# Cannot see the System folder......



## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Hi all, 

I've plugged in my kindle and can see the following folder Audible, documents, music, pictures. However no matter which usb port or how many times I go into view to make sure it says to show hidden folders I do not see a system folder.  Is there something I'm missing. By the way I am computer savvy. I guess just not savvy enough to figure out why there is not a system folder on my kindle drive.

Thanks in advance for the help.

theresam


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Why would you want to see the system folder?


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Why would you want to see the system folder?


To add custom screensavers.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Bacardi Jim said:


> To add custom screensavers.


Not necessary. I have plenty of custom screensavers on mine.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Go into control panel and choose folders, then view, then uncheck the box that says "hide protected operating system folders." You'll get a warning, "do you really want to do this?" Say yes, you really do. Then try connecting your kindle and see if the system folder shows up. I can see it on mine.

L


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

I also noticed that now all the original screensavers are missing   and my custom screensavers are not being converted using the Alt+shift+0

theresam


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Not necessary. I have plenty of custom screensavers on mine.


You have a mac, don't you? For us windoze users, you need to put the screen_savers folder in the system folder on the Kindle.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> I also noticed that now all the original screensavers are missing  and my custom screensavers are not being converted using the Alt+shift+0
> 
> theresam


The original screensavers are not in a folder that you can see, nor are they files that you can see or manipulate. When I removed my custom screensaver, the originals came back.

L


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks, Leslie.  I was feeling like an idiot for a moment there.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> I also noticed that now all the original screensavers are missing  and my custom screensavers are not being converted using the Alt+shift+0
> 
> theresam


Make sure to do Alt-F first (for full screen) then Alt-shift-0. Wait a few seconds. Some folks have reported needing to do alt-shift-0 a few times to get it to work.

L


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Ohhh so than I can't have custom and the original screen savers, unless I move them into custom from the file that someone posted here on the board?

Thanks for the other checkbox tip. Thought I had caught them all and unchecked them.

TheresaM


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> You have a mac, don't you? For us windoze users, you need to put the screen_savers folder in the system folder on the Kindle.


These are the instructions from the MobileRead forum, which I followed... Doesn't seem to be mac specific:

1. Attach the Kindle to a computer using the USB cord.
*2. Using Windows Explorer (or whatever you use to see individual files/folders) , you should see a new drive called Kindle under My Computer. Go to that drive. (Or if you have an SD card in your Kindle, you can go to the SD drive.)
3. Create a new folder called "pictures" and a subfolder called "screensavers" under it. Make sure both folder names are all lowercase.
4. Copy your image files into the screensavers folder. Your pictures should be 600×800 pixels and black & white. I've only used .jpg files. [[Note: I've used .png files as well]]*
5. After copying is complete & it is safe, remove the Kindle from the USB connection.
6. Go to your Home menu and press alt-z. This will create a new book called "screensavers" . Open it. You'll see each of your pictures. You can advance through them with the prev. page and next page buttons. [[Note: The new book will appear at the END of your book list]]
7. While viewing your pictures, look at the bottom of the Kindle screen. If you see your battery indicator & Menu prompt, press alt-F to go into Full Screen mode.
8. On each photo, press alt-shift-0 (i.e., alt-shift-zero) . After a brief delay, you'll get a message that your picture has been exported as screensaver. Click Close on the message.
9. Navigate to each of the pictures you want to use and repeat the above step.
10. When you've got all your pictures loaded, test them by going into & out of sleep mode. Alt-aA (i.e., alt-font size button) puts it to sleep & wakes it up again. Each time it sleeps, it should use a different image. If you see the same image all the time, relook at Step 3.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

FYI, you can get the original screensavers from this thread on MobileRead. You can then add any of them that you like to your custom screensavers.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=238950&postcount=4


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

Now I'm all confused.... 

