Windows 10: Guidelines for creating lock screens / desktop backgrounds

Question

_{Wednesday, August 10, 2016 5:27 AM}

Hi --

Can someone point me to a source of information about creating proper lock screen and desktop background graphics for Windows 10? I need to create a uniform default lock screen graphic for all PCs on a domain, and they all have different monitors (different resolutions, but most importantly, different aspect ratios).

What I've found so far on the subject shows you how to change your lock screen, but makes no mention about how to create one.

Thanks
CL

All replies (6)

_{Friday, August 12, 2016 5:43 AM ✅Answered}

Hi，

I see, you would like to make your self designed graphic for lock screen use, right?

Sorry to say that I am not the designer, and have no advice on this question. But you can refer to the Official lock screen image's properties to see if it can be helpful.

These images are located in This PC > C: > Users > [Your User Name] > AppData > Local > Packages > Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h4txyewy > LocalState > Assets.

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_{Thursday, August 11, 2016 2:52 AM}

Hi，

We can use group policies as below to configure lock screen and wallpaper:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Desktop 

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_{Thursday, August 11, 2016 3:29 AM}

Thanks ... But that's not what I'm asking.

I'm looking for information on how to create the graphic. Information on size / resolution / aspect ratios. What is the recommended size / resolution? What happens when dealing with PCs with monitors with different aspect ratios? Do I need to keep multiple graphics on file, each for a specific monitor type? Or is one graphic enough? If one is enough, what size does it have do be, and how does it get cropped? What happens with PCs with multiple monitors?

Thanks
CL

_{Thursday, March 23, 2017 6:51 AM}

Hello The above is not the answer. What we are after is document we can give to a graphic designer that has recdommened image dimensions and graphic positions. ie. dont place text here, this is where the power button will be on the lock screen.

I hope this makes sence.

_{Monday, March 27, 2017 2:05 PM}

We did this for the logon screen in Windows 7 and even had a bunch of templates downloaded from the internet that helped us guide the process.  I can't find the site now but it was very helpful to know where to place certain elements and where to keep it plain enough to see text.

I can see this being incredibly difficult with Windows 10 because of the great differences in screen size, resolution, DPI, and orientation across a multitude of devices.  I would recommend using trial and error to get your custom lock screens 'just right'.

_{Monday, March 27, 2017 2:58 PM}

Hello The above is not the answer. What we are after is document we can give to a graphic designer that has recdommened image dimensions and graphic positions. ie. dont place text here, this is where the power button will be on the lock screen.

I hope this makes sence.

Having been down this road, the answer is largely going to be trial and error as the complications involved are significant (e.g. do you have any users who turn their monitor portrait?)

For us, we started out generating images centrally, mostly by hand. After some attempts at central automation, we've ended up generating the image at the device, as that way the image can be generated at the native resolution and aspect ratio, and it doesn't matter whether the user has a 1366x768 laptop screen or a 4K monster, or whether they use it landscape or portrait.

We then have a set of rules about where to position various things, based on where the login screen furniture ends up (e.g Win10 puts the clock in the lower left and the power buttons in the lower right - the top half of the screen is pretty much free for anything). We also have some rules about font sizes based on screen res, and two versions of the university crest image (large/small, again used based on screen res).

In our case we use a solid background colour over which images and text can be overlaid. If you want a proper background image with other stuff overlaid, that gets more complicated as your background image gets either stretched or cropped to fit the various aspect ratios you might see. A solid colour with other elements positioned and sized accordingly (preserving their aspect ratio) is a lot easier, but your graphic designers may have other views on that.