Change desktop background and colors

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Personalization to choose a picture worthy of gracing your desktop background, and to change the accent color for Start, the taskbar, and other items. The preview window gives you a sneak peek of your changes as you make them.

In Background, select a picture or solid color, or create a slideshow of pictures.

In Colors, let Windows pull an accent color from your background, or choose your own color adventure.

After you’ve selected an accent color, scroll down to decide where you want to see the color show up, and whether it looks better in a dark or light setting.

The above screen shows the Dark setting.

Get Windows 10 themes in the Microsoft Store

Personalize your Windows 10 device with themes—a combination of pictures, colors, and sounds—from the Microsoft Store.

Change windows wallpaper from command line

To change windows desktop wallpaper what we normally do is right click on the desktop and go properties and so on. But we can do the same by editing registry key using reg command from command line. The command is given below.

For example to set the image E:\photos\image1.bmp as the wall paper we need to run the command as below.

After editing the registry key we need to run the below command to make the change take effect immediately.

Note that this method works only for bmp images. If you have .jpg or .jpeg images you can’t set them as wallpaper from command line. You can use the Desktop settings UI to set a .jpg or .jpeg file as wallpaper.

This won’t work for two reasons:
1) file needs to be a bmp
2) writing the registry doesn’t cause the change to happen, you need to do something like:

It also works for “.jpg” as well. I’ve tried it. I think the real problems that need to be fix is:
+ remove “/f” from the first command
+ add space after “dll” in the second command

Thanks for the comment..will modify the post with these steps..

Hello, it appears this command does not work for me, I honestly don’t know why…the reason I want to do this is because my windows7 does not have the option to select an image as background when I right click and look at the pop up menu….Any help or suggestions will be appreciate. Thanks

I think you have n’t yet activated your windows copy. Just activate it, after that you can use this.

Try doing it from Control panel -> Appearance and personalization -> Personalization.

Were you trying to do this in RDP connection? Looks like desktop background can’t be changed in remote desktop connections.

My windows7 does not even have this personalization option, siriosly. I am also not using any RDP connection…Any other suggestions? …Is my windows7 screwed up, not installed correctly/fully? Thanks!

you are using wiondows 7 starter! you cannot change backgound picture in windows 7 starter edition

Hello, I wonder why this update thing doesn’t work for me.

The wallpaper is changed in the registry (I checked through regedit.exe) and also in Personalization the new image seems to show up.
But I can’t get it to update immediately.

Thanks in advance.

Looks like the rundll update command is not working in Windows 7. It works in XP. I could not find any other command to make the wall paper changes take effect immediately. However a logoff and login would change the wallpaper.

add a space between dll, Up
rundll32.exe user32.dll, UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Restarting the computer will fix it.

Forgot to mention, I’m using Window 7 Pro and just locally no remote connections. I want to make this work in a batch script where some conditions are changed 🙂

You can, any command in command prompt will work in batch.

There is two more keys:
1) WallpaperStyle
2) TileWallpaper.
WallpaperStyle = 10 and TileWallpaper = 0 make walpaper filled
WallpaperStyle = 6 and TileWallpaper = 0 make walpaper fited
WallpaperStyle = 2 and TileWallpaper = 0 make walpaper stretched
WallpaperStyle = 0 and TileWallpaper = 0 make walpaper centered
WallpaperStyle = 0 and TileWallpaper = 1 make walpaper tiled

I just tried the command:
“reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d C:\Users\Louis\Desktop\test.bmp /f”

But only get the error:
“ERROR: Invalid key name.
Type “REG ADD /?” for usage.”

Change “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop”
To “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” (You may need to retype out the quotes.

The /f” should not be part of the Quotes for the path to the file to be clearer put the /f before /d and path.

in your example;
reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /f /d “C:\Users\Louis\Desktop\test.bmp”

Hello, I suppose you changed image1.jpg to image1.bmp in the example code after the anonymous comment in January 2011, but you have not made that change in the explanation above the code, it still says image1.jpg.
Thanks for this article anyway, when I searched for a how-to on this topic this was the result which best fitted what I wanted.
And thanks to Keby Zlima for the explanation on the other codes.
Best regards, Bram

Thank you. corrected the explanation.