But the upside is that maybe we'll get to see a MODFIGHT!
*makes popcorn*


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Ok so the pictures (custom) were showing as already full screen. After I hit Alt F twice it went from full to smaller back to full then let me convert them to actual screensavers.

Got it now!!!

theresaM

*Thank you! *   *Thank you!* Thank you!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Those are the same instructions that are in my book. But for whatever reason, on my Kindle, the screensavers folder is in the system folder. Not sure how or why that happened, or what I was reading, but I must have read it somewhere to do it that way.

L


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

So are you saying that it works either way? That you can either create a screensavers folder in your System folder *or* a screensavers subfolder in your Pictures folder?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Bacardi Jim said:


> So are you saying that it works either way? That you can either create a screensavers folder in your System folder *or* a screensavers subfolder in your Pictures folder?


I don't know. My subfolder is in the system folder. Pidgeon, where is yours? Pictures?

L


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

I 've read both ways. One of the responses on the board here said something about going into the system folder for the screen_saver folder but I think that was if you wanted to remove any of the original screensavers.  Everything I've seen about adding has said to put them in the picture folder.  I was going to remove some of the original ones that I didn't want but did not realize they went away when I did custom ones. That's why I wanted into the system folder. 

However I have downloaded a file someone setup for the orignals and i'll just add the ones I want to my picture folder.

theresam


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

bugger... Me again with another question. I've added 3 custom screensavers. Got them to export to screensaver but only the last one I did shows up when I put in sleep mode. The others don't cycle like the originals did.  What am I doing wrong??

Thanks


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> bugger... Me again with another question. I've added 3 custom screensavers. Got them to export to screensaver but only the last one I did shows up when I put in sleep mode. The others don't cycle like the originals did. What am I doing wrong??
> 
> Thanks


are your "pictures" and "screensavers" folders both named in all lower-case?


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

Jim, you mean your custom scrnsvrs cycle? If so, I, too, would like to know how to get my scrnsvrs to cycle.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

hmmmm. whoooops ok let me make quick change and see if that works...


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

Cat said:


> Jim, you mean your custom scrnsvrs cycle? If so, I, too, would like to know how to get my scrnsvrs to cycle.


Check pidgeon's long post on Page 1.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

yes, i put it in lower case but when I close out and look at the folder in my toc it's capitalized again.

theresam

I think I'll delete the whole thing and try starting over.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I've plugged in my kindle and can see the following folder Audible, documents, music, pictures. However no matter which usb port or how many times I go into view to make sure it says to show hidden folders I do not see a system folder. Is there something I'm missing. By the way I am computer savvy. I guess just not savvy enough to figure out why there is not a system folder on my kindle drive.
> 
> ...


Are you using Vista? It took me a few tries to figure out, too. Not only do you have to select "Show hidden files and folders," but you also have to uncheck "Hide protected operating system files," which is a couple of items down.


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

Bacardi Jim said:


> Check pidgeon's long post on Page 1.


oh, so they don't cycle automatically, they cycle to a different pic each time you put it to sleep. I misunderstood. Mine does that.

Don't the directions to remove custom scrnsvrs say to go into the system folder? Hence the need to see it -at least at some point. Dunno if I'm remembering correctly.


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

Cat said:


> oh, so they don't cycle automatically, they cycle to a different pic each time you put it to sleep. I misunderstood. Mine does that.
> 
> Don't the directions to remove custom scrnsvrs say to go into the system folder? Hence the need to see it -at least at some point. Dunno if I'm remembering correctly.


That's what I remember too. However, I think it was Leslie who gave those instructions--and on her Kindle her screensavers sub-folder is in her system folder rather than in her pictures folder.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Okay, backing up a step...

I have a folder called pictures, which is where I copied my 1 custom screensaver pic (the one that came with my skin).

When I exported it to be a screensaver, it got copied to the system folder, in a subfolder named screen_saver. That must have happened when I did the Alt-F, Alt-Shift-0 combo to create the screensavers.

