Windows Spotlight lock screen picture won't change

Anonymous
2018-02-09T16:26:33+00:00

Hello,

I have an HP laptop running Windows 10, and usually when my laptop is locked, the picture changes every now and then on my lock screen and I really enjoyed that. But recently for the past month or two, it's been stuck on the same picture and it stopped changing to new pictures. I checked my settings and I still have "Windows Spotlight" set as my lock screen but still nothing happens. It just stopped working and changing pictures for some reason.

If anyone can help, please do!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in

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Anonymous
2018-05-22T00:04:55+00:00

Just follow these steps of Windows Central:

How to fix Windows Spotlight Lock screen errors Is Windows Spotlight broken or stuck on the same image? If so, this guide details the steps to fix the issue.

Windows Spotlight is a feature included with Windows 10 that uses Bing to automatically download and set new background images on the Lock screen, to keep your experience fresh every time you sign in.

The only caveat with Windows Spotlight is that sometimes it will stop working, or you'll notice that it gets stuck on the same image. Unfortunately, Windows 10 doesn't include an option to reset this feature. However, it's possible to fix the Windows Spotlight settings with this simple workaround.

In this Windows 10 guide, we show you the steps to fix Windows Spotlight on your computer and keep getting fresh images from Bing on your Lock screen.

How to reset Windows Spotlight

If the Windows Spotlight feature is stuck on the same image, or it's not working at all, you can use the following steps to fix the issue:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Click on Personalization.
  3. Click on Lock screen.
  4. Under "Background," make sure Windows Spotlight is NOT selected and change the option to Picture or Slideshow.
  5. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
  6. Type the following path and click OK. %USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets
  7. Select all the files (Ctrl + A) and hit the Delete key to clear all old images (if applicable).
  8. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command again.
  9. Type the following path to where the Windows Spotlight settings are stored and click OK. %USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings
  10. Right-click settings.dat and roaming.lock individually, then click Rename and name them settings.dat.bak and roaming.lock.bak.
  11. Restart your computer.
  12. Open Settings.
  13. Click on Personalization.
  14. Click on Lock screen.
  15. Under "Background," make sure to enable Windows Spotlight.

Once you complete these steps, you can lock your PC (Windows key + L), and the Lock screen should show new Bing images.

If everything worked as expected, remember to go back to the Settings folders where Windows Spotlight stores the settings and delete the settings.dat.bak and roaming.lock.bak files.

Alternative method to fix Windows Spotlight

If the steps mentioned above didn't fix Windows Spotlight, you can try to reset the settings using the following steps:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Click on Personalization.
  3. Click on Lock screen.
  4. Under "Background," make sure to enable Windows Spotlight. (If you don't enable the feature, you're likely to get an error while running the PowerShell command.)
  5. Open Start.
  6. Search for Windows PowerShell, right-click the result, and select Run as administrator.
  7. Enter the following command and press Enter to reset the Windows Spotlight: Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ContentDeliveryManager* | foreach {Add-AppxPackage "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -register }
  8. Restart your computer.

After completing these steps, you should be able to lock your PC (Windows key + L), and the Lock screen should show new Bing images.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-windows-spotlight-stuck-same-image-windows-10?passport=1526946645

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-18T13:53:00+00:00

    Mine started working again after this last update. Go figure.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-18T13:59:34+00:00

    Mad! and Maddening!

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-18T21:26:08+00:00

    Understand your just using Cloudflares encrypted DNS, or DNS over TLS, DNS over HTTPS using an old vpn protocol named Wireguard for their service. It's like basic vpn to closest cloudflare DNS that act as your gateway.

    There is no "magic" in this that will fix this Spotlight on lock screen! And if it even helps a bit it's something els that is broken or even unsafe between your potato or the network used to your public DNS and then to MS Spotlight servers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-18T22:00:27+00:00

    I agree to 100% but there is another thing I never seen in this thread. The talk about what Windows versions people have, not talking builds instead Home, Professional, Business, Enterprise... School/Education is the same I think. Win10 has been around some time now.

    There are links in the thread to pages that even suggest even GPO editing that will only have effect on Enterprise or maybe Pro installations without saying that. Even some PowerShell seen is useless on Home versions and if a Home version user tries that and gets an error they will reply not working. But It may have worked on a Pro or Enterprise installation.

    Excluding lab servers and VM's at home I have 4 identical, physical base installations of Win10 Professional running same 20H2 now. 3 of them also have that Dynamic Theme app I'm started to use again but only after my main potato started to give this error. The one I try to never do any experiment on... Of course it's that one standing there when the **** hit the fan!

    Then add that my son that got another 3 installations of Pro and my partner 1 that I've made same base image installations and running 20H2 also but no one have this error.

    I've even had enough tinkering around after that latest cumulative rollup on 20H2 that even made that lake with red backpack disappear in the preview of lock screen. But still showing up when I try to run with Windows lock screen. 0o

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