I want to know if there is a way to change the Lock Screen in Windows 8 without using the default PC Setting way. Maybe a value in the registry or something?
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Why don't you want to use the PC settings page? That's what it's for...– MatthewOct 31, 2012 at 2:16
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@Matthew I guess this could be useful for, say, domain administrators who need to set a lock screen for a large number of computers - where using a script to modify registry values is easy (and easy to lock to a set value/restore on login) but changing via the app would require manually going to each computer. They could also want to set up a script to change the image depending on time of day, etc.– BobOct 31, 2012 at 3:53
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@Bob: If that's his reason, maybe the title should be changed to "How can I programmatically change the lock screen". That's why I'm asking, to get a better idea of the problem he is trying to solve.– MatthewOct 31, 2012 at 4:08
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2 Answers
Windows 8 Apps can ask for permission to change the lock screen. One such app is called Bing My Lockscreen and pulls down images from Bing's background pictures library. This doesn't let you set a specific image, but gives you some choices to choose from.
If you need a way to this programatically yourself, you could write your own app for it. There is documentation on MSDN for Lock Screen Personalization.
Alternatively, you can manually edit the lockscreen background image. It appears that this is stored per-user in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\LockScreen_x, where x starts at A and increments as you add more options. Details related to this are stored in the registry under the following registry key, and are rather cryptic.
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen
Update: I tried messing around with the above registry settings, and was unable to change anything. I actually managed to break the lock screen by deleting an entry, so... don't try that at home!
Some folks in this TechNet forum thread were able to automate this by writing a script to overwrite the default backgrounds, which are cached in a hidden folder. Merely changing the folders mentioned above doesn't work. Depending on why you need to do this, there may be a solution in there.
You can try replacing the picture in C:\Windows\Web\Screen with your picture to see if its works. It must be called img100.jpg
answered Oct 31, 2012 at 2:18
