Every time I power up my Windows 8 system, I’m looking at an image of some weird tall building against a weird green landscape. I have no idea what it is. I want to change it. How do I change my lock screen wallpaper in Win8, Dave?
You can definitely change it, and Windows 8 comes with five different images if you don’t want to select your own, but you can also pick any image you want and it will just stretch and resize as needed.
Before I show you how to do it, let’s talk about that image, because it’s actually a pretty famous landmark in Seattle, Washington, home of Microsoft Corporation! It’s the Seattle Space Needle. At its feet the arches are from the Pacific Science Center, and the snow-covered mountain? That’s Mount Rainier, also near Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington State. What’s suspicious, though, is that it’s a picture of Seattle and it’s a clear, sunny day, actually. 🙂
Let me show you the picture.
Here’s the default Win8 lock screen image:
See what I’m talking about? Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Mount Rainier, that’s only one place in the world…
But, yeah, let’s change it.
First step is to go to your Charms bar and click on “Settings”:
Once you’ve clicked on it, you’ll see the most popular tasks represented with icons, and below it “Change PC settings”:
It’s the latter option you want to click on, “Change PC settings”. Do so and a whole world of options and preferences open up:
There’s lots you can explore here, but let’s stay focused on the lock screen wallpaper image. Click on “Personalize” and you’ll see along the top “Lock screen”, “Start screen” and “Account picture”. You want “Lock screen”.
Now along the bottom are the five alternative images you can use that are included as part of Windows 8:
I like the color prism sort of graphic. Reminds me of the old Technicolor logo, actually. If I click on it, the image is selected:
At this point I can leave the settings area and the lock screen wallpaper has been changed. Done.
But instead, click on the small “Browse” button and select a different image. In my case, well, how about a green Lamborghini?
That’s it.
Want some cool wallpaper images to choose from for your lock screen? Google Image Search is a splendid option, and if you choose “Search Tools” and specify “Large”, just about anything you see will work just fine as your new lock screen image.
There. Easy.
Your opening comments about changing the lock screen image say that it resizes the image you choose to fit etc.
It doesn’t.
Jeez, thank you for this. That ugly thing has been driving me crazy.
“What’s suspicious, though, is that it’s a picture of Seattle and it’s a clear, sunny day, actually.”
Some years ago, I spent a few days in Seattle on a business trip. (This was back in the days when it was cheaper to fly in on Friday night, and have the trip span a Saturday, that the savings more than made up for extra nights at the hotel. I spent a day at the Space Needle and the Science Center.) As I recall, it was for a Windows 95 developer’s conference.
In any case, despite it being September in Seattle, the weather was sunny and warm, so it does happen on occasion.