Windows 10 1903 Upgrade kept my old 1809 Background Lock Screen image

You have tricky issue, can be solved, but be careful. That image is in 2 places. The one you see is only a hardlink to the one in WinSxS. 2 pics here to illustrate. The path is too long to post in one pic. The image actually has to be replaced in WinSxS. You need to use explorer to get all the down the path to replace the object, and may have to take ownership to do it.

win10freak said:

So what image file needs to be added under WinSxS?

A bit confusing, please post step by step,

You need to replace the jpg in winsxs with the one you want.

You need to navigate to:

C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-s..l-wallpaper-windows_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.18362.1_none_ad6f96302daa2dbf


On that folder, you will see all the images for lock screen.



You need to delete and replace the first one, img0, if that is your resolution.

If you still have access to the 1809 build, it may be easier to grab all those images at once and replace all at once.

If you ever run SFC/SCANNOW they will probably revert back, so be aware.

win10freak said:

When right clicking on the img file I don’t have the link properties tab

You're right clicking on the jpg you replaced, not the original file entry.

Since you have deleted the original hardlink to the WinSxS physical file, you may not be able to do this.

win10freak said:

The img0 file is there under winsxs. And opens with the 1903 wallpaper.

In the winsxs path, I get the same light background theme as the one I opened in Windows \Web\Wallpaper\Windows\img0

Just don’t understand why doesn’t the Lock Screen picture won’t recognize it if the img0 is the light 1903 theme under both mentioned directories.


If it’s not possible to do this, then it’s no big deal.

Have you rebooted at all during any of this? May need to, or at least sign-off and back on. The image it actually displays is one that is resolved from the img you choose, and stored in another system directory I can't recall the name of, something like Trans-something.

What's really odd is I don't have any of what you have on 1903. I can pick any image I have and make it the Lock Screen pic just by using the Settings>Personalization.