Changing the lock and login screen background on your MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac mini can personalize your device and make it truly yours. Whether you want a custom image or simply prefer a different look, this guide walks you through the steps to modify your Mac’s login and lock screen wallpaper, ensuring a fresh and unique experience.
Steps to Change macOS Lock Screen & Login Screen Wallpaper
Tips: How to Add Animated Memoji on Mac Login Screen
Watch the full video to learn how to change the lock screen and login screen background
Method 1:- For Lock Screen Wallpaper (For users who Not Using File Vault or Not Have Multiple Users)
In macOS Sonoma, The New Slow Motion wallpaper feature in macOS now supports wallpaper for your Mac lock screen.
Apple menu > System Settings > Wallpaper > Select Wallpaper.
See the lock screen (Control + Command + Q). By using this option, we can change the Desktop Wallpaper and Lock Screen Wallpaper at the same time.
In macOS Ventura & Sonoma,
First of all, Ensure that your Mac FileVault setting is disabled.
- Go to the Apple Logo
- Select System Settings…
- Now, on the screen, choose Privacy & Security tab in the left sidebar
- On the right side of the pane, click on turn-off button next to the FileVault setting.
The second thing is, See Your active User account on your Mac computer
- Go to the Apple Logo
- Click System Settings…
- Hit on Users & Groups, check here, which user account is activated right now. For example, in my case, iTechsoft Team account is activated while the Guest User is off. On your Mac computer, it will be different.
The third thing is, Please Enable a List of users from System Settings on Mac.
- Go to the Apple logo
- Click on System Settings… in the list.
- Select Lock Screen in the left side panel.
- Login window shows, and Select List of users.
Now, Set your External Picture Set Desktop Picture On Mac (Download Wallpaper from the internet or Find it in your Mac folder, Right click on > Set Desktop Picture).
OR
Go to Apple Logo > System Settings > Wallpaper > Scroll to the last Add Folder > Choose Pictures or Folder to set on Desktop dynamically as well Mac lock screen.
To set the Auto-Rotate/Change Lock screen Picture automatically, Change Desktop Wallpaper Auto-Rotate.
Useful – Mac lock screen Shortcut
How to Check New Lock Screen Picture?
Go to Apple Logo > Lock screen. See the new Mac login screen background quickly. That’s it.
The second Screen below shows a lock screen window of my Mac.
If the above method is not working, then try the following alternate method to Set any picture as a Backgroud.
Method 2:- For Login Screen Wallpaper (Multiple User Accounts)
Pre-Requisite:
- We can change the startup screen wallpaper or login wallpaper only from the Admin Account for admin or Other accounts on the same Mac.
- One HD Picture in png format: That you Want to Set on the Login Background
- FileVault is deactivated on your Mac
Let’s follow the Steps,
- Log in to your “Admin account” on Mac. > Open Finder on Mac appears in the dock.
- On the top Menu, click on Go > Choose Go to Finder.
- Enter the Folder path (/Library/Caches/Desktop Pictures) and hit the return to see the Wallpaper folder with the UDID name.
- First, To Backup up the Existing folder, Duplicate the folder (Right click on folder > Duplicate). Verify with the Touch ID and Password to do it.
- Now, Open the Folder and see the file name lockscreen.png. Replace your Picture with the same file name and format (.png). If your downloaded picture is in jpeg format, open it to preview app and export it as a New File name in lockscreen.png file format.
- Now, Copy your Wallpaper (lockscreen.png) and paste it into the same folder that you copied, and replace it with the existing picture. That’s it.
- Give folder permission to Read & Write for all users. Select a folder (Command + i) to view the folder details. And change the Default permission to “Read & Write“. That’s it.
From the top menu, shut down your Mac (Apple logo > Shut Down…) and power it on again to view the new wallpaper on the lock screen.
Troubleshooting:- Customize Startup Screen Mac
- Restart is Required: The applied changes cannot be seen directly from the lock screen option under the top Apple logo. Go to the Apple Logo from the top Mac Menu > Restart.
- Change Login Background wallpaper is not applying for other users or multiple accounts [We can apply using the above steps].
For other logins on the same Mac, log in to your account for a particular account and follow the same steps.
I hope you get the complete solution for changing the Mac Login screen background for single and multiple user accounts. Then Change the Profile picture of the account on Mac that appears next to the Account name. For more help, comment with me.