Before I reached the note that says that the image should be .bmp I was already testing on .jpg which did work for me.

I used that code, it worked great. Once. Now it doesn’t do anything. Thoughts?

I’m trying to get this working for remote support jobs. My plan is to export the existing Desktop hive as a backup, set up my own wallpaper during the session and then, when I’m done, import the saved hive back into place.

Only problem is that (on Win10 at least), the Rundll32 command does nothing. Even after I’ve changed the wallpaper key, F5ing the desktop doesn’t show the new graphic even though it shows up in the registry in the exact same format as if I had edited it through the control panel.

Im using this in a bat file but it won’t work: try reg add /?

It works , Thanks

Thank you so much, you saved me a lot of work to figure out how to make the wallpaper centered and automated.
Chris

It shows me “too many command-line parameters”

For some reason, this only seems to work 5% of the time… Is there any way to make it work “consistently”?

Here’s the code:
reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d %AppData%\Test_image.bmp /f
RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll, UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Note: I made it in a batch file, not directly into cmd, using it to create a program

This batch file solved it for me. It checks if it is before or after 20:00 o’clock. If past – sets night wallpaper if before – sets day wallpaper.
The problem was it sometimes did work at 1st attempt, sometimes after 5th attempt. So I figured it out that the “dll line” should be repeated at least 5 times – now the code works everytime 😀

Add this batch script to your scheduler (at logon and at 20:01) and you will have automagic wallpaper changer based on the time of the day.

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set “Wtime=!time:

0,2!”
if “!Wtime!” leq “20” reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d “D:\MEGA\Obrazy\Tapety Desktop\mojave_dynamic\mojave_dynamic_8.jpeg” /f & goto done
if “!Wtime!” geq “20” reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d “D:\MEGA\Obrazy\Tapety Desktop\mojave_dynamic\mojave_dynamic_15.jpeg” /f & goto done
:done
timeout /t 5 >nul
start “” /b RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
start “” /b RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
start “” /b RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
start “” /b RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
start “” /b RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
endlocal

Win7 Ultimate. What I need to do is not change it but rather *remove* the wallpaper and make it a solid color (black). Does anyone know what the command would be for that? Thanks!

i had some issue in my office i cant change …
it shows like “you can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor”

reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d C:\Users\BRIAFS\Desktop\1.png /f
RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Powershell command WORKS

Remove the backdrop by going in to Ease of access centre, click Make the computer easier to see, then tick the box Remove background images. You can then change the background colour by going in to Control Panel, Personalisation, Windows Color, and select the Desktop colour

uhh, ive been trying and playing around with this. it hasnt been changing the wallpaper. do i need to restart my computer??

does not work for me on Windows 10, also tried other recommendations.

it don’t work for me when I do like this —-> reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d “C:\Users\Me Lol\Pictures\Wallpaper.png” /f

if you did this on the command Prompt, It don’t work on Windows 10

Auto change Wallpapers on Windows 10 with these Wallpaper Changer apps

Do you love how the wallpapers change dynamically on your Windows 10 Lock Screen? Many people have asked me about how to get such dynamic wallpapers on the desktop. Sadly, Windows does not come with an inbuilt feature to fetch pictures from the internet and apply them as a desktop background. But in this post, we’ve covered 3 Windows apps that can dynamically change wallpapers on your desktop. These tools fetch wallpapers from various sources including Bing, NASA, Earth Science, and Windows Spotlight.

Best Automatic Wallpaper Changer apps for Windows 10

1. Dynamic Theme
2. Daily Desktop Wallpaper
3. Desktop Studio
4. Wallpaper Change Scheduler
5. PictureThrill
6. NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader

Let us discuss these tools in detail. All of them are available to download from Microsoft Store.

1. Dynamic Theme

This is probably the best tool in the list as it is simplest and gets the job done. Dynamic Theme lets you dynamically change your wallpaper to daily Bing or Windows Spotlight Image. Not just that, you can even add custom images and the tool can easily run a slideshow on your Windows desktop. Dynamic Theme also works on Lock Screen and you can use this tool to maintain a common wallpaper on both the screens at all the time.

