how to change theme from windows spotlight to picture

Question

why i can change the theme on my personalization, it always set to windows spotlight, even i have been changed to picture, and it always windows spotlight every time i restart it

Answer 1

1

Open the Settings App.

Go to System - Activation.

Please provide a screenshot of that window.

2

In the meantime, open File Explorer.

Paste this into the Address bar and press Enter:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

In the resulting folder, delete the TranscodedWallpaper file and also the Cached Files folder

Restart (not shut down) tour PC to apply the change.

Then try setting your preferred background wallpaper.

Answer 2

To change your theme from Windows Spotlight to a picture and ensure it stays set, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings: Open the Settings app by pressing Win + I.
2. Personalization: Navigate to Personalization > Lock screen.
3. Change Background: Under the Lock screen settings, set the background to Picture instead of Slideshow or Windows Spotlight.
4. Disable Spotlight: Make sure to turn off the option that says Show the lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen.
5. Clear Spotlight Cache: You may also want to clear the Spotlight cache. Press Win + R, type %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Spotlight_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Assets, and delete all files in that folder. Restart your PC afterward.

If you find that your theme keeps reverting back to Windows Spotlight, it could be due to automatic theme switching settings or a bug. Ensure that no utilities are overriding your settings and that your Windows is up to date.

---

References:

• Configure Windows spotlight (windows-11)
• Color mode will not "stay" dark - Microsoft Q&A