Can't change lock screen on windows 8.1

Hi,

Perform Reset and see if it helps.

a: Press Windows logo + W  to open the search box.

b: Click Settings and then type Remove Everything and reinstall windows, hit enter.

c: Click Next

Note: Take a backup of all your data to an external disk, as the reset may result in data loss.

If you need any further assistance with Windows Operating System, please post your query on Microsoft Community Forums and we’ll be glad to assist you with it.

Doesn't work with my system.  I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 to Windows 8, to Windows 8.1.  Both Refresh and Reset options fail with errors about not finding files that are needed, even when the DVD is in the drive.  I could just erase my computer using the installation DVD but it fails unless a previous version of Windows is installed, so am back to square one and aggravation again, for nothing.  Worst of all, all my software is packed away during a major remodel so actually erasing my system is a bit out of the question, anyway.  I have work to do besides and cannot lose any of the software I need to do that.

Microsoft just needs to get to the bottom of this problem and fix it.  Taking away the system's rights and permissions to be able to read and set the lock screen and giving permissions only to TrustedInstaller is a bit on the ridiculous side, if you ask me.  But, a permissions problem is at the root of this problem.

Sadly this didn't work for me, and I tried multiple times. I wanted to avoid completely resetting my Surface, having to backup and restore all my data, and having to go through a whole bunch of Windows updates again.

In the end the solution was to create a brand new user account, transfer over my user files, delete my old user and then set up the new user exactly how my original was. A real pain in the backside for such a simple bug. I'd literally hunted across the web for hours trying out different solutions, none of which worked.

After creating my new user I was able to edit the lockscreen in PC Settings but had a blank blue image on the lockscreen itself - taking control of the SystemData folder and renaming it so it was recreated sorted that. I'm now able to change my lockscreen image again...

What did you need to restore SYSTEM access to?

Hmmm.  I thought I replied to this but I appear to have been wrong.  Either that or it must have been somewhere else.  Anyway, it was everything in the following folder:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Systemdata

Once I added the SYSTEM user I was able to set the lock screen picture again.  Unfortunately, deleting a couple folders out of that folder in order to try another approach before this one also made it no longer function correctly.  It no longer will show the last five selections and any picture that had been set prior to the updates now cannot be selected again without renaming them.  Running sfc /scannow shows no problems or integrity violations.

I've tried restoring SYSTEM access to this folder, given myself access, given administrators access. I've tried renaming this folder to rebuild it. I've tried the various registry fixes people say. I've tried refreshing my device. None of this works, lock screen select screen is still blank and has the spinning circle when you try change it like you posted an image of.

I'm running 8.1 Update 1 on a Surface 2. This is really starting to bug me now, something so simple seems like an impossible thing to fix and I'm a huge techie. I can't imagine what the average user would be like trying to solve this.

I have noticed this folder is read only, and attempting to change that just produces an error.

CTyldsley

I did all available solutions to no avail. still unable to change lock screen.

but I guess the problem is with a live account linked in. coz changing the lock screen for an administrator account works great.

hope someone will finally find a solution for this.

Hi,

I apologize for the inconvenience.

If you need any further assistance with Windows Operating System, please post your query on Microsoft Community Forums and we’ll be glad to assist you with it.

I didn't think the system reset would work: this is weird private data that would be covered oddly by any resets.  I saw somebody else manually delete those Lock Screen folders and got it to reset upon the recreation... that might be a better path to solution.

I'd like to get to the bottom of this and fix it.  I would need physical access to a machine in this state and want to put it under a kernel debugger and go from there.  Besides that, actual support (I'm a developer, not part of support) would need to do about that equivalent.  It's probably not an easy thing to diagnose abstractly, as has been noticed.  People still hitting this that need answers probably need to turn to actual product support.  I don't know if actual deep product support is available on this forum.

The permissions on that directory are very serious and not generally meant to be ever be tampered with by a user because it's in a more secure zone (the lock screen).  This is by design. Those locked down permissions were apparently corrupted in some fashion on your system.  Having the system be more resilient to that corruption would be excellent, but since I for one don't have a full understanding of your system state it would be hard to know how to recover from that if applicable.  Either bashing it yourself or getting it into the hands of actual support are probably the best way to move forward here. :\