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How to Set a Custom Logon Screen Background on Windows 7

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Although it was never brought to production,
the title of the Spaceballs sequel was slated to
be Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II.

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.
If you are using Windows 8 and want to
accomplish the same thing, weve got you
covered with a tutorial on changing the lock
screen in Windows 8.
This setting is intended for original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) to customize their
systems, but theres nothing stopping you

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from using it yourself. All you have to do is change a single registry value and put an image file
in the correct location.

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This feature is disabled by default, so youll have to enable it from the Registry Editor. You can
also use the Group Policy Editor if you have a Professional version of Windows scroll down a
bit for the Group Policy Editor method.

Use Supervised Users to Set Up

Parental Controls on a
Chromebook (or Just in Chrome)

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

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How to Set a Custom Logon
Screen Background on Windows
7

In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

Bragging Rights: How to Find

Your Computers Uptime and
Installation Date

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background

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Youll see an DWORD value named OEMBackground. If you dont see it, right-click in the right
pane, point to the New submenu and create a new DWORD value with this name.
Double-click the OEMBackground value and set its value to 1.

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Boot Disk for

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Note that selecting a new theme in the Appearance and Personalization window will unset this
registry value. Selecting a theme will change the value of the key to the value stored in the
themes .ini file, which is probably 0 if you change your theme, youll have to perform this
registry tweak again.

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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.
If you have access to the Group Policy Editor, launch gpedit.msc from the Start menu.

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

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon

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Youll find a setting named Always use custom login background. Double-click it and set it to
Enabled.

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Setting An Image
Your image file must be less than 256 KB in size. Its also a good idea to use an image file that
matches the resolution of your monitor, so it wont look stretched.
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Windows looks for the custom logon screen background image in the following directory:
C:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds

By default, the info and backgrounds folders dont 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.

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Copy your desired background image to the backgrounds folder and name it
backgroundDefault.jpg.

(I can see the inevitable question coming in the comments, so if you like this wallpaper image,
you can get it here.)
The change will take effect immediately no system reboot required. The first time you log out
or lock your screen (try the WinKey-L keyboard shortcut), youll see your new background.

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Third-Party Tools
You dont 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 weve 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.

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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.

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Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around computer geek. He's as at

home using the Linux terminal as he is digging into the Windows registry.
Connect with him on Google+.

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Published 02/24/13

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