Within Windows

I can picture it now. A giant Dell logo or any other OEM logo in your face on the logon screen.

BAM!

Cool. :D Didn’t realize there was yet another build leak.

Also, what’s the story with that RDP client? Looks like it’s .NET based but Google isn’t giving me any info.

Just tried this now – There’s no key called OEMBackground in my registry there. Moreover, there’s no \info folder in my %windir%\system32\oobe folder, anyway.

Odd. I must have done something wrong, though I followed the steps exactly. Do I have to make the registry key and the folder?

can confirm that the reg key is there, but now folders under %windir%\system32\oobe\info\
I upgraded and am running 64bit. maybe because not clean install?

Can you provide any sample images to try out?

Ok, so I have to set the resolution to the resolution in the file name then? The flower image in 1680×1050 would be great. Thank you. :)

Aha! Solved it. I used the shotgun approach and resized a version of the image I wanted to every file on the background*x*.jpg list, and one of them worked – hard to say which one without removing them one by one, but it is obvious that 1920×1200 won’t scale DOWN to 1680×1050, and backroundDefault if set to 1680×1050 won’t work either. One of the smaller sizes is being scaled up.

And sorry for filling up the comments on this page so much, Rafael. Thanks for this tip, its great.

Thank you. I appreciate it alot and will try these out. :)

Oh, I should get one at the 1440×900 resolution? Wow, this is confusing. Please Microsoft, add it to themes! LOL.

Nope, no luck. :( Can’t get this to display. :(

Was wondering if you had ever figured this out. Glad to see that you have, nice work!

got it. thank you. it’s working now. had to use screen res exactly for my monitor and working now. thank you!!

oops, that was supposed to be a smile not a frown lol.

I like the default login background…

Now if only someone could figure out how to hack punkbuster into working correctly in Windows 7 and not kicking for unknown Windows API.

This function needs to be available in the “Themes” section so that EVERYONE …… not just those who are “tech savy” and know how to work regedit can do this !
So it is now your next challenge Rafael to make sure microsoft get this done.

@Rafael, no luck. :( I can’t find an image small enough lol. Even the flower one was 800kb. :(

Awesome!

ha, I was just darn lucky mine were smaller than 256kb.

@derausgewanderte, could you send one for me to test?

Darren Tebo, when you save as jpeg make sure the jpeg quality setting is set = or < 8

Rafael you are a wizard

Awesome find mate. That’s really an interesting move by Microsoft and I really wonder to see that Microsoft is allowing so much customization and providing almost full control to users. Anyway brilliant find. :)

waiting for more feature in windows 7 final edition. THere should be something different in windows 7 so that there is a specific reason to upgrade vista to Windows 7. because Windows Vista and Windows 7 are almost smiler. Yeah, windows & inclued multitouch feature pretty coool.. but it someone want to use that feature then one must have to buy Touch monitor that are really expensive. lets see what microsoft provide in windows 7 so that it puss me to upgrade my vista to 7………these logon feature are stupid bcz there is nothing new. anyone could de this though microsoft don’t put in windows 7. I am expecting something interesting………….

I have developed 7Logon# application to enable Customize Windows 7 Logon Background. try it! :p
http://blog.neuronaltraining.net/?p=3652

I’ve got it working now, on my 1440×900 monitor. I had to create the folders, though the reg key existed. Interestingly I can’t edit the .jpgs in the oobe/info/backgrounds location with IrfanView – don’t know if this is due to using x64 7057 – though previously IrfanView has handled everything I’ve asked of it, regardless of the Windows flavour. Whatever, so I edited the file elsewhere and transferred to the ~\backgrounds location.

The file was 250KB, the correct ratio but 1920×1200, and though named background1440x900.jpg, wouldn’t work. So I shrank it to 1440×900. Still wouldn’t work. Then I copied it and named the copy backgroundDefault.jpg, and resaved the original in such low quality the size was now just 13KB! This time it worked!

I rebooted and deleted backgroundDefault.jpg and it stopped working. I rebooted and restored that file, and deleted background1440x900.jpg and it still worked. So, basically the same file that didn’t work when named background1440x900.jpg, worked when named backgroundDefault.jpg. I wonder if it is because my monitor, though recognised and at the correct resolution, doesn’t have drivers for NT6.x? You know, in ‘Resolution’ it is shown, but under the ‘Monitors’ tab only the ‘Default Plug and Play’ type is recognised. Under earlier Windows versions it makes a difference to the resolution and/or refresh rate available.

why the hell wouldn’t they enable this for us to use inside of the general themes control panel! this is wicked

I would love a copy of your RDP client, used in the screenshots above, it would be very handy.