Other features include notifications whenever a new image is available, autosave of the Daily Bing or Spotlight image in the folder of your choice and much more. For Daily Bing images, the region can also be customized so that you get relevant images as wallpapers for your Windows desktop or Lock Screen. There is also an option to not download images on a metered connection and sync settings across devices.

Download Dynamic Theme here.

2. Daily Desktop Wallpaper

This is a lot simpler tool any only for users who are interested only in Bing wallpapers. The tool automatically fetches Bing Daily Wallpapers for the set region. You can view up to last eight wallpapers along with their descriptions.

As I mentioned, the tool is a lot simpler and just has one job of updating the Desktop and Lock Screen background daily. You can also specify a folder to save these wallpapers too. And another option lets you customize the resolution in which the image is downloaded on your computer.

Download Daily Desktop Wallpaper here.

3. Wallpaper Studio 10

This is a fairly complex application and comes with a lot of features. Using this tool, you can browse thousands of wallpaper collections created by various publishers or users in the community. These collections can be later set as slideshows on Desktop or Lock screen backgrounds. You can browse these collection categories wise, popularity wise or even country wise. Apart from that, you can create custom collections as well which will include wallpapers that you would have selected.

Wallpaper Studio 10 also lets you browse Daily Bing Wallpapers in a set region. Bing Wallpapers can be applied on Desktop or Lock Screen easily.

Download Wallpaper Studio 10 here.

3] Wallpaper Change Scheduler

Wallpaper Change Scheduler is a freeware that allows you to change your wallpaper automatically in Windows 10. This tool has several pleasing features that allow you to schedule wallpaper changes on your desktop on a daily or weekly basis. You can even change the wallpaper on the movement of the mouse!

5] PictureThrill

PictureThrill puts new wallpapers from NASA, Bing & EarthSciences on your desktop. It automatically brings you a new wallpaper daily as per your choice and selection.

6] NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader

National Geographic Photo of the Day Wallpaper Changer and NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader enable you to download National Geographic wallpapers with just one click.

These were a few Windows apps that can help you dynamically change wallpapers on your Windows computer. All these tools work with both Desktop and Lock Screen backgrounds and are available to download from Microsoft Store for free. These tools will not change accent colors as Windows does not allow changing it from external applications. If you want a matching accent color, you can set it to automatic in Colours settings.

Related Posts

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How to change Wallpaper without activating Windows 10

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Lavish loves to follow up on the latest happenings in technology. He loves to try out new Windows-based software and gadgets and is currently learning JAVA. He loves to develop new software for Windows. Creating a System Restore Point first before installing a new software is always recommended, he feels.

4 ways to change the desktop wallpaper in Windows 10

Some users might not yet have discovered that Microsoft supplies a selection of colorful wallpapers with its operating systems, and thus they never experiment with changing the standard background. We’ve always picked something other than the default background, so, in this article, we’re going to talk about how that’s done in Windows 10. If you want to learn how to change your desktop wallpaper, read on:

1. How to set a picture as desktop wallpaper in Windows 10, using the right-click menu

If you want to set a picture as your desktop background in Windows 10, the fastest way to do it is probably by using the right-click menu. Open File Explorer and browse to the picture that you want to use as your wallpaper. Then, right-click or tap and hold on it, and choose “Set as desktop background” in the menu.

But what if you want to also choose how it fills your desktop or if you don’t want just one image? What if you want to have your own slideshow with multiple images from a folder? Read the rest of this guide to see how you can access more desktop wallpaper customization options.

2. How to set and customize a picture as desktop wallpaper, in Windows 10, using the Settings app

Like most things in Windows 10, you can also change the desktop wallpaper from the Settings app. Right-click or tap and hold on your desktop, and then select Personalization in the contextual menu.

The previous action opens the Settings app and instantly takes you to the Background section from the Personalization settings. This is what you should see:

NOTE: Alternatively, instead of using the desktop right-click menu to get here, you can also simply open the Settings app and navigate to Personalization > Background.

On the right side of the Background page, you can see a small preview of what your desktop looks like using the current settings, followed by a series of settings that change its looks. The first of them is called Background. Click or tap on the Background drop-down and select the Picture option.

