Windows desktop filename

eric kline 20 Reputation points
2026-09-04T19:08:30.58+00:00

How to find the filename of a photo appearing in the Windows desktop slideshow?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Desktop, Start, and personalization | Desktop
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Answer accepted by question author
John Jefferson Doyon 86,980 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-09-04T19:45:20.18+00:00

Hi, @eric kline

Windows 10 does not show the filename of the current slideshow image directly, but you can usually retrieve it with PowerShell.

  1. Right-click Start and open Windows PowerShell.
  2. Paste this command and press Enter:

$TIC=(Get-ItemProperty 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop' TranscodedImageCache -ErrorAction Stop).TranscodedImageCache; [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString($TIC) -replace '(.+)([A-Z]:[0-9a-zA-Z\\])+','$2'

It should display the full path and filename of the current desktop image.


If it does not show the correct file, to help narrow this down:

  1. Is Settings > Personalization > Background currently set to Slideshow?
  2. Are the slideshow photos stored in a local folder, OneDrive, or another location?
  3. Are you using one monitor or multiple monitors?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

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