Suppose I have different background pictures in that folder, and I connect to the machine using remote desktop. Will I see different pictures depending on the resolution ratio I use in remote desktop?

It won’t work for me. I tried it your way and the more simple explination (for link to YouTube Tut. click my name) and it won’t change. Help anyone?

@Nexus, if I was to write a program instead, I certainly wouldn’t charge for it. That would just be stupid lol. I know others would, but not I! :)

They probably don’t put this in the themes control panel because it doesn’t deserve to be there. This seems like something that should be limited to OEMs or people who know what they’re doing. It’s just one of those things that doesn’t seem to be deserved to be changed by the general public.

You fools why are you people trying to make Microsoft look like a crap???
Who is the idiotic editor of this article???
How dare u use the term ‘UGLY’ to describe the new logon screen in Windows Seven 7057.You fool i bet u don’t even know how to write a single program and u are talking about the operating system which is still in the beta phases. Never use such bloody language.If u don’t like it, it doesn’t mean that others too think the same.I think the new logon screen is a lot better than ur stupid looking face.Post ur apologies u freak.

@Rafael, I am working on the login background changer program. I will let you know when I am done. :) Thought I would help out with this one. :)

The program that I wrote to enable this feature is completed. Let me know if you want it at winlonghorn@adelphia.net. Thanks.

works for build 7000…. the only file name that works is backgroundDefault.jpg….value was in the reg….. had to create folders

So, for those corporate administrator folks out there (or for anyone who doesn’t like the fact that the logon screen you set changes BACK TO DEFAULT every time you change your theme, you can set it in policy (or the correponding registry entry). To do this, either gpedit.msc and navigate to: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon. It will be the “Always use custom logon background”. For those that prefer just updating the registry, this would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
“UseOEMBackground” DWORD = 1.

Those of us that do corporate images will probably use this to make sure our image version and logo are always on the logon screen regardless of which theme the user chooses.

Done with that portion now. :)

@Richard B, that would be great to know. I am curious as well. :) It would be incredible to fix it so that it would allow larger sizes. I will do some hunting around to see what I can find. If I find something, I will let you all know and then lift the restriction from the program that I created. :)

That is a pain, but oh well. I can try to scale down some images. :-)

@Rafael So there is no way to open a dll or something and modify that? I guess we just have to ask them if that change is something that they will consider. :(

@Raj
Please go sit in the corner with your imaginary friends.

@LOOP
“When are you gonna get 7057 uxtheme patches up? i sent you the files a few days ago..would appreciate if you could patch em’ sometime.”
You realize he has a life, right?

What steps have you performed Ryan?

When will RDP be integrated into the logon UI. With VMs running amuck, this would be a killer addition!

im happy coz found this site..damn good site….keep it up

what should i do to use all vista themes in windows 7,they are not working in win 7… :( i wanna make windows 7 start menu,full glass as i use in vista not colorful(not gray or red or blue),stupid win7 themes are only changing wallpaper not progress bar colors or button styles .how can i change shellstyle.dll version informations.because they are 6000.16386 shellstyle.dll,i must change them to 7000.0…

@chris
try reshacker
i am sure that this will not work

I got it working too. Thank you, Rafael. Good work on this. Have you found any other things like this we can play with on build 7057?

here are some Windows 7 Themes that i made:
http://alkhan.deviantart.com/gallery/

hey i was poking around windows 7 build 7057 ‘starter’ and when you goto control panel, apperance, display,
the side bar of the windows shows “change welcome screen background” when you click it it brings up a window that says ‘choose a background for the welcome screen’ and has two options that say ‘use the baackground that came with my computer’ and ‘use windows background’ all that i can say is this changes the regestry value rafael said.

7068 does support the customizations, but I just installed 7077 and am trying to see if it works, but so far no luck.

DanielRemains,

I love the Loginscreen you use. I love what you did with the 7/v :-D

Is there a way to accomplish this on W2K8 Server?

where do you get the flower backround?

How can I remove the LoginUI Background image? I just want a solid black.

@Bydia,

So just make a big, black rectangle the size of your screen resolution in Windows Paint, save it as a JPG, and follow the procedure above!

Hi everyone, I have also made a windows application to manage this for you. I call it the humble name “Locked Background Rotator” because you can add as many images as you like to the program and it will run minimized and change the background everytime you lock your computer.

The program consists of a image collector where you can add image files, one at the time or a whole folder with or without including subfolder. The images are latter used randomly to change the locked background picture. This is done thrugh scaling down the picture and adjusting the quality to fit the right size and dimensions.

You can specify the interval for the background to change, or let the program do so everytime you lock your computer.

