The creators of Windows operating systems, in particular, the seventh version, take the design of the system interface very seriously. It's no secret that it was thanks to him that Windows 7 gained wildly popularity among users around the world. But many users, to put it mildly, are bored of the same type of installed pictures, and they ask themselves questions about how to change the startup screen saver in Windows 7 to another image. True, here it is necessary to clearly distinguish between what exactly is meant by the start-up image: the image on the “Desktop” or the start-up screen when the system boots. We will deal with both the one and the other.
How to change the screensaver "Desktop" Windows 7
With the "Desktop", in fact, not a single user should have problems. The main settings are carried out through the PCM menu with a choice of personalization, where there are several predefined templates in the form of themes.
If necessary, the very picture of the “Desktop” can be changed quite simply by selecting your own image by pressing the browse button. If you do not have enough of your own images, you can download entire sets of screensavers on the Internet, broken down even by topic. But this is the simplest thing that can be done through access to the standard settings.
Preliminary steps to change a greeting using the system
Another thing is changing the image that is present on the screen at the moment when the system is in the boot stage. It is impossible to change something through access to settings, options and parameters using standard methods. Actually, this is simply not provided for in the system. However, some inaccessible parameters can be changed by editing the registry keys (at least, this is one of the loopholes that the creators of the system left for users).
At the initial stage, the question of how to change the startup screen saver in Windows 7 is solved by this method. The system needs to be given permission to use its own images.
To do this, in the editor (regedit) in the HKLM section, through the SOFTWARE subfolder, you need to go down the directory tree and find the Background section nested in the LogonUI directory. If there is an OEMBackgroud key on the right, you need to assign it a unit value instead of zero. If there is no such record, you will have to create it yourself in the form of a 32-bit DWORD parameter, assign the appropriate name and value, and then reboot the system.
How to change the start screen saver in Windows 7: actions with files and directories
Now comes the most crucial moment, to which special attention should be paid. After the restart, the Windows 7 splash screen is still standard, but permission to change it has already been set.
Go to the System 32 directory and find the oobe directory in it. In it we create a new folder (through RMB) and assign the name info, and then in the same way in the new folder create the backgrounds directory. Now select the graphic file that will be used as the welcome screen, rename it to backgroundDefault, and then copy it to the created destination directory. Next, we just overload the system and look at the result.
Note: please note that the maximum allowed image file size cannot exceed 256 Kb, and the preferred screensavers to use when loading Windows 7 cannot be placed in the same folder. In other words, only one file can be in a directory, and nothing more. If you try to use the addition of additional characters in the file names, this will not work.
Third Party Utilities
To make your job easier, you can use third-party software developments like Logon Background Changer and Tweak Logon. Their disadvantages consist only in the fact that the first utility only accepts JPEG files as the current image, but both programs are installed in the system’s startup section and constantly work in the background (their icons will be hidden in the system tray panel).
Of course, resource consumption is not so significant, however, on older computer systems, it can manifest itself to a rather high degree.
You could still recommend programs like WindowBlinds, however, the latest versions are so resource-intensive that they are not recommended for use even on modern systems with large amounts of RAM and powerful processor chips.
Instead of a total
However, as it was already possible to notice, the question of how to change the startup screen saver in Windows 7 is solved quite simply. The most basic thing is to activate the corresponding parameter in the system registry, create the necessary directory and place the file with the specified name there. In principle, this technique is best suited if you do not want to use third-party applications. But ordinary users are unlikely to want to do such things, so they can be advised by two utilities that were mentioned above. With them, special difficulties should not arise. Despite even the English-language interface, dealing with them will not be difficult. You just need to select an image and apply it to the start screen (and this is done by pressing a few buttons).