diff -rupN gnome-control-center-2.32.0.old/capplets/appearance/appearance-desktop.c gnome-control-center-2.32.0.new/capplets/appearance/appearance-desktop.c
--- a/capplets/appearance/appearance-desktop.c	2010-09-21 08:54:55.000000000 -0400
+++ b/capplets/appearance/appearance-desktop.c	2010-11-05 20:51:53.867234128 -0400
@@ -1225,6 +1225,7 @@ desktop_init (AppearanceData *data,
   GtkCellRenderer *cr;
   char *url;
 
+  data->wp_xml_list_loaded = FALSE;
   data->wp_update_gconf = TRUE;
 
   data->wp_uris = NULL;
diff -rupN gnome-control-center-2.32.0.old/capplets/appearance/appearance.h gnome-control-center-2.32.0.new/capplets/appearance/appearance.h
--- a/capplets/appearance/appearance.h	2010-09-21 08:54:55.000000000 -0400
+++ b/capplets/appearance/appearance.h	2010-11-05 20:51:58.050214779 -0400
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ typedef struct
 
   /* desktop */
   GHashTable *wp_hash;
+  gboolean wp_xml_list_loaded;
   gboolean wp_update_gconf;
   GtkIconView *wp_view;
   GtkTreeModel *wp_model;
diff -rupN gnome-control-center-2.32.0.old/capplets/appearance/gnome-wp-xml.c gnome-control-center-2.32.0.new/capplets/appearance/gnome-wp-xml.c
--- a/capplets/appearance/gnome-wp-xml.c	2010-09-21 08:54:55.000000000 -0400
+++ b/capplets/appearance/gnome-wp-xml.c	2010-11-05 20:54:03.198634367 -0400
@@ -378,6 +378,8 @@ void gnome_wp_xml_load_list (AppearanceD
   gnome_wp_xml_load_from_dir (WALLPAPER_DATADIR, data);
 
   gnome_wp_load_legacy (data);
+
+  data->wp_xml_list_loaded = TRUE;
 }
 
 static void gnome_wp_list_flatten (const gchar * key, GnomeWPItem * item,
@@ -394,6 +396,11 @@ void gnome_wp_xml_save_list (AppearanceD
   GSList * list = NULL;
   gchar * wpfile;
 
+  if (!data->wp_xml_list_loaded) {
+    g_hash_table_destroy (data->wp_hash);
+    return;
+  }
+
   g_hash_table_foreach (data->wp_hash,
 			(GHFunc) gnome_wp_list_flatten, &list);
   g_hash_table_destroy (data->wp_hash);