The program can be minimized to the windows task area and there is a checkbox for making to program autostart. When autostarting it also starts minimized so that it wont disturb the user in his/her daily work.

Hope this helps those who arent so familiar with windows folders, writing privileges, image handling and registry editing.

Download version 1.0

I just made another LogonUI background changer app, like almost everyone in this thread ^^

http://www.julien-manici.com/windows_7_logon_background_changer/

Technical infos : it is wpf/3d based, and requires admin privileges only the first time you run it (you can also run the provided cmd file as admin if you don’t trust my program and don’t want to give it admin rights). It’ll be open source when I’ll have fixed the performance issues.

for dell computer change HKML to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. thanks for the tip off though

nvm im just a little dislexic (not really) =). i didnt see the G in “backgrounds”. fixed my own problem

Hey, new version of my Locked Background Rotator.

Locked Background Rotator v 1.0.1

Changes:
* Fix: Timing issues. CPU was going high. Now it seems to run at nearly zero.
* Fix: Reads the windows screen bounds when resizing instead of fix size of 1200*1024.
If the image is smaller than the screen bounds then the original image is used.

* Feature: Adjusted the initial image quality to save att 100% jpeg quality and then reduce by five until
Image fits under 256 KB (otherwise it will not work as locked background).
* Feature: Start minimized option.
* Feature: Added “view image” as context menu.
* Feature: Reduced thumbnail quality and adjusted the size to show landscape oriented images;
* Feature: Double clicking the current image thumbnail will open the image for viewing.
* Feature: Clicking the tray baloontip will now restore the program.
* Feature: Clicking the tray icon once will show wich events will trigger the change, also calculates time left when
“change on time” is active.

Does this work in RC as well? I’ve been trying and haven’t had any luck getting it to work. It just always falls back on the factory default one.

Have the RC1 of Win7 (x64) installed. The registry value already existed (although would have been no drama to add new reg key if it didn’t), and interestingly the value was already set to “1″ – enabled. Had to manually create the folder in the “oobe” directory, but no dramas there.

Interestingly did not work with file named as “background1440×900.jpg” but works just fine with the default name “backgroundDefault.jpg”. Dropped that one in the folder and everything is apples :)

Big THANKYOU for this little gem :)

NB: As an aside, ppl bitching about the hassle, you doooo realise you could simply open the default image …oobe\background.bmp in ANY image editor and simply place a new image over the top (will probably have to flatten as most image editor will paste as new layer) and save. Just make sure you run your image editor as Administrator, as the original is read-only and classed as system file. If you don’t want to mess with regedit, this gives another option :)

Whoever created this “Locked Background Rotator” should know that the application won’t work in startup as long as UAC is enabled. Your application needs elevation of permissions and so UAC system block it. You should find another way to make it work at startup. However don’t get down. It’s a good application.

Please don’t ask people to turn off their UAC. I sure think this “UAC” sucks, but for normal users (little knowledge) its a barrier againts threats.

Keep up the good work.
Regards,
-Anon

We just released a free utility to do this too. It takes care of the image size, and registry changes.

http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/change-the-windows-7-logon-background-free-utility/

Can’t be bothered to filter through replies to see if this was covered, but to all the newbies complaining the directory doesn’t exist, CREATE THE DAMNED FOLDERS YOURSELF. They don’t initially exist as Win7 RC is NOT an OEM build, thus no OEM has created the directories!

Also, if after loading in image, if not showing up, check to see if Windows has switched of the ability (Windows sometimes does this as the folder didn’t exist when you first switched it on) – switch back on and should stay on.

As an aside, can also be done vie the Group Policy editor – see link below for details on that method.

By the way, have you released a copy of the screen capture tool you wrote… would be very handy. Cheers mate, great advice :)

@Raj – Raphael was not criticising MS, just saying that the new Login UI not to his (or other ppl’s) tastes… the beauty of being individuals. If you likeit, keep it – if you don’t, replace with an image you do like. Simple

great job. i also wanna know, is there a possibility that i can increase the size of the logon user account picture?

What will it take for Microsoft to place redundant copies of images with different resolutions so we can get truly crisp images right out of the box? Vista installs for a hefty 20 GB, and there is tons of space in the installation DVDs already. Why compute the aspect ratio where for 256 KB a pop, you can provide the most crisp image? And where is the 1680 x 1050 resolution, which the majority of users have today? The industry is on the eve of switching to high resolution 2560 x 1600 pixels with the advent of the Display Ports…. I wish the little guys at Microsoft had the power to poke their technologically inert superiors… geez!…

Is there any way to disable font hinting on the login screen? I like pixelated text.

