Windows lock screen locked on blue screen, won't change picture

Swan Starling 10 Reputation points
2026-09-02T17:19:34.2166667+00:00

I have tried everything I know to fix the lock screen picture not changing. I regret ever clicking on "yes" I like this photo. But now, it won't go away. It just shows a blue screen. In the upper left corner, it gives a description of somekind of bridge, "one good bridge deserves another," and in the upper right, it asks, "Do you like what you see?" and there is no yes or no option any more.

I have tried sfc /scanow, and no change, no corrupted files. I have all drivers and devices loaded on Windows 10. The group policy has not been changed regarding the lock screen. On "personalize," for the lock screen I selected "Windows Spotlight" but it puts itself back to "picture" every time. I have done the package restore, with the string, 

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows /LimitAccess

....and it does no good. I looked in the folder at,

%localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets

and there is nothing there. Nothing.

Yesterday, I reloaded Windows 10 from scratch, and after 90 minutes, no change. Even slower loading Windows than before. No change. The blue screen appears at startup with the same two upper corner text, but no picture showing asking me if I like the bridge picture. I cannot get a new picture like a did before. This is important to me, and Windows is simply ignoring my commands and attempts to fix this.

I am about to do what I have to do every six months with Windows 10 and that is migrate all my personal files off and wipe the hard drive and start from scratch. Again. I should not have to do this. I have updates off. Whenever I do a "fresh start" I disconnect the internet to prevent updates from loading, because the 2H22 updates just screw things up and make my system slower, installing bells and whistles I don't need. I can't upgrade to Windows 11, it says, and I don't want to.

I just want my lock screen to work as it is supposed to and give me the option to say "no," I don't like the picture. And if I ever get it to work again, I will never click on "yes" again because it won't make the picture go away. I want a variety of pictures, it is very important to me. If I invoke a system restore point, the problem is still there. So before I wipe the hard drive, again, any suggestions that I have not tried.

Windows 10 Pro, version 10.0.19045 build 19045 Dell Optiplex 380 with 4GB RAM.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in
0 comments No comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Emma1-N 12,205 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-03T02:35:58.32+00:00

    Welcome Swan Starling,

    Thank you for the detailed information. Since the Assets folder is empty and Windows Spotlight keeps reverting to "Picture", let's check whether the Content Delivery Manager package is functioning correctly. 

    • Open Windows PowerShell (Admin). 
    • Run this command: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager 
    • Verify that a package is listed. If nothing is returned, please let us know. 
    • Then run: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Reset-AppxPackage 
    • Restart the PC and try selecting Windows Spotlight again in Settings > Personalization > Lock screen 

    After the restart, please let me know: 

    • Does Windows Spotlight still revert to Picture? 
    • Is the Assets folder still empty? 
    • Do you receive any error message when selecting Windows Spotlight? 

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes". If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

    Was this answer helpful?


Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.