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
    2021-07-23T16:48:09+00:00

    Windows Spotlight on Lock is broken again after the last Win update. I kept getting the same picture day after day, so I followed ALL the steps above. Now I just get a blank blue screen, no picture at all.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-23T17:08:10+00:00

    I am no pro but have played with this issue to include every fix possible and its inconsistent. Spotlight will act normally and at times be delayed etc, etc. Spotlight is sensitive and what I have found is the pictures themselves from the MS server sometimes do not even download daily Not sure if this may be due locally based or a delay from Microsoft. You can always see the dates of the photos (ContentDeliveryManager folder-the assets). I even have the beta Windows 11, and there was a period last week where the photos did not change in spotlight. So, in this case, just about everybody is right on how to fix it. You can sign off than back on or clear the assets and reload or even to a full system error check and fix. These all work however, from what I have experienced, this delay of the Spotlight non-photo change will come and go. I love the spotlight but it does need new code to reinforce it better. Again, I am not a pro... good luck all~

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-08-01T23:18:19+00:00

    I have the same problem , I tried every solution in this question and it didn't work , but I noticed something in my Assets folder , which is the size of the files inside assets folder is way smaller than the files from another computer

    this is mine

    Imageand this from other pc

    Image

    and this is the pictures in the folder

    I copied the files into other folder and add ".jpg" as extension

    Image

    I think this is the source of the problem ,

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-08-02T15:29:44+00:00

    Actually, its normal and not normal. If you right click the file here and choose a photo app, you can actually see the photos (I actually do this to create cool wallpapers using spotlight images). The small file sizes are other MS apps/games image. These always download/update when you refresh the assets and these images are part of the assets process. Hoover, many times it will download only these images with major delays in the actual spotlight photos. You can actually delete all the small images/files.

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