FYI, to get this to work on 64 bit, I had to add the key to this node:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background
Add new DWord value (32 bit) named OEMBackground, value 1

@ Elton

I have just did this on my x64 version of windows 7 (build 7057) and I did not have to add that key you just stated.
So I don’t know where it went wrong for you..

Thanks! Worked perfectly on Windows 7 Enterprise RTM (90-Day Trial).

I already had the registry key, so I changed it, created the “info” and “backgrounds” folders and saved a “defaultBackround.jpg” at my LCD’s native resolution (1280×1024 – I know, I’m old school, I do have a second screen that’s 25.5″ 1900×1200 though) and as soon as I locked the screen it was there. No reboot required. Much nicer.

Update: Registry key seems to have reset itself. I’ll try rebooting again as the system did crash due to an unstable overclock.

Hey Folks,

Somebody have tried to put the logon wallpaper on the second monitor?? My second monitor on the logon is always black… :S

Regards

I am using the 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate build 7100.
I did some testing with a few methods. The only one that worked for me was the Group Policy method done through the (GPedit.msc).

Note that I checked the regedit to see what it made and it put in the DWORD value (UseOEMBackground) set to value “1″ in this location. (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ System)

You still have to make the folder location for the custom image and have the image listed as backgroundDefault.

What is weird is that the registry location (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ System) was there to begin with and that DWORD value (UseOEMBackground) did not work when manually putting it in there, as I saw someone mention that DWROD value up above in this Blog. I also noticed that this particular location will also disappear from the registry when you turn the Group policy back to being “Not Configured”.

Now the main method for listed here in this Blog where you set the DWORD value (OEMBackground) to “1” enabled in this location (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Authentication \ LogonUI \ Background) did not work at all for me. Taking from what I saw made in the other location while using the Group Policy I decided to add in the DWORD value (UseOEMBackground) into this location. It did not work either. I am not sure if this is because I am using Ultimate or not or if it has to do with being 64bit or not. All I know is that it does not work at all, no matter how I tried it. And I did try many different variations.

On the size and image type, what is strange is that the original background image is a Bitmap at 2.25MB. That size converts to 2305KB. Yet Rafael mentions that it has a limit of 256KB and the guides say that it only mentions the Jpeg format. I find this strange, especially since the original image is larger and a different format to begin with. There has to be a way to change the format and use larger file sizes. This size limitation is depressing.

I was disappointed a little when I saw it does not support 1680×1050 “natively”, but then I got an idea, tried it and it worked – I’ve used a JPEG image resized and cropped to exactly 1680×1050 and compressed it to meet the file size requirement, then I’ve copied the file to that folder as backgroundDefault.jpg and it works great! I didn’t try it with lower display resolutions but I really don’t feel like using one on an LCD screen ;-). Note that I have the final release of W7.

funciona perfecto…gracias

@Jeff

same here, tried a few times… 251k did not work, 244 did…

I’ve got mine working in a 1680×1050 resolution.
Simply put the .jpg in the \oobe\info\backgrounds folder and make sure it’s name is backgroundDefault NOT background*resolution*.

I had some issues with the screen as well with the jpg being 253 kb. I downsized it to 243kb and it worked fine. For those who have trouble, try this (I am using Windows 7 Ultimate Final release)

Any idea why this doesn’t work on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (RTM)?

I think that I followed well all instructions here. Is this a feature of the beta or RC version only?

BTW, I also made sure that %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds\backgroundDefault.jpg is not larger than 220KB.

Any idea?

Thanks!

To Frank,

I am using the Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (RTM), it works fine to change the picture.

hi rafa..is there anyway for beginner like me to change my windows 7 background?
cos what you guys have explained above make me confused..
thanks

Hi
I am using the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Enterprise, it works fine to change the picture background but I want to change or delete text with Windows 7 Enterprise . Someone you can help me?
thanks

Works on the 90 day trial of Win 7 Enterprise 64bit. I used IRFANVIEW and the plugins to resize the pic. I named it background1440x900.jpg even though my resolution is 1280×800 and it worked.

Thanks for the great site. I’ve found that if the JPEG is “250 KB (256,002 bytes)” as viewed in the file properties window accessed by right-clicking the file, the file will not work. After reducing the image size a bit, so the file is “248 KB (254,894 bytes),” it works fine. I’m thinking the size limit may actually be 256,000 bytes, however it might otherwise be expressed.

My resolution is 1680 x 1050, but my JPEG is not exactly the same ratio. I’m thinking the image is being stretched by Windows, especially since it is now only 369 x 230 pixels. For me this is no biggie, as all I want is a dark blue screen. I am using Microsoft Paint and have not found a way to create a larger image without the file size getting really big.