If I go into that folder and delete the file named screen_saver_0.gz, my Kindle reverts to the original screensavers it came with. You have to see the system folder to delete the custom screensavers, not install them. 

That's my story and I am sticking to it...for the next 5 minutes, at least! LOL Sorry for my previous answer which was not correct...I got the install and remove mixed up.

L


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

That makes sense to me, Leslie.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Bacardi Jim said:


> That makes sense to me, Leslie.


Yes. Sorry for the confusion. I have only minimally played around with screensavers.

L


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

I tried to tell Jim. It is much too confusing to try to add custom screensavers. He would not believe me, said it had to be easy. Guess he believes me now.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

LuckyRainbow said:


> I tried to tell Jim. It is much too confusing to try to add custom screensavers. He would not believe me, said it had to be easy. Guess he believes me now.


Adding them is easy. _Deleting_ them is a little more complex.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

finally it's working properly.. Guess deleting and starting over did the trick.  I have XP but it was a long day yesterday and i'm still tired so maybe I should stop trying to do electronical things and just read today     save the rest for when i'm more rested and clear minded. Let see that will be about Feburary LOL.

Thanks again everyone... now later when I'm thinking streight I'll track down some nice dragon pictures and try making some screensavers   love them dragon!

TheresaM


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> finally it's working properly.. Guess deleting and starting over did the trick. I have XP but it was a long day yesterday and i'm still tired so maybe I should stop trying to do electronical things and just read today    save the rest for when i'm more rested and clear minded. Let see that will be about Feburary LOL.
> 
> Thanks again everyone... now later when I'm thinking streight I'll track down some nice dragon pictures and try making some screensavers  love them dragon!
> 
> TheresaM


I guess I could make some of those tonight or tomorrow.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Bacardi Jim said:


> I guess I could make some of those tonight or tomorrow.


ooooohh would you could you please I'd be ever soo appreciative!  

theresaM


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Sounds like you all have figured this all out while I was out partying with 104 year olds, but here's just a little more detail that Eleanor the K and I figured out together:

When you create custom screensavers in the _pictures _folder and the _screensavers _subfolder within the pictures folder, the Kindle secretly creates ANOTHER folder "screen_saver" in the Kindle's system folder, which is normally hidden to view. In this folder are copies of the custom files you added, renamed in the order you selected them: "screen_saver_0.gz", "screen_saver_1.gz". Any pictures for which you do not press alt-shift-0 on are not here, even if they are in the "screensavers" folder you created. There is also an additional file called "screen_saver_last" which keeps track of the last screensaver displayed (this file only contains a single integer 0, 1, etc...)

To go back to the built-in original screensavers, you delete the whole secret folder in the system folder: "screen_saver". You DO NOT have to remove the pictures & screensavers folders that YOU added.

You can keep the pictures & screensavers folders in the Screensavers book that was created, just for browsing or for adding a different screensaver from your collection at a later date.

Hope this doesn't confuse things more. 

Betsy


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

ok...I'm trying to follow this because I'm having the same problem...I'm stuck on how to create a subfolder.  I created the folder called pictures but  how do I get a subfolder? .  I am computer iliterate when it comes to this stuff....


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## ninjapanzer (Dec 14, 2008)

Subfolder is a folder in a folder

like my music in my documents

my music is the subfolder


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

doubleclick on the pictures folder.  It will open and will become your current location.

Then, create another folder called screensavers.  It will be inside the folder pictures.  This is your subfolder.

Betsy


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

so in kindle I created pictures....then do I click on pictures and do folders again to create screensavers?


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## ninjapanzer (Dec 14, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> ..... In this folder are copies of the custom files you added, renamed in the order you selected them: "screen_saver_0.gz", "screen_saver_1.gz". Any pictures for which you do not press alt-shift-0 on are not here, even if they are in the "screensavers" folder you created. There is also an additional file called "screen_saver_last" which keeps track of the last screensaver displayed (this file only contains a single integer 0, 1, etc...)
> 
> To go back to the built-in original screensavers, you delete the whole secret folder in the system folder: "screen_saver". You DO NOT have to remove the pictures & screensavers folders that YOU added.
> 
> ...


