Windows lock screen background windows 7

Windows makes it possible to change the welcome screens that appear when you start your computer to just about any image you want to use. It’s easy to do in Windows 8 and 10, but fairly well-hidden in Windows 7.

In Windows 8 and 10, you actually see two different screens at sign in. The first is the lock screen—the one you have to click or swipe to get out of the way so you can sign in. The second is the sign in screen itself where you enter your password, PIN, or picture password. You can change the lock screen background through a simple setting, but you’ll have to dive into the Registry to change the sign in screen background. In Windows 7, there’s only one sign in screen and you’ll have to enable a custom background for it in the Registry (or through Group Policy) before you can select a new background.

RELATED: How to Add a PIN to Your Account in Windows 10

Windows 8 and 10 Users: Set Custom Lock Screen and Sign In Backgrounds

RELATED: How to Customize the Lock Screen on Windows 8 or 10

Windows 8 and Windows 10 make customizing your lock screen easy—all you have to do is head to Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen. The screens look slightly different in Windows 8 than they do in Windows 10, but they’re the same settings.

RELATED: How to Change the Login Screen Background on Windows 10

Unfortunately, there’s no equally simple, built-in way to change your sign in screen background in Windows 8 and 10. Instead, you’ll have to rely on a few workarounds. We encourage you to check out our full guide for details, but in short you have a few options:

• To change the sign in background to a solid color, you’ll need make a quick edit the Windows Registry.
• To change the sign in background to a custom image, you’ll need to grab a third-party tool named Windows 10 Login Image Changer.

And again, we suggest reading our guide for the full instructions.

To use a custom login background in Windows 7, you’ll need to take two steps. First, you’ll make a Registry edit that enabled custom backgrounds, and then you’ll store the image you want in a special Windows folder. We’ll also show you a third-party tool you can use as an easier alternative.

Step One: Enable Custom Backgrounds in Windows 7

For Windows 7, the ability to set a custom logon background is intended for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to customize their systems, but there’s nothing stopping you from using this feature yourself. All you have to do is change a single Registry value and then put an image file in the correct location.

This feature is disabled by default, so you’ll have to enable it from the Registry Editor. You can also use the Group Policy Editor if you have a Professional version of Windows—we’ll cover that a bit later in this section.

Launch Registry Editor by hitting Start, typing “regedit,” and then pressing Enter.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionAuthenticationLogonUIBackground

In the right pane, you’ll see a value named OEMBackground. If you don’t see that value, you’ll need to create it by right-clicking the Background key, choosing New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and then naming the new value “OEMBackground.”

Double-click the OEMBackground value to open its properties window, set its value to 1 in the “Value data” box, and then click “OK.”

Note: If you at any point select a new theme in the Appearance and Personalization window, this will reset this registry value. Selecting a theme will change the value of the key to the value stored in the theme’s .ini file—which is probably 0. If you change your theme, you’ll have to perform this Registry tweak again.

If you have a Professional or Enterprise edition of Windows, you can make this change using the Local Group Policy Editor instead of in the Registry. As an added bonus, changing the setting in group policy allows it to persist even when you change your theme.

Launch Local Group Policy Editor by pressing Start, typing “gpedit.msc,” and then hitting Enter.

On the left-hand side of the Local Group Policy Editor window, drill down to the following location:

Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesSystemLogon

On the right, you’ll find a setting named “Always use custom login background.” Double-click that setting and, in the setting’s properties window, select “Enabled” and then click “OK.”

Whether you enabled custom background images by editing the Registry or using Local Group Policy Editor, your next step is to actually set the image you want to use.

Step Two: Set A Custom Background Image

You can use any image you like, but there are two things you’ll need to keep in mind:

• Your image must be less than 256 KB in size. You may need to convert your image to something like JPG format to make that happen.
• Try to find an image that matches the resolution of your monitor so it doesn’t look stretched.

Windows looks for the custom logon screen background image in the following directory:

C:WindowsSystem32oobeinfobackgrounds

By default, the “info” and “backgrounds” folders don’t exist, so you’ll need to navigate to C:WindowsSystem32oobe folder and create the subfolders yourself.

After creating the folders, copy your desired background image to the backgrounds folder and rename the image file to “backgroundDefault.jpg.”

Note: If you’re interested, the image we’re using comes from here.

The change should take effect immediately—no need to restart your PC. The first time you log out or lock your screen, you’ll see your new background.

Alternative: Use a Third-Party Tool Instead

RELATED: Customize the Windows 7 Logon Screen

You don’t have to do this by hand. There are a variety of third-party tools that automate this process for you, like Windows Logon Background Changer, which we’ve covered in the past. Windows Logon Background Changer and other utilities just change this registry value and put the image file in the correct location for you.

To get the default logon screen back, just delete the backgroundDefault.jpg file. Windows will use the default background if no custom background image is available.

Logon screen is present in Windows operating system for decades and has evolved with each version of Windows. In prior versions of Windows 7, in Windows XP and Vista, changing the logon screen was a tedious task without the help of third-party tools.

In Windows 7, it’s possible to set custom picture as logon screen background without the help of third-party tools, the procedure requires you edit the Registry though. But users who aren’t interested in using third-party tools can easily change the logon screen background.