Mine is a single file named backgroundDefault.jpg in the folder specified by Rafael. You will need administrative rights to add files to this folder after it is created.

I did not edit the registry directly, but instead edited Group Policy, as described on http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/windows-7-lets-you-change-the-logon-background-image/. Incidentally, that site directed me to this one. You will need administrative rights to edit Group Policy.

Anyhow, I’m good to go. May someone find this useful. Great work, Rafael!

Rafael,do u mean 256kb for jpeg images?im using a bitmap image with size 2MB…and i didnt even have to rename it.i just drag and drop it into the background file…and it still works..can u check on this please?

I’m new to all of this and have been trying to follow intructions on what to. I’ve located the registry for the background logon UI and i’ve changed the value to 1. But now i’m stuck on how to get the images to the registry…help is needed and much appreciated…thank you much…

Thanks for this great info. It worked brilliantly for me.

@Kung-fu Kingstar you don’t put the files in the registry. You put them on the System drive (C: usually) in the directory mentioned above: %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds. Just copy that, open up windows explorer and paste in that path. It may tell you that it doesn’t exist. you may have to paste in %windir%\system32\oobe and then create the other folders. That’s what I had to do (Win7 Enterprise VL)

I pasted in %windir%\system32\oobe and then created the folder in oobe called info and one inside info called backgrounds. then put the file in the backgrounds folder.

BTW, to add to Steve’s comment, don’t forget to rename the image you place in the backgrounds folder to backgroundDefault.jpg

T.B.

Arghh!

It took me a while to figure out that this won’t work with Total Commander, since it is 32 bit. If you think Total Commander copied the files to %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds, it didn’t. It copied them to %windir%\sysWOW64\oobe\info\backgrounds. Using Windows Explorer works.

Windows 64 bit can be a bitch.

This is very useful to get rid of the annoying image that is included. Thx! At least if I get an OEM PC with some annoying logo on the login screen I know how to remove it.

Great tip, but instead of going into the registry, I prefer using the Group Policy Editor. You need to be an administrator to do it this way, but it’s less of chance of doing harm to the registry.

To access, type gpedit.msc in the Start menu search field (of just enter the words: group policy).

Select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Always use custom logon background.
Select Enabled.
Click Apply.
Click Okay.

Hi All!

I would like to implement the logon screen using group policy. The “Always use custom logon screen” policy is only available in WS2008R2 enviroment.
I ran in the same thing as Fred: copyed the files to %windir%system32\oobe\info\backgrounds with total commander, and didn’t worked. Copyed with explorer and worked instantly! Can Anyone tell me why is this? Is this some sort of ntfs hard link? Please help!!

Thanks

Tom

sorry for double post,… but you will have to use 3rd party software …. found here ……. http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon/

Hi, if any of use run a network of Windows 7 client machines with a Windows Server 2008 R2 server and would like to know how you can change all the machine logon backgrounds through the server insted of going round each one and doing it manually, email me and i will send you the method how to do it. jordansimm (@) sky . com its very easy to do once you get the hang of it.

The 256kb size limit is ridiculous, especially when their defaultBackground.bmp is around 2MB.

I have a Government system using this feature. It appears that they completely removed the REG_DWORD altogether. i changed it to 1 on my PC but my laptop doesn’t have it at all. So maybe it’s on by default but the registry key disables it rather than the other way around. I don’t dare try to delete it though

For all of you with Permission Issues, it’s because you have to disable UAC(User Access Control). You can disable it long enough(requires a reboot) to put your image in the %system32%\oobe\info\backgrounds folder or leave it disabled all together. Personally I dislike UAC and disable it on all my machines although that is not recommended. Anyways, there are multiple ways to disable UAC but I’ll describe two of them:

1a. Click Start, Control Panel, User Accounts, Change User Access Control settings (it’s at the bottom). Go to step 2.

1b. Click Start, in the search box/run type “msconfig” without the quotes and press enter. Click on the Tools tab, click “Change UAC Settings”, then click the Launch button. Go to Step 2.

2. Move the bar on the left all the way down to Never Notify and press OK. You may be prompted if you’re sure you want to do this, just hit Yes. Reboot your computer. Now you modify the folder :)

OOBE stands for out of BOX expreience

Any idea how to force the custom logon ui background appears over RDP (remote desktop connection) too?

*likes*

Well, It doensn’t work for us. The backgroundDefault.jpg is loaded. But the screenresolution files aren’t e.g. “background1440x900.jpg”. Any idea’s?

i tried this but it is not happened
 

U have used Visual Basic for this I Guess