Then you do this alt-shift-0 operation on the pictures within the kindle to create the screensaver settings in the system folder for each image


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

ok...I have kindle in J:
then I have audible, music and pictures (I added pcitures and in this folder and  I have my decalgirl wallpaper there.  How do I get that wallpaper to my kindle.  I have my kindle "mounted" to my computer.  It says I need to create a subfolder under pictures...that's the piece I can't figure out.  I clicked on everything amd cam
t find anything that says subfolder?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Cowgirl said:


> so in kindle I created pictures....then do I click on pictures and do folders again to create screensavers?


Yes, you doubleclick on the pictures folder and then do new folder again to create screensavers folder.

Betsy


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

When I double click on it nothing happens.  In the pictures folder I do see the wallpaper I want to download it's just not in a subfolder under pictures.  Is this ok or not?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, if you are already within the pictures folder, you need to create a new folder there called screensavers.  Then move all the files that you call wallpaper into the screensavers folder.  Let me know when you've done this.

Betsy


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## cush (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's a good site that explains how to add and remove screensavers http://kindlerama.com/how-to/how-to-add-new-screensaver-images-to-your-kindle/

and here is how to remove them http://kindlerama.com/how-to/how-to-remove-custom-screensaver-images-from-your-kindle/

I use a Mac and it's pretty easy- no messing with the Kindle system folder. Don't quite see why you would have to, even if you are running Vista. You just create a folder on the Kindle in Documents and then a subfolder within that one.


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

ok...I now have a screensaver folder in picture folder.  There is nothing in it. Do I take what is in the picutre folder (which is my wallpaper) and move it to screensaver folder.  I'm so sorry I'm not getting this more quickly.............


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

in the picture folder there is also a folder that says ak in olga (that's the wallpaper I loaded from decalgirl).  Is that a subfolder..


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

No problem, yes, move those into the screensavers folder.  Note it must be named screensavers with an s not screensaver.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Cowgirl said:


> in the picture folder there is also a folder that says ak in olga (that's the wallpaper I loaded from decalgirl). Is that a subfolder..


Is it a folder or a file?

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

cush said:


> Here's a good site that explains how to add and remove screensavers http://kindlerama.com/how-to/how-to-add-new-screensaver-images-to-your-kindle/
> 
> and here is how to remove them http://kindlerama.com/how-to/how-to-remove-custom-screensaver-images-from-your-kindle/
> 
> I use a Mac and it's pretty easy- no messing with the Kindle system folder. Don't quite see why you would have to, even if you are running Vista. You just create a folder on the Kindle in Documents and then a subfolder within that one.


Cush--

the only time you have to mess with the Kindle system folder is to delete custom screensavers, which someone earlier had asked about.

Betsy


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

ok...I have my picture in the screensavers file.  When I click on it I see it is there....


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

Ok...I got it...Thanks to everybody who helped me accomplish this!!!  Now my Olga  has an olga skin, with an olga screensaver...She's looking really really good.  Now I can't wait until Christmas to get my World Tree oberon cover...Thanks again!!!!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Great, Cowgirl!!!!

Enjoy!

Betsy


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,1528.msg36274.html#msg36274

Would it be possible to copy this post to a sticky thread entitled something like "How to put Custom Screensavers on Your Kindle?"


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie has added two more "Q's" to her FAQ stickied at the top of the TTT board.  Thanks, Leslie!  And thanks for the suggestion, Jim.

Also, now that we have chat, if you're having trouble and post a 'how do I' question, you'll be able to meet up with people over there and work together in real time. . . .probably best to go into a private room. . .just another advantage of chat.  So, thanks, Harvey!

Ann


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