diff -up gnome-settings-daemon-2.22.1/plugins/background/gsd-background-manager.c.no-nautilus gnome-settings-daemon-2.22.1/plugins/background/gsd-background-manager.c
--- gnome-settings-daemon-2.22.1/plugins/background/gsd-background-manager.c.no-nautilus	2008-03-24 17:42:47.000000000 -0400
+++ gnome-settings-daemon-2.22.1/plugins/background/gsd-background-manager.c	2008-05-05 01:08:37.000000000 -0400
@@ -292,6 +294,7 @@ gsd_background_manager_start (GsdBackgro
         bg_preferences_load (manager->priv->prefs);
 
         client = gconf_client_get_default ();
+	gconf_client_add_dir (client, "/desktop/gnome/background", GCONF_CLIENT_PRELOAD_NONE, NULL);
         gconf_client_notify_add (client,
                                  "/desktop/gnome/background",
                                  (GConfClientNotifyFunc) background_callback,
@@ -314,6 +317,9 @@ gsd_background_manager_start (GsdBackgro
         if (!nautilus_show_desktop) {
                 apply_prefs (manager);
         }
+	else {
+		g_timeout_add_seconds (5, apply_prefs, manager);
+	}
 
         gnome_settings_profile_end (NULL);