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
    2021-10-07T17:35:38+00:00

    Method 1 did not work. For Lock Screen\Background, when I select Windows Spotlight, it reverts back to Picture.

    Method 2 failed. Under Powershell, I got this message:

    Get-AppxPackage : Access is denied.

    Access is denied.

    At line:1 char:1

    • Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ContentDeliveryManager* | foreach {Add-App ...
    • 
          + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-AppxPackage], UnauthorizedAccessException 
      
          + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.UnauthorizedAccessException,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.GetApp 
      
         xPackageCommand
      

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-09-07T10:50:40+00:00

    I followed the instructions without a problem but none of the steps worked.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-08-09T09:56:39+00:00

    Thanx, the first one it worked.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-08-02T22:20:21+00:00

    Omar, I fully understand you-unless you perhaps may have a different issue than I. I can only site from my experience I am definitely not an IT pro at all.

    From what I have noticed, every day or two, Microsoft servers appear to update the Spotlight images that reside in that asset folder. Many times I noticed the date of the images not changing meaning delays in the spotlight processing. I also noticed-to your point that once I refresh that asset folder, small files/images show in the folder that are less than 400kb which usually are not the spotlight images. However, these from what I understand are normal updates included in the asset folder which show up each time you refresh it based on any issues At least this is what happens to me. If I never update/refresh the Windows Spotlight assets process and leave it alone, I will see 5-8 new spotlight files in the folder every day or even within a week based on delays and at some point the main PC image in spotlight changes. My point is this issues of delayed images happens on all my machines at some point including my laptop with Windows 11. I now just leave it alone and at some point, the spotlight photo changes. My guess is the spotlight app and/or process is really sensitive to routers, updates, graphics etc etc. I learned this from my Work PC a few years ago. We do not have permission to change anything and can firmly say there were instances of Windows Spotlight delayed for weeks on that machine than out of nowhere, works....not sure why.

    Again, I am not speaking as a pro but just my experience. I hope all works out for you.

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