I don’t know about anyone else, but I think the default log in screen for Windows 7 is a bit on the bland side. Once you have logged in a few times, it does tend to grate on on the eyes a bit with that blindingly bright blue color. The odd thing about this is, changing your login screen has never really been something you could actually do for yourself in Windows without the use of third party utilities. The desktop wallpaper can be set to what you want, and all consumer Windows versions have the ability to change the color and look of the interface with themes, but the login or welcome screen seems to have been overlooked through the years. Or so I thought until I came across a nifty little tool to help change the background image of your log in screen.
Tweaks.com is a site that is quite well known for its tweaking and enhancement utilities, and luckily they had just the thing. Tweaks.com Logon Changer for Windows 7 is a tool that does exactly what it says and is so easy to use, even the vastly inexperienced user will find it a breeze to edit the login screen.
Logon Changer is extremely easy to use. Clicking the “Change Logon Screen“ button opens a file requester dialog so you can choose the image file. Simply navigate to the image you want to use and select it. You can only use JPEG images for this screen as Windows won’t accept any other type. It would have been a nice feature for the program to convert PNG or BMP files to JPEG for you, but you can’t have everything I guess. If the image is over the 245K in size, because it must be smaller than this, you will be given the option for the program to make a copy and reduce it for you. This will also reduce the image resolution.
When back at the main screen, it will be plainly obvious that the picture in the preview window has now changed to the picture you just selected. This will give a good indication of what the logon screen itself will look like. For a real demonstration, the test button will show you exactly how the Logon Screen will look like in when in use. If you’re not happy, just click the Change button to choose something else. The “Revert to Default Logon Screen” will do what it says and will put back the default blue image.
The Tweaks.com Logon Changer for Windows 7 is obviously simple to use, completely free and portable and is under a Megabyte when extracted from the zip. If you feel like changing your own Logon screen yourself, or want to backup any of the created Logon Screen image files, look in this folder:
Yoursystemdrive\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds
filename: backgroundDefault.jpg
The Info and Backgrounds folders will need to be created in you haven’t used the changer utility. Then place the JPG file in Backgrounds with the name above. Remember the 245K size limit. After that, go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Authentication\LogonUI\Background
Change value for ”OEMBackground” from 0 to 1
Then got Start and Lock the screen or Log-off to see the changes.
Do be aware that a custom logon image will be stretched to your screen size so if your monitor is widescreen, it’s best to try and use a widescreen image to match the aspect ratio of the dislpay.
thanxxx r.c
@mamonteshka, go for it. Just credit me as the quote. And I don’t have a twitter account.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
just what I needed. Muchos gracias!
Great! I really needed something like this! Thx a lot!
Hi Ray and Paul… do you know that your website has been blocked by Myanmar ISP… you know I only get the update information via email but I can’t access your website anymore… so could you please post the full detail of the update information via Email… Thanks… Do you know why I don’t want to use proxy?… Because the internet connection here is very slow… and not so easy for me to use, that why… Thanks …
I love the default landscapes pictures. I use a slide show option and enjoy the view every time when I come back to the desktop.
This doesn’t (or can’t) slow down the login. All you are doing is replacing the backgrounds .jpg with a new one.
@Gunny, haven’t noticed a difference myself. I believe that’s why there’s the cap on the size.
Hey Paul,
was wondering whether changing the logon-screen picture will make windows booting up any slower (as I like my speed :DDD) and if so how much slower. My guess atm is that it shouldn’t make to much difference because it has to load the default picture already, but just clarifying?
this is really great way to change log in screen. thank you very much bro
there’s also one one DeviantArt:
danielnet.deviantart.com/art/Windows-7-Logon-Screen-164128684
Looking for something like this long time ago.Light and extremely easy to use.Awesome!!
I use login studio from stardock to change my login screen.
stardock.com/products/logonstudio/downloads.asp
“Tweaks.com for a long time has been a site I had never heard of until recently”
Interesting statement… lol
@digish, that text will not appear on the screen.
@billy13, I apply one and I’m done but it’s a good alternative.
Will that tweek.com text will appear on the screen. We wont get the chance to place our text or no text at all?
Nice, thanks for this tool. It’s funny, gateway changed the way my logon screen looks a couple days in a windows update… or maybe it was a theme I put on that was installed already. Anyway, great article.
This one is better,try it and you’ll see…: julien-manici.com/windows_7_logon_background_changer/
I’ve used this for about 6 months now. There are tuts that claim you can do it without software but I never could get them to work.
While I don’t see that screen much it is a huge pleasure to have it set to what I want when I do see it.
+1 for the Tweaks.com Logon Changer!!! :)
Thanks Paul…In need of this tool, to lazy to Google for it..
I used to use other tool, but unfortunately I have forgotten what it was (I formatted my hdd and reinstall Win7).