Personalization Change Lock Screen Background to Spotlight, Picture, or Slideshow in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to change the lock screen background to Windows Spotlight, a picture, or slideshow for your account in Windows 11.

The lock screen (aka: welcome screen) is the screen you see at startup and when you lock (Win+L) the PC. You will need to dismiss the lock screen to to see the sign-in screen and sign in to Windows.

You can customize your lock screen. You can change your lock screen background to Windows Spotlight, a picture, or a slideshow. You can also choose an app to show detailed status on the lock screen.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26120.3281 (Beta/Dev 24H2), Microsoft is trying out a few different treatments for the top right hotspot (“Like the image that you see”) on the lock screen. You can now learn more about the spotlight image on your lock screen by clicking on the “Like icon” that takes you to the Spotlight landing page.

References:

If you have more than one display, the lock screen will only show on the main display.

EXAMPLE: Lock screen background







1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Personalization on the left side, and click/tap on Lock screen on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Do step 4 (Windows Spotlight), step 5 (picture), or step 6 (slideshow) below for what you want as the lock screen background.

When you select to use Windows Spotlight as your lock screen background, it sets the registry keys and values below:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"LockScreenAutoLockActive"="0"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager]
"RotatingLockScreenEnabled"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen]
"SlideshowEnabled"=dword:00000000

Lock screen pictures are cached in the hidden protected system folder location below.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\<Account SID>\ReadOnly

When you select to use Picture as your lock screen background, it sets the registry keys and values below:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"LockScreenAutoLockActive"="0"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager]
"RotatingLockScreenEnabled"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen]
"SlideshowEnabled"=dword:00000000

When you select to use Slideshow as your lock screen background, it sets the registry keys and values below:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"LockScreenAutoLockActive"="1"
"DelayLockInterval"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager]
"RotatingLockScreenEnabled"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen]
"SlideshowEnabled"=dword:00000001

This setting above is saved to the SlideshowIncludeCameraRoll DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen

1 = On (checked)
0 = Off (unchecked)

This setting above is saved to the SlideshowOptimizePhotoSelection DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen

1 = On (checked)
0 = Off (unchecked)

This setting above is saved to the SlideshowEnabledOnBattery DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen

1 = On (checked)
0 = Off (unchecked)

This setting above is saved to the LockScreenAutoLockActive string value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

1 = On (checked)
0 = Off (unchecked)

This setting above is saved to the SlideshowDuration DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen

1800000 (decimal) = 30 minutes
3600000 (decimal) = 1 hour
10800000 (decimal) = 3 hours
0 = Don't turn off

1 Open the image you want to set as the lock screen background in the Photos app. (see screenshot below)

2 Perform one of the following actions:

• Click/tap on the See more (3 dots) button.
• Right click or press and hold on the image.

3 Click/tap on Set as.

4 Click/tap on Lock screen (Ctrl+L).




That's it,
Shawn Brink