Over the last couple of years, a number of free utilities have been released to change the background of Windows 7 logon screen. Even though users who’re used to the lock screen of mobile operating systems and Windows 8/8.1 often call the logon screen as the lock screen, lock screen doesn’t exist in Windows 7 but can be added with the help of some third-party tools.

When it comes to the customization of Windows 7 logon screen background, there are tools that not only let you change the logon screen background but also let you change or customize the other elements of the logon screen.

In this guide, we have tried to list down the best free tools out there to change the logon screen background of Windows 7. In no particular order, following are the top 4 free logon screen changers for Windows 7.

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer

Probably the most downloaded utility of the lot. Windows 7 Logon Background Changer sports a beautiful design and is compatible with all editions from Starter to Ultimate editions of Windows 7, both x86 and x64.

Just like other tools out there, Windows 7 Logon Background Changer doesn’t change system files. Visit the following page to download the same.

Download Windows 7 Logon Background Changer

Logon Screen Rotator

Logon Screen Rotator is my personal favorite when it comes to setting a custom picture as logon screen background. In addition to the core feature of changing logon background, this utility also rotates the background. That is, you can have a new background picture each time you turn on your PC.

Logon Screen Rotator is completely free and is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The tool is also compatible with Windows 8 but doesn’t support Windows 8.1.

Download Logon Screen Rotator

Tweaks.com Logon Changer

As far as I can remember, Tweaks.com Logon Changer was the first tool released to change default picture of Windows 7 logon screen. Logon Changer offers option to preview the selected picture before setting it as logon background.

Download Logon Changer

Another free utility to replace the default picture of Windows 7 logon screen background with custom one. The beauty of this tool is that an option has been offered to add Logon Screen option to the desktop context menu so that you can quickly launch the program.

In addition to that, it also lets add Set as logon background option to the file context menu, meaning you just need to right-click on a picture and then click Set as logon background in order to set your favorite picture as logon screen background.

An option to show custom message on the logon screen is also available in this tool.

Download Logon Screen

Press the Windows key , type Themes and related settings, and then press Enter . Or, press Ctrl + I to open Settings, and click Personalization. On the left side of the window that appears, click the Lock screen option.

How do I change my lock screen wallpaper on my computer?

Go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Under Background, select Picture or Slideshow to use your own picture(s) as the background for your lock screen.

How do I put wallpaper on my lock screen?

In the top right corner of the screen, tap the three dots to bring up an options menu.

1. Select a photo and tap the three dots in the top right corner. …
2. Tap “Use as.” …
3. Tap “Photos Wallpaper.” …
4. Adjust the photo, then tap “Set Wallpaper.” …
5. Select “lock screen” or “home screen and lock screen” to set the wallpaper.

16 апр. 2020 г.

How do I change my Windows login background?

How to change the Windows 10 login screen

1. Click the Start button and then click the Settings icon (which looks like a gear). …
2. Click “Personalization.”
3. On the left side of the Personalization window, click “Lock screen.”
4. In the Background section, choose the kind of background you want to see.

26 нояб. 2019 г.

How do I change the lock screen?

Set or change a screen lock

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Tap Security. If you don’t find “Security,” go to your phone manufacturer’s support site for help.
3. To pick a kind of screen lock, tap Screen lock. …
4. Tap the screen lock option you’d like to use.

How do I customize my windows lock screen?

How to Personalize the Lock Screen in Windows

1. With the Lock Screen displayed, click anywhere on your screen, type your password, and then click the Sign In button. …
2. Click the Start button.
3. Click the Settings button. …
4. Click Personalization. …
5. Choose Lock screen.
6. Select a type from the Background list.

Why can’t I change my lock screen wallpaper?

You have to use the stock Gallery app for it. My problem was that I used another app to edit the wallpaper and set it to use as default. Once I cleared the default and used the Gallery app to crop, I could apply any lock screen wallpaper.

How do I remove my lock screen wallpaper?

The trick is very simple, head over to the galaxy store and install good lock, then from the good lock settings uninstall it, and it will remove the lock screen wallpaper and it will match your homescreen if you change your wallpaper a lot.

How do I remove the lock screen wallpaper on my laptop?

To remove a thumbnail image from the Lock Screen Background page:

1. Go to Settings (keyboard shortcut: Windows + I) > Personalization > Lock screen.
2. Click the ‘Browse’ button and select the wallpaper you want. …
3. Repeat the step 4 more times and you’ve replaced the existing listing with your preferred items.

22 дек. 2019 г.

What is the difference between home screen and lock screen?

The Lock screen is different from the Home screen on your Android phone, although the two locations share similar traits. As with the Home screen, you can customize the Lock screen. You can set the screen lock, as well as control the Lock screen notifications. …

How do I change my wallpaper?

How to change the wallpaper on an Android device

1. Open up your phone’s Gallery app.
2. Find the photo you want to use and open it.
3. Tap the three dots in the top-right and select “Set as wallpaper.”
4. You’ll be given the choice between using this photo as wallpaper for your home screen, lock screen, or both.

6 апр. 2020 г.

How do I change my Windows login name?

Change username

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Users Accounts icon.
3. Select the account you want to change.
4. Click Change My Name.
5. Enter the new name you want to use and click the Change Name button.

31 дек. 2020 г.

Where is the Windows login screen background?

Head to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen and enable the “Show lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen” option here. You can configure the sign-in screen background you want on the Lock screen settings page, too.