Change login screen background

Mon, 29 October 2007

There is a simple way of changing the login screen in OS X (10.5 only), just replace the DefaultDesktop.jpg in /System/Library/CoreServices Thanks to FHKE for the tip.

timemachine.jpg

I just changed mine to the one used as Time Machine background and it looks awesome. You can download the Time Machine background image here.

Stumble it!

Related posts

Web hosting - UNLIMITED space and transfer - $ 6.95 per month

Category Posted in Tips

17 Responses to “Change login screen background”

  1. Q said: Wed, 31 October 2007 at 18:01

    As a Mac system administrator I may say it once again:

    It is not cool to change any files in the /System folder. These files belong to the system and should NEVER be changed!!!

    If you want to change the background of the login screen then the proper way to do so is by changing the appropriate preference.

    Open the terminal and enter the following command:
    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture “/Library/Desktop Pictures/Aqua Blue.jpg”

    where “/Library/Desktop Pictures/Aqua Blue.jpg” is the path to the picture you want to use.

  2. Louis said: Sat, 10 November 2007 at 05:17

    It may not be so good for the computer, but we always can restore the original picture with Time Machine. :D

  3. sarah said: Tue, 13 November 2007 at 05:32

    Q, I did what you suggested, but it only changes the desktop background inside your aacount, not in for the login screen. So, I also changed the System file…sorry, but it works just fine.

  4. HELP!!! said: Thu, 15 November 2007 at 07:55

    Where’s the system file? tell me the steps to find, if it’s not to much ttrouble. my email is the.white.fangs.legacy@gmail.com

  5. Alex said: Tue, 27 November 2007 at 17:11

    I did it through terminal just to be safe and it worked just fine

  6. gagew said: Fri, 30 November 2007 at 19:19

    how do you get into the system folder?

  7. fela said: Sun, 2 December 2007 at 09:22

    gagew - the complete path to the system file is: /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg When you try to replace that file with the picture you want, unless your logged in as root, it will ask you for a password. Type your administrator’s username and password here, and then click the blue flashing button that has ‘OK’ written ontop of it. Don’t panic! The system folder is inside the main startup hard disk drive, normally called ‘Macintosh HD’. Do you need a screenshot? I mean - how hard can things be?

  8. maxintech said: Wed, 19 December 2007 at 09:01

    I agree with Q. The user never ever change any system folders and system files.
    Using the preference file via terminal o via GUI es the safer option.

  9. maxintech said: Wed, 19 December 2007 at 09:04

    I change my image with Q advice and works perfect.
    Sarah, may you change ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow (your user preferences) instead of /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.

  10. R said: Thu, 10 January 2008 at 10:57

    I open the terminal and copy and Paste the following into the prompt area:

    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture “/Library/Desktop Pictures/Time Machine Background.jpg”

    this is with the correct file name that is located in the .jpeg file in the correct folder, which is /Library/Desktop Pictures

    I get the following error message; within the command response;

    Macintosh:~ Richard$ /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture “/Library/Desktop Pictures/Time Machine Background.jpg”
    -bash: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow: No such file or directory
    Macintosh:~ Richard$

    What have I done incorrectly?

    Regards

    Richard

  11. xGarfield said: Sat, 12 January 2008 at 07:43

    R - Do you have the picture saved in a folder called desktop pictures in your library folder?

    The reason it no-souped you is because you may not have that folder, i.e bad directory, thats why it says no such file or directory. Every “/” means a folder, thats your path. Go back in your path and make sure it exist.

  12. eggymac said: Thu, 17 January 2008 at 02:30

    :)

  13. Bill Johnson said: Sat, 19 January 2008 at 01:58

    Please help me.

    I went into the CoreServices folder and replaced the default Leopard image with the Time Machine one. I restarted my Mac, and the background behind the login window was blue. So I went back into the CoreServices folder and replaced the Time Machine image with the default Leopard one, restarted, and the background was still blue.

    I went into Terminal and input the command posted by Q. First I tried it with the Time Machine image. Background still blue. I did the command again but with the default image, and the background is still blue.

    Please help, I don’t care what the background image is, just not blue. Thanks.

  14. Bill Johnson said: Sat, 19 January 2008 at 09:41

    I solved my own problem.

    I ended up changing the System file, then repairing the Disk Permissions, then using LoginWindow Manager to locate the Default Desktop file and use it as the background.

  15. Meagan said: Sun, 20 January 2008 at 12:50

    I tried this and it didn’t work, now my screen is blue and I can’t even find my Desktop Pictures folder, it’s like it vanished.

    Can anyone help me and tell me where I can find my DP folder again?

  16. .jSBer said: Sat, 26 January 2008 at 13:39

    I was already messing around for a while before reading this blog. I tried both with terminal, LoginWindow Manager and messing with the system files ( t t t ). The only successful method seemed to be the messing one, which i didn’t like so much. Now I messed around for a longer while and noticed some rules. I recommend you to do as followed and don’t mess with the data!!

    1• create a folder where you will be storing the login background anywhere you like EXCEPT
    in any of the fancy iconed folder in your “home” folder (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, Sites) otherwise it’ll never work (dunno why). I just prefer a folder right under ” / ”
    2• place the image you want as background in the folder you made and keep both names simple
    3• then copy past the following in terminal (just don’t hit enter yet!!!):

    [sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture "]

    (without [ ] and WITH ” )

    4• now, the tricky thing, drag and drop de image from the folder we made right in to the terminal. (now the path should come after what we pasted)
    5• finish the command with an other ”
    6• finally hit enter
    7• now you can check if your image is set as background by logging out and looking.
    If not, try an other location for you folder.

    Once this is done, you can carelessly change your login background in whatever you want by simply overwriting the image in that folder we made with the image you like.

    I wish thee good luck

    -.jSBer-

  17. .jSBer said: Sat, 26 January 2008 at 14:02

    @ Meagan
    Try to set a default DESKTOP image (sys pref, desctop, and chose one of the apple images). Can you still use them or are the folders underneath “apple” empty? If not, than your DP folder should be still there. Try to reboot? (I guess you already did at this time) If the folders àre empty, you hav done something seriously wrong back than. You can kindly ask someone to share his DP folder.

    To solve the nicely blue screen, you use the methode frome above, or if you just want to go back to default, hop on at number 3• and in number 4•, use the default bg image, drag it from his defauld location and drop it in the terminel. Follow the next steps.

    -.jSBer-

Leave a Reply