Login (not lock) Screen Background

What was Microsoft thinking when they not only made this login (not the lock) background image impossible for a user, using normal means, to change, but also stuck the user with the most hideous looking stock images (those cartoonish images of Seattle, etc)? I finally found different sites that gave elaborate instructions for changing the login background, which I did, but it was quite a messy process.

Hello mbratch,

You might also take a look at the tutorials below to see if they may help make it easier to do.

How to Change Start and Sign in Screen Background and Color in Windows 8

and

How to Change the Default Sign in Screen Background Color in Windows 8


Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Brink.

The first link is for the Start screen. I know where the setting for that is.
The second is the login background color. But there's also a screen that you get when you first boot the computer and it's waiting for you to login. That one has no easy method. What I found was that you have to dig deep into a Windows folder and change some jpg or png files. But to do that, you also have to change some default folder/file ownerships, etc. It's quite tedious. (See the solution post in this thread: http://www.eightforums.com/customization/15291-default-lock-screen-multiple-users.html)

I don't understand why MS didn't make it a user setting, and why the default is an ugly picture.

Yes, agree. It's messy...
I posted the solution and I don't even use it since I am the only person to use my PC with auto login so I don't see it unless I click on Sign Out

mbratch said:

Thanks Brink.

The first link is for the Start screen. I know where the setting for that is.
The second is the login background color. But there's also a screen that you get when you first boot the computer and it's waiting for you to login. That one has no easy method. What I found was that you have to dig deep into a Windows folder and change some jpg or png files. But to do that, you also have to change some default folder/file ownerships, etc. It's quite tedious. (See the solution post in this thread: http://www.eightforums.com/customization/15291-default-lock-screen-multiple-users.html)

I don't understand why MS didn't make it a user setting, and why the default is an ugly picture.

Click to expand...

Ah, ok. That's what threw me off then since you said "not lock" when that's actually the default "lock" screen.

mbratch said:

What was Microsoft thinking when they not only made this login (not the lock) background image impossible for a user, using normal means, to change, but also stuck the user with the most hideous looking stock images (those cartoonish images of Seattle, etc)? I finally found different sites that gave elaborate instructions for changing the login background, which I did, but it was quite a messy process.

Click to expand...

Don't you just do this from PC Settings? Sorry if I'm missing what you want to do, but the lock screen image takes just a couple of clicks to change -- at least on my PC.

Hello rmeigs,

Yes, you can for your user account's lock screen while you are still signed in.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2639-lock-screen-background-image-change-windows-8-a.html


However, I believe he's wanting to change the default lock screen image.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/14485-lock-screen-background-image-set-default-windows-8-a.html

OR

http://www.eightforums.com/customiz...creen-different-lock-screen-2.html#post153836

rmeigs said:

mbratch said:

What was Microsoft thinking when they not only made this login (not the lock) background image impossible for a user, using normal means, to change, but also stuck the user with the most hideous looking stock images (those cartoonish images of Seattle, etc)? I finally found different sites that gave elaborate instructions for changing the login background, which I did, but it was quite a messy process.

Click to expand...

Don't you just do this from PC Settings? Sorry if I'm missing what you want to do, but the lock screen image takes just a couple of clicks to change -- at least on my PC.

Click to expand...

No this is not the standard PC settings image. I changed that. And then I get what I set when the screen locks. However, there's another ugly image that still appears when you log out. This is not controllable from PC settings.

Brink, I might have my actual image subjects mixed up and maybe it wasn't the Seattle image I was thinking of. But the bottom line is there are at least two images: one for lock and one for logout. So the lock screen is associated with the logged in user and is, therefore, changeable from their PC settings. The other one is a system-wide screen, not associated with a particular user, and is not changeable from PC settings.

I provided the link to the instructions on how to change the one I wanted to change. These instructions are quite messy and yet seemingly necessary to make this change. To reiterate: I don't know why Microsoft (a) chose to make this difficult, and (b) chose default images to compel one (or at least some) so strongly to desire to change it. It's almost like a bad practical joke.