How to change the login screen on Windows 10

Do you want to personalize your Windows 10 login screen but don’t know how to do it? In this guide, you’ll learn how to change the login screen on Windows 10.

We will take you through the necessary steps to change your old, boring login screen, and give it a more customized look.

How to change the login screen on Windows 10
Wrap Up

Before we get into the process of changing the login background on Windows, it is essential to note down the difference between the login screen and the lock screen.

Although most people use these terms interchangeably, they are both quite different.

The Windows 10 login screen refers to the menu where you have to put in your credentials (ID, password) to sign in to your computer.

This screen appears right after the lock screen, and it often requires you to press a key or type your account’s password to take you to the Windows desktop.

Generally, the Windows 10 login screen will display the following information:

Power options (Restart, Sleep, and Shutdown);
User sign-in;
Reset password;
Ease of Access option that allows you to start programs without signing in to your Windows account;
Network connection options.

On the contrary, the lock screen is the display you see when you first switch on your Windows 10 computer.

It comes before the login/sign-in display and contains the following things:

Background image;
App notifications and status (like time, date, and day);
Cortana.

Although Windows 10 offers a high level of customization, it still hasn’t come up with a way to select different background images for different screens.

Therefore, you can’t change one background screen without modifying the other.

Previously, many app developers had tried to introduce this ability in Windows 10.

However, the apps didn’t work out well and were considered futile by Microsoft itself.

As discussed earlier, you cannot set two different background images for the login and lock display on Windows.

Therefore, you can use the below-mentioned process to change both background screens simultaneously.

Click on the “Windows” key to open the Start Menu;
Tap on “Settings” or press Windows key + I to open the Windows Settings app;

In the Settings window, click on “Personalization”;

Now, switch to the “Lock screen” tab and make the following changes in the “Background” section:

How to change the login screen on Windows 10

In this section, you will see three different options: Picture, Windows Spotlight, and Slideshow. Select the option which suits you the best.

In the “Picture” option, you can choose any featured image or browse your pictures folder to display the picture of your choice;

If you haven’t changed the sign-in display before, your background screen will be set to “Windows Spotlight”, which will display Windows stock images as the welcome display;
The “Slideshow” option will let you pick a folder or album that contains the pictures you want to run through your sign-in display. Make sure to select a folder with multiple images, or the slideshow feature will not work. You can also tap on the “Advanced slideshow settings” to adjust different slideshow options according to your preference;

In the next section, you can select your favorite application to display status on the sign-in display. For this, click on the “Plus” icon and choose any app from the list;
Finally, turn on the “Show lock screen background on the sign-in screen” option to view the recently set background image as the welcome display. Otherwise, your Windows login screen background will appear as the default blue screen.

You can also set a solid color as your logon screen background In case you don’t want to opt for a background image for this purpose.

You can do this in the “Colors” tab in the “Settings” window.

Go to “Settings”, and tap on “Personalization”;
Switch to the “Lock screen” tab and turn off the “Show lock screen background on the sign-in screen” option;

Next, switch to the “Colors” tab and pick the color you want to view on your computer’s welcome screen;

You can also check the “Title bars and window borders” box to apply the selected color on these parts.

If you are facing trouble setting the sign-in screen via the above process, you can also utilize the registry editor for this purpose.

However, operating the registry is a complex process, so you need to follow the below-mentioned steps accurately:

Click the Start Button, type “Regedit”, and press the “Enter” key to open the utility;

Locate the below command in the editor:

“Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System”

Next, right-click on “System” in the left pane of the window and go to “New”;
Select “DWORD (32-bit) Value” from the context menu:

Name this value as “DisableLogonBackgroundImage” then right-click on it and tap on “Modify”;

Change the “Value data” from “0” to “1” and press Enter;

Now, lock your Windows 10 device and log in again to check whether the sign-in display has changed to default a color screen or not;
You can choose another color for the background screen in “Settings”. For this, follow the first four steps from the section “Choosing a solid color as login screen background” of this guide.

In addition to Windows 10 Pro, you can also change the login screen of your Windows 10 Enterprise edition using the “Group Policy” feature in the following steps:

Go to the Start Menu, type “Edit Group Policy“, and press Enter to open the GPO application;

Tap on “Computer Configurations” and then double-click on “Administrative Templates”;

Double-click on “Control panel” followed by “Personalization”;

From the list, select the “Force a specific default lock screen and logon image” option. A new window will open;

Click “Enabled” and copy and paste the path to the preferred lock screen image, as shown in the picture;
Click “Ok” to save the changes.

Wrap Up

If you are tired of being presented with the same monotonous login screen on your PC, it’s time to replace it with an aesthetically pleasing background image.

Customizing the sign-in display will give your system a refreshed look and make it look more personal.

This article features some of the best ways of changing the Windows 10 login screen on your PC.

Read the complete guide and apply the method, which suits you the best.

Check out some of our other awesome articles:

Table of Contents

How to change the login screen on Windows 10

Login screen vs lock screen – What’s the difference?

Can I set a different login and lock screen background image?

Changing the login screen wallpaper

Choosing a solid color as the login screen background

Changing login screen via registry

Customizing login Screen via Group Policy (GPO)

Wrap Up