Right under the Background setting, there’s a section called “Choose your picture,” in which Windows 10 shows you a series of pictures that you can quickly set as your desktop wallpaper. If you want to use one of them, click or tap on it.

If you want to use a different picture than the ones shown in the list, click or tap on the Browse button. Then navigate through your Windows 10 PC to select the picture you prefer to use as wallpaper.

When you find the one you want, select it and click or tap on the “Choose picture” button.

As soon as you do that, Windows 10 sets the new picture as your desktop background. You can also see how your desktop looks in the Background preview.

What about customizing how the picture fills your screen space? Scroll down on the right side of the Background window. Then click or tap on the “Choose a fit” drop-down list and select the picture positioning that you prefer: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, Span.

Experimentation is the best way to decide which of these options works best. Here’s what happens:

• Fill enlarges or reduces your image so that your desktop space is filled. The images are either stretched or cropped to make this happen.
• Fit makes your images as large as possible to fit in the available space. They are neither distorted nor cropped.
• Stretch either stretches or squashes your image to the same dimensions as your screen. If your monitor size doesn’t match the size of the image well, this can look really ugly.
• Tile puts your image on the screen multiple times, filling up the space, but it may or may not fit the images into the space.
• Center puts your image in the center of the screen. You may have one small image in the center of a big blank space, or you may have just the center part of a big image.
• Span makes the image span on all your displays, if you have more than one installed on your computer or device.

If it turns out that your image does not fill the screen properly, you can click on “Change background color*”*, and find a color that coordinates with your image to fill up the rest of the screen.

3. How to set a slideshow with multiple desktop wallpapers, in Windows 10

If you want to use more than one picture as wallpapers in Windows 10, open the Settings app and go Personalization > Background. Then, click or tap on the Background drop-down and select Slideshow from the list.

In the next section, called “Choose albums for your slideshow,” click or tap on Browse.

Navigate to select the folder that has the images you want to be used on your desktop. When you find it, select it and click or tap on “Choose this folder.”

Windows 10 changes the desktop background right away, starting to play a slideshow with pictures from the folder you chose. Note that you can only use one folder. If no folder on your computer has the images you want, you have to create a folder with images selected just for this purpose.

By default, the images you’ve chosen become a slideshow that changes at whatever time interval you wish. Use the “Change picture every” list and choose the time span you want. If you want the images to play in random order, click or tap on Shuffle also.

Also, if you want to adjust the position of the wallpapers on your desktop, follow the same steps as we’ve shown you for setting a picture as desktop background. Essentially, all you have to do is to click or tap on the “Choose a fit” drop-down list and select the option you prefer: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, Span.

4. How to change the desktop wallpaper in Windows 10, by setting a new Theme

Microsoft also puts together collections of backgrounds, window colors, sounds, and screensavers into what they’ve called themes. Choosing one of those is a great way to get started with customizing your desktop. Each theme has a selection of wallpapers to choose from. You can keep just one, or let them play like a slideshow.

If you want your desktop background to be set by a theme you like, here’s how to do it. Open the Settings app and navigate to Personalization. Then, select Themes on the left side of the window.

Scroll down to see which themes are available on your PC or device and click or tap on a theme that appeals to you. When you do that, Windows 10 changes your wallpapers, the screen colors, sounds, and the mouse cursors to those included in that theme.

TIP: You can find the images used as wallpapers by the default Windows 10 themes in the “C:WindowsWeb” folder on your PC. For more details, check this article: The location of Windows 10 wallpapers for the Desktop and the Lock Screen.

Play around with the available choices as much as you like. If none of the built-in themes pleases you, Microsoft has an outstanding collection that you can access by clicking or tapping on the “Get more themes in Microsoft Store” link found at the beginning of the Themes list.

Following the “Get more themes in Microsoft Store” link takes you to the Microsoft Store app, where you can download any theme you like.

And that’s pretty much everything you can do to personalize the way your desktop background looks.

What’s your favorite desktop wallpaper for Windows 10?

There’s no reason to use the same old boring wallpaper that everyone else has. Changing it to suit your own preferences is quick and straightforward, and it’s easy to change back to what you had if none of the new images or themes is to your liking. Experiment, and if you come across a good collection of public domain images that would make good wallpapers, please share it in the comments.