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
    2021-01-07T20:22:05+00:00

    When ever I do the fixes everything works for about a week but I notice that the lock screen always shifts back to picture  from windows spotlight. I have to manually change it to spotlight and then it works until finally freezing on the picture of the lake with the red knapsack

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-07T19:30:26+00:00

    Hi,

    You can chose exact what you want or not. Posting two screenshots for you as example there you can see it's almost like in Windows settings but under respective "screen" you find more choices from where you background will be fetched. Locally or Online and if you even want a saved copy of the Online ones you used and the Settings synchronized (have it on but not checked it out on a other Pc yet).

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-07T18:28:51+00:00

    Hi, Pettson.

    Can you tell me if I can avoid having the image on the background of the desktop if I use Dynamic Theme, and just use it for Lock Screen? Or is the background manditory? 

    I don't like having my desktop background as anything but the boring Microsoft image.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-07T18:13:04+00:00

    Nothing changed today and now I went backwards trough this thread and have redone several steps and a dosen of reboots - nothing changes.

    Even took my stone age old laptop and patched the last updates from MS. And then compared the registry with my desktop PC. Ended up taking high risk exporting, adjusting to the account and importing registry keys and settings - nothing.

    And did a rerun of some from the tips in thread again - nothing.

    What really amuses me is the fact at all the time that Dynamic Theme app just works great when I go back and test it?!

    Clean install is not an option, this one isn't a year yet I believe and reclaim some software licenses is not the funniest thing to do. @Home you just want thing to work. A in-place upgrade... I know what it "should do" but seen it in work @work, "not doing what's expected" especially in cases like this. What I also seen @work is that things not working as expected or vice-versa, suddenly works again, or opposite after the big half annual MS releases. And that's the reason we are almost a annual behind with upgrades. 

    I'll keep an eye on this thread if anything interesting pops up but until that if everything els works I continue with the Dynamic Theme app.

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