How to Change Desktop Background in Windows

If you’re tired of looking at the same image as your desktop background, you can change it to something that suits your aesthetics.

By default, Windows and Mac systems provide you with a gallery of images to choose from. Other than the pre-installed backgrounds, your PC also allows you to change the background of your choice. You can select a photograph of your family or any picture you downloaded from the internet as your background.

Follow this article to learn how to change your desktop backgrounds.

How to Change Desktop Background on Windows?

Before you change your desktop background, you may want to pick a high-quality image. You should pick an image that has a high resolution. Preferably the one that matches your monitor resolution or higher. A low-resolution image on your background may look pixelated and blur out.

Using Personalization Settings

Windows allows you to change your desktop’s background wallpaper to any image you like from the personalization settings. This section of Windows has all the features necessary to change your desktop’s visual settings. Here are the steps on how to do it:

1. Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize.
2. Make sure you’re on the Background tab by pressing on Background from the left panel.
3. Click on the dropdown menu under Background to select the type of background you want.
   

Here’re the detailed list of the options that you get on the dropdown list.

Set as Picture

This option lets you set a custom image as your background. 

1. Click on Browse and navigate to the location of your preferred image.
   
2. Select the image and press Choose picture.
3. Click on the drop-down menu under Choose a fit to select how you want the image to fit on your desktop. Since the changes are instantly applied, you can select each and choose the one that best fits your liking.

Set as Solid Color

This option lets you set a specific color as your background. Just click on the color which you want to set as your background. You can also click on the + icon to select a different shade than the ones listed.

Set as Slideshow

Selecting this option lets you set multiple images as your background. It will cycle through the selected images periodically.

1. Create a new folder in your preferred location. 
2. Copy and paste all the images you want into that folder.
3. Open personalization settings.
4. Select Slideshow and click on Browse.
   
5. Navigate to the folder you saved the images on and press select folder.
6. Choose the image cycle interval under Change picture every and choose your preferred time. If you want, you can also enable image shuffling by turning on the Shuffle slider.
   

Using ‘Set as Desktop Background’ Option

If you right-click on any image on your PC, you may notice the Set as desktop background option. This option will directly set that image as your background.

However, this does not allow you to choose a fit. You will have to go to the personalize option to change it. This option can be helpful if you want to quickly set up a new wallpaper. These steps will guide you on how to do it:

1. Navigate to the image you want to set as your background.
2. Right-click on the image and select Set as desktop background.
   

Using Themes

Themes are generally a package that changes the whole appearance of your computer. It will change your background, including the color accent, which is the overall color of your system. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use the background that comes with the theme. Here’s how you do it:

1. Press Win + I to open settings. 
2. Go to Personalization > Themes.
   
3. Click on your preferred theme under Change theme. You can download more themes by clicking on Get more themes in Microsoft store.

How to Change Desktop Background on Mac?

The Mac OS has a feature to change the desktop background to whichever you want. You can pick an image provided by Apple or anyone available on your system. Like Windows, it also lets you choose between still images, slideshows, or a solid color. These steps will guide you on how to do it:

1. Open the Apple menu and go to System Preferences.
2. Click on Desktop & Screen Saver.
   
3. Select the Desktop Tab.
4. From the drop-down menu, select the kind of wallpaper you want. This setting will let you choose between dark-themed or light-themed background of the same image. However, choosing Automatic will select the wallpaper depending on your desktop settings.
   
5. Select your preferred background from the left panel. Click on the drop-down arrow to expand the background category.
   • Apple: Set Apple provided background. Select Desktop Picture to choose a dynamic desktop or Colors to choose a solid color as your background.
   • Photos: Set an image from Photos as your background.
   • Folders: Set an image from a specific folder as your background. You can click on the + icon and choose your preferred image to be able to use it as your background.
     
6. Click on the image you want as your background from the right panel.
   To make your background cycle through multiple photos, click on the Change picture tick box and choose the time interval from the drop-down menu next to it.