Hacking Corner

Change the Logon Screen Background in Windows 7

How would you like to change the logon screen background in Windows 7 so as to give your Windows a customized look and feel? With a small tweak it is possible to customize the Windows 7 logon screen and set your own picture/wallpaper as the background. Changing logon screen background in Windows 7 is as simple as changing your desktop wallpaper. Well here is a step by step instruction to customize the logon screen background.

Steps to Change the Logon Screen Background in Windows 7

1. press win+r key and Type Regedit at run prompt

2. Locate following registry key

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background

3. Now in right-side pane, change value of OEMBackground to 1.

4. Now place your custom image in %windir%\system32\oobe

5. Create a new folder info and background within newly created info folder

Folder path should look like this %windir%\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds

6. Now place your desired logon wallpaper within this background folder with file name as backgroundDefault.jpg

Images Name with resolutions

backgroundDefault.jpg

background768×1280.jpg (0.6)

background900×1440.jpg (0.625)

background960×1280.jpg (0.75)

background1024×1280.jpg (0.8)

background1280×1024.jpg (1.25)

background1024×768.jpg (1.33-)

background1280×960.jpg (1.33-)

background1600×1200.jpg (1.33-)

background1440×900.jpg (1.6)

background1920×1200.jpg (1.6)

background1280×768.jpg (1.66-)

background1360×768.jpg (1.770833-)

Please NOTE: Images must be less than 256kb in size

The backgroundDefault.jpg image is loaded and stretched-to-fit when a resolution/ratio specific background cannot be found.