{"id":1326,"date":"2013-06-27T05:24:03","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T05:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2013-06-27T05:24:03","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T05:24:03","slug":"how-to-set-a-custom-logon-screen-background-on-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1326","title":{"rendered":"How to Set a Custom Logon Screen Background on Windows 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"image\"<\/p>\n

Windows 7 makes it possible to change the welcome screen that appears when you start your computer without any third-party software, but this setting is well hidden. You can set any image you like as your background.<\/p>\n

This setting is intended for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to customize their systems, but there\u2019s nothing stopping you from using it yourself. All you have to do is change a single registry value and put an image file in the correct location.<\/p>\n

Enabling Custom Backgrounds<\/h3>\n

This feature is disabled by default, so you\u2019ll have to enable it from the Registry Editor. You can also use the Group Policy Editor if you have a Professional version of Windows \u2013 scroll down a bit for the Group Policy Editor method.<\/p>\n

Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit into the search box in the Start menu and pressing Enter.<\/p>\n

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In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:<\/p>\n

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Authentication\\LogonUI\\Background<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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You\u2019ll see an DWORD value named OEMBackground. If you don\u2019t see it, right-click in the right pane, point to the New submenu and create a new DWORD value with this name.<\/p>\n

Double-click the OEMBackground value and set its value to 1.<\/p>\n

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Note that selecting a new theme in the Appearance and Personalization window will \u201cunset\u201d this registry value. Selecting a theme will change the value of the key to the value stored in the theme\u2019s .ini file, which is probably 0 \u2013 if you change your theme, you\u2019ll have to perform this registry tweak again.<\/p>\n

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Changing the setting in group policy will allow it to persist even when you change your theme, but the Group Policy Editor is only available in Professional editions of Windows.<\/p>\n

If you have access to the Group Policy Editor, launch gpedit.msc from the Start menu.<\/p>\n

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Navigate to the following section in the Group Policy Editor window:<\/p>\n

Computer Configuration\\Administrative Templates\\System\\Logon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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You\u2019ll find a setting named \u201cAlways use custom login background.\u201d Double-click it and set it to Enabled.<\/p>\n

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Setting An Image<\/h3>\n

Your image file must be less than 256 KB in size. It\u2019s also a good idea to use an image file that matches the resolution of your monitor, so it won\u2019t look stretched.<\/p>\n

Windows looks for the custom logon screen background image in the following directory:<\/p>\n

C:\\Windows\\System32\\oobe\\info\\backgrounds<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By default, the info and backgrounds folders don\u2019t exist. Navigate to the C:\\Windows\\System32\\oobe folder and create them yourself by right-clicking inside the folder, pointing to New, and selecting New Folder.<\/p>\n

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Copy your desired background image to the backgrounds folder and name it backgroundDefault.jpg.<\/p>\n

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(I can see the inevitable question coming in the comments, so if you like this wallpaper image, you can get it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The change will take effect immediately \u2013 no system reboot required. The first time you log out or lock your screen (try the WinKey-L keyboard shortcut), you\u2019ll see your new background.<\/p>\n

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Third-Party Tools<\/h3>\n

You don\u2019t 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,<\/p>\n

Windows Logon Background Changer and other utilities just change this registry value and put the image file in the correct location for you.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Windows 7 makes it possible to change the welcome screen that appears when you start your computer without any third-party software, but this setting is well hidden. You can set any image you like as your background. This setting is intended for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to customize their systems, but there\u2019s nothing stopping you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-tech-stuff","category-win_7"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}