22

Windows spotlight will display one of a set of images provided my MS at random. I appreciate the variety, but not MS's taste in landscapes. I want to be able to choose my own set of images, while retaining the automatic random selection feature.

It is possible to display a single image by selecting "Picture" from the "Background" drop-down under Personalisation->Lock screen. However, only a single, static image can be selected at a time. Switching back to "Windows spotlight" removes the right to choose which images are displayed.

Is there any way of using the random selection feature without having to use MS's images?

user234461
  • 336
  • 2
  • 12
  • This sounds as if you're not seeing the Slideshow option. That's been there since Windows 8.1. Maybe the setting is disabled in the registry for some weird reason? – JollyJoker May 14 '19 at 12:28
  • 1
    @JollyJoker I saw the Slideshow option, but I assumed that it the lock screen would update the image every ten seconds or something, as opposed to updating only every day or so or when the system boots or whatever. Besides, unfortunately the `choose options` selection which appears when I select Slideshow is present but greyed out. I guess I should raise another question. – user234461 May 14 '19 at 15:41

3 Answers3

16

Put some images into a folder such as 'Lock Screen', set the Background to Slideshow then choose the album for your slide show pointing at the 'Lock Screen' folder.

enter image description here

Version 10.0.17134 Build 17134

spikey_richie
  • 8,367
  • 2
  • 25
  • 42
  • 1
    Can you confirm this will choose an image at random from the folder, and not display them in any particular order? – trlkly May 15 '19 at 03:32
  • 1
    This did not consistently rotate images for me, it always starts up with the default lockscreen image – David Fraser Jan 14 '21 at 10:31
  • I'm trying [this answer](https://superuser.com/a/1452953/17025) - lots more work though – David Fraser Jan 14 '21 at 10:31
  • (And the linked answer did work successfully) – David Fraser Jan 14 '21 at 10:38
  • 1
    @DavidFraser the answer was from 18 months ago. Things change, so the fix may not be valid in the latest release candidate. – spikey_richie Jan 14 '21 at 13:03
  • This answer is not working for me either. It still shows some Windows default image, not my folder of images, AND it also means your monitor will not go to sleep for at least 30mins, which is not ideal. – Simon E. Jul 01 '22 at 04:25
0

This is not the technical answer since i struggled with this issue. But once you go to Settings, then Lock Screen, select Slide Show on the drop down menu. It's going to pick images from all the images you have under the "Choose albums for your slideshow" so "Remove" any folder you don't want. Only leave the folder you want your slide show of.

Eddie Lopez
  • 1
  • 1
0

Unfortunately Windows doesn't provide this basic functionality — the "slideshow" option does not work exactly the same the "Spotlight" random image.

But as I discovered from this answer in another thread, there is a free Windows app that does this for you.

See Dynamic Theme on the Microsoft Store
Requires Windows 10 version 16299.0 or higher

Windows 10 lock screen image changing/slideshow app

I'm not the developer, just a user that found this helpful.

Simon E.
  • 3,841
  • 5
  • 29
  • 31
  • Please do not post the same answer to multiple questions. If the same information really answers both questions, then one question (usually the newer one) should be closed as a duplicate of the other. You can indicate this by [voting to close it as a duplicate](https://superuser.com/help/privileges/close-questions) or, if you don't have enough reputation for that, [raise a flag](https://superuser.com/help/privileges/flag-posts) to indicate that it's a duplicate. Otherwise tailor your answer to this question and don't just paste the same answer in multiple places. – DavidPostill Jul 01 '22 at 05:56
  • Thanks @DavidPostill - if a question is closed as a duplicate, are the answers then merged into one page? If so, then that sounds helpful. But if not, and one thread is merely closed/locked so that no new comments/answers can be added, then the content on that becomes stale, out of date, and unhelpful, which is why I typically don't vote to close such questions. How do I go about suggesting a merge? – Simon E. Jul 01 '22 at 06:50
  • Questions cannot be merged until the close as duplicate has been done. – DavidPostill Jul 01 '22 at 07:41