the computer one day, came back, and the screensaver was on. I didn't do anything to it. I don't know if it was a Windows update that fixed it, or what, but it's been working for about a month now. Computers, ain't they wonderful?

Barry, possibly others, I'm still looking to see if there is anything I can do to help with this behavior. I haven't got any changes to try yet, but you might want to check this long thread on Windows 10 screen saver issues to see if anything helps (let me know if it does).

The Earth screensaver does not currently log anything. The log is just for the desktop wallpaper process.

It took exactly one Windows update to break the Catfood Earth screensaver- about a week, and it was sweet while it lasted. I finally had a chance to mess with it, and I've uninstalled, reinstalled, and run the Catfood Earth Screensaver Settings properly from the Start Menu- not working. I guess I'll have to try the next iteration. I don't see any error messages in the log that wern't there in 2020-

2022-10-27 11:29:04:

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Catfood Earth 4.30.3.0

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Command Line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Catfood Software\Catfood Earth\CatfoodEarth.exe" /background

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Framework: 4.0.30319.42000

2022-10-27 11:29:04: OS: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Render: Starting at 10/27/2022 11:29:04 AM, forceUpdate=False

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Prepare to render: Day Map, duration=00:00:00

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Prepare to render: Clouds, duration=00:00:00.0156249

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Prepare to render: Night Map, duration=00:00:00

2022-10-27 11:29:04: Render: Day Map, duration=00:00:00.3125200

2022-10-27 11:29:05: Render: Clouds, duration=00:00:00.4531566

2022-10-27 11:29:05: Render: Night Map, duration=00:00:00.5000329

2022-10-27 11:29:05: Render: Completed at 10/27/2022 11:29:05 AM, duration=00:00:01.2813344

2022-10-27 11:29:05: SetWallpaper: Failed to set wallpaper using IActiveDesktop

2022-10-27 11:29:05: System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to interface type 'CatfoodEarth.IActiveDesktop'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{F490EB00-1240-11D1-9888-006097DEACF9}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)).

at CatfoodEarth.Utils.SetWallpaper(Image image, String path, Boolean useCustomLocation, CustomLocation customLocation)

Thanks, Robert. That worked, and the screensaver is beautiful. Finding the Catfood Earth Screensaver Settings shortcut took a while because I was looking in the wrong place. I normally just use desktop shortcuts, so despite your telling me exactly where to look earlier, I overlooked it. Obviously it's my bad, but for anyone else frustrated, you can ONLY find it in the Start Menu. It CANNOT be accessed by opening Catfood Earth through desktop icon, NOR can it be found in (x86) folder, NOR can it be accessed through Personalization/Lock screen/Screen saver. If you just want to open the folder it's in- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Catfood Software\Catfood Earth

Hi Barry, did you run the Catfood Earth Screensaver Settings shortcut? This should fix any configuration issues.

I first tried Catfood Earth 4.00 more than two years ago. The desktop background worked and updated normally, but the screensaver only worked in preview mode. The 4.01 fix didn’t work for me- same problem. Since then I had to reinstall Windows 10 (not for this.) I then updated to Windows 11. I’ve downloaded at least two more versions of Catfood Earth, now on 4.30. Still, the desktop is fine, but screensaver only works in preview, though .scr screensavers work normally. On the off chance I tried to load .NET 4.8 manually, but got an error message saying a more advanced version was already installed. I downloaded and tried the .NET repair tool. Still no screensaver. Is there anything else to try?

I believe the wallpaper is updating fine, because it has Fiona and Ian clearly on it! (I'm a meteorologist.)

Oddly, in the interim, the screensaver started working. Gremlins must have gotten to it. Thanks for all the attention!

One other outside possibility - if there is no Catfood Earth desktop wallpaper image then the screen saver will have nothing to display. Is your desktop wallpaper getting updated correctly?

Yes, I did . . . seems to be in a loop? Running the "catfood earth screensaver settings" pops up the Windows screensaver settings; I hit the settings button and it pops up "run catfood earth settings to configure catfood earth screensaver". The catfood earth settings doesn't seem to have any settings for the screensaver.

Did you run the 'Catfood Earth Screensaver Settings' shortcut?

The other thing to try might be reinstalling the .NET 4.8 Framework Runtime and see if something is missing from that.