Customize the login screen background on Windows 7

TipsMake.com - Windows 7 allows you to change the login screen background - which appears when you start your computer - without any third-party software, but this setting is hidden . This article will guide you to enable this setting to customize the login screen background to your liking.

This setting is for OEM manufacturers to customize according to their system, but there is no reason you do not use it. All you need to do is change a single registry value and place the image file in the standard location.

Enable custom background image feature

This feature is disabled by default, so you will have to enable it from the Registry Editor. You can also use Group Policy Editor if there is a Windows Professional version.

Launch Registry Editor by typing regedit in the search box in the Start menu and press Enter .

In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionAuthenticationLogonUIBackground

You should see a DWORD value named OEMBackground . If you don't see this value, right-click on the right pane, create a new DWORD value with this name ( OEMBackground ).

Double-click the OEMBackground value and set its Value to 1 .

Note that selecting a new theme in the Appearance and Personalization section will automatically reset the value of OEMBackground to 0 . If in the future you choose the theme displayed for your computer, you will have to reset this value if you want to change the background image to log in again.

Changing Group Policy settings will allow it to exist even if you change the theme, but Group Policy Editor is only available in Professional versions of Windows.

If you want to access the Group Policy Editor, start gpedit.msc from the Start menu.

Navigate to the following entry in the Group Policy Editor window:

Computer Configuration Administrative TemplatesSystemLogon

Go to the Always use custom login background section , double-click it and set it to Enabled status.

Select the background image to display

The file you want to select as a background image must be smaller than 256KB. Choose a large image that matches the screen resolution so that it displays sharpness and does not drag images.

Windows will display the login screen background image placed in the directory below:

C: WindowsSystem32oobeinfobackgrounds

By default, the info and backgrounds folder does not exist. You must navigate to the C: WindowsSystem32oobe directory and create folders corresponding to the path above.

Copy the image file you have prepared into the backgrounds background above, name the image backgroundDefault.jpg .

Changes will take effect immediately without restarting the system. To see the result you just made, press the Windows + L window key to exit the login screen.