Windows 10 is easily the most aesthetically pleasing version of Windows to date. Nowhere is that statement more clearly displayed than in the operating system’s support for beautiful wallpapers, themes, and background images.
Most themes and wallpaper images are easy to find and repurpose for other uses (see our article on how to locate wallpaper images in Windows 10).
However, there is one source of images that is more difficult to track, known as Windows Spotlight images. These wallpaper images are a set of stunning photos curated by Bing that are automatically downloaded to your Windows 10 profile and appear on your screen when your profile is locked.
Here’s where to find Windows Spotlight lock screen images in Windows 10.
How to enable Windows Spotlight
To search and get those beautiful wallpaper images from Bing, you must have Windows Spotlight enabled. The option is active by default, but may have changed at some point due to system settings.
If you don’t have it activated, here we explain how to do it:
Click on the Windows 10 taskbar search box and type “lock screen”, then press Enter and the lock screen settings app will launch.
In the “Background” drop-down menu, you have several options. If your background is set to something other than Windows Spotlight, change it. There are several other options here, including the option to toggle which apps can show quick or detailed statuses and the opportunity to hide or show your Windows desktop background on the login screen.
A point of clarification: There is a difference between Windows’log in screen’ and Windows‘lock screenmynorth.’ The Windows Spotlight feature discussed here applies to lock screen.
You can test the Spotlight feature quickly by locking your PC (keyboard shortcut: Windows key + L). Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, a new Windows Spotlight image may take a few moments to load as Windows has to obtain the copy from Bing’s servers. If you already have Spotlight turned on, Windows will capture these images in the background ahead of time, but there may be some delay if you’ve just turned on the feature.
While you’re previewing the new Windows Spotlight background images on your lock screen, you may occasionally see a text box asking if you like what you see. You can hover over the box or tap it to answer yes (“I like it!”) or no (“I’m not a fan”). After you choose your preference, Windows and Bing will use that information to personalize future images to your tastes, similar to how users can rate custom song playlists on services like Pandora or Apple Music.
Where to Find Windows Spotlight Lock Screen Images
After you enable Windows Spotlight, it will start collecting a variety of images. So where do you find them on your PC?
Microsoft hides these images very well, so you’ll have to do a little digging to get to them. Here’s how to find them:
- Open File Browser (type ‘File Explorer’ in the search box if you’re having trouble locating it) and click View eyelash.
- Find and click Options at the far right of the File Explorer ribbon toolbar (you may need to adjust the size of File Explorer to see it). Click Change folder and search options.
- In the Folder Options window that appears, select theView eyelash.
- In it Advanced settings list, click the button labeled Show hidden files, folders and drives.
- ClickApply to save the change, then click OK to close the Folder Options window.
- In File Explorer, navigate to: This PC > C: > Users > [Your User Name] > AppData > Local > Packages > Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy > LocalState > Assets.
At this point, you should see an Assets folder with many files without any extensions. These files are Windows Spotlight lock screen images, listed in a variety of sizes and formats.
If you plan to use any of the Windows Spotlight images on your desktop or laptop, you’ll want the desktop-size versions of these images. These are usually the images with the largest file sizes. Here’s how to identify the correct wallpaper files.
- Change File Explorer to Details view.
- Ensure the Size The column is enabled to help you identify the correct images.
Copy and paste the images you want
Now, we need to make sense of this mess of data you just found. He The files are JPEG images. with unique names. Here’s how to get the photos.
- Select one or two of the files with larger file sizes (typically greater than 400 KB).
- Copy the selected files to your desktop or another folder on your PC.
- Navigate to the directory where you pasted the files.
- Highlight a file and press F2 on your keyboard to rename it and add the ‘.jpg’ extension to the end.
After renaming the file and adding ‘.jpg’ to the end, you should be able to double-click the file to open it in Windows Photos or your preferred image viewer.
Download Windows Spotlight Images with an App
The Windows 10 Store includes a couple of apps designed specifically for downloading and getting Spotlight wallpapers. Apps make the process easy without all the complicated and worrying steps.
Some good options include:
- Stand out Ram6ler Wallpapers
- Spotlights Wallpapers by 665Apps
Both apps will allow you to quickly and easily download Spotlight images on Windows 10. However, these apps can be a bit hit and miss, so you’re better off following the manual solution described earlier in this article.
Use a website to download Spotlight images
He Windows 10 Featured Images The site has over 2,000 Spotlight images archived and more are added daily, making it a great option for users who want to download Spotlight images without having to do the work themselves.
Frequent questions
Here are the answers to more questions about Windows Spotlight lock screen images.
How do I turn off the Windows Spotlight lock screen?
You can disable the Windows Spotlight lock screen by following the steps above and selecting a different background.
Simply follow this path to do it: Lock Screen Settings > Lock Screen > Background Dropdown Menu. Select Image either Slideshow.
Can I customize the Spotlight lock screen?
Absolutely! You can add or delete your emails, calendar and more. All you need to do is go to your lock screen settings (shown above) and click on the app icons below the background drop-down menu. Then, add or remove apps you’d like to see on your lock screen.
You can select your calendar, email, Pandora, weather and more.
Do you have any other suggestions or tips for accessing these beautiful images? If so, share your ideas with us in the comments below!
