In a recent article, we showed how it was possible to change the background image on the Windows 7 login screen. The method showed required using the Registry Editor, which is never 100 percent safe, of course, but in this case the process is quite stable. At the end of the article, we mentioned a GUI program, called Windows 7 Logon Background Changer. It makes a lot of sense for us to go over that program, and how it is used to accomplish the same thing we covered in the tutorial.
The first step, as you might imagine, is to head over to the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer home page.
Next, scroll to the bottom of the product description and click the blue Download button.
This will load a ZIP file to your Desktop or other download directory. When the download has finished, you can extract the archive.
You will now have a folder named Win7LogonBackgroundChanger on your Desktop (if that’s where you downloaded the original archive). Simply open that folder, then double-click the Installer program, or right-click and choose the Install option, as shown below.
When the installation is complete, you can delete the folder created when you extracted the archive, as well as the original archive itself, as they’re no longer needed. You’ll find the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer application in your Start Menu.
Go ahead and launch it; you should see a window similar to the following, which represents what your current login screen looks like. If you haven’t made any changes, is should basically match what you see below.
Along the bottom of the window, you’ll see a scrolling bar of all your installed default wallpaper images. Simply click one, and the large representation of your login screen will flip over, showing you what it would look like with your newly selected image.
You could also click the Choose a folder button to select another folder full of images, located elsewhere on your hard drive. When you’re finished, simply click the Apply button to save your changes.
You should see a progress bar along the bottom (with an overlay over the same image), as your changes are being saved.
When the save is changed, go ahead and close the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer. You’re finished! Simply logout of your current session or lock your computer; your new background should be available immediately… no restart necessary.
As mentioned at the top, using the program described in this article is quite a bit simpler than the method we previously outlined. For some people, this will be the favored method to swap out the login screen background image, while others will want to get their hands a little “dirty” in the Registry Editor. Either is fine with us, as long as the task gets accomplished!
