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How can I change lockscreen in macOS Big Sur?

I hate the lockscreen image in macOS Big Sur and would like to change it. I have read, and tried, everything I could find here and online, but nothing works. I am using a Dynamic Wallpaper, so none of the images from there are used as the lockscreen, just that mishmash of horrid colors.


My questions are: Can the lockscreen image be changed? And, if it can, how can it be done?


Thanks!

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.1

Posted on Mar 21, 2021 5:02 PM

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Posted on Mar 21, 2021 5:18 PM

Hi E. Kennedy,


Welcome to the Apple Community, where some of us do our best to help each other.


Someone came up with a solution to change the Big Sur "wallpaper" that has worked for sothers.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252056512


Hope this helps you too!

Cheers

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Mar 21, 2021 5:18 PM in response to E. Kennedy

Hi E. Kennedy,


Welcome to the Apple Community, where some of us do our best to help each other.


Someone came up with a solution to change the Big Sur "wallpaper" that has worked for sothers.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252056512


Hope this helps you too!

Cheers

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Mar 22, 2021 10:36 AM in response to E. Kennedy

i have found that if i go into SystemPreferences>Users&Groups in Login Options and then set "Display login window as:" to "List of users" my login background matches my desktop background. however, if it's set to "Name and password" i also get that hideously bright big sur login screen.


edit: when guest user is active, i get the hideous background even if "list of users" is selected

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Mar 22, 2021 9:30 AM in response to brbo

Thanks for the reply and the link to the info!


Unfortunately, that's what I saw online and what I did - a couple times - unsuccessfully. The lockscreen.png image inside the Library/Caches/Desktop Pictures is NOT the ugly, multicolored lockscreen image that appears when I start my iMac, but I replaced it anyway with a new image named "lockscreen.png", renaming the old image to "old-lockscreen.png" and leaving it in the UUID folder in the Desktop Pictures folder. Restarting did nothing in terms of changing the lockscreen image - it's still that horrid, multicolored monstrosity (or maybe it's "art"? Maybe something Tim Cook painted in his spare time? ;) lol)


Anyway, thanks, again, for the reply! I'll keep looking for a solution and hoping that Apple changes either the lockscreen, or adds an ability for users to change it, in the next update.

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Mar 22, 2021 2:17 PM in response to E. Kennedy

Hi again E. Kennedy,


It seems Apple has now provided a way to change the log-in / Lock Screen,

a method which someone stumbled upon, and kindly shared.!


Ensure your log-in password is ready:

On Finder, and with an open window showing the background / wallpaper that you want to see on the Lock Screen:

Click the black apple icon on the left in the top Menu bar,

Choose "Lock Screen:


You find your self having to log back in with your password, on the screen showing your chosen wallpaper !

Worked for me!

Cheers

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Mar 22, 2021 2:24 PM in response to E. Kennedy

Oops!

"On Finder, and with an open window showing the background / wallpaper that you want to see on the Lock Screen:"

was a bit clumsy ...


In Finder with the screen showing the background / wallpaper that you want to see on the Lock Screen

may be more accurate


Thank you



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Mar 23, 2021 10:49 AM in response to Halliday

Yes, I did. Thanks for your reply and the info.


I did change my settings to turn off "Other Users" and ticked the box for "List of Users" and now when the iMac finishes starting-up, the login window is no longer the multicolored "art" that I had. Of course, now no one other than me can login as a Guest, but that's not really a problem most of the time.


Thanks, again!

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Mar 24, 2021 8:52 AM in response to brbo

Your instructions worked with "List of Users", etc.; however, after setting what I wanted to be my lockscreen following your instructions, I set my desktop to one of Apple's "Dynamic" wallpapers and, the next time I started my iMac, the lockscreen displayed the dynamic wallpaper as the lockscreen. So, apparently, once you set your system preferences in Users & Groups as you suggested, the lockscreen will always revert to the chosen wallpaper, not a separate lockscreen image, unless the preferences are once again set to "Name and Password" and then you'll get the Big Sur multicolored lockscreen.


I had hoped that it would be possible to have a designated lockscreen image that was different (but not as "different" as that Big Sur lockscreen!) from the wallpaper. It seems, from reading other online sources, that that was possible in earlier versions of macOS, so it must have been removed from Big Sur :(


Anyway, thanks, again, to you, and everyone, who helped with this question!!!

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Mar 24, 2021 10:40 AM in response to E. Kennedy

E. Kennedy wrote:


I had hoped that it would be possible to have a designated lockscreen image that was different (but not as "different" as that Big Sur lockscreen!) from the wallpaper. It seems, from reading other online sources, that that was possible in earlier versions of macOS, so it must have been removed from Big Sur :( …

Sorry. It simply doesn’t work that way. At least, not at this time.


In order to get anything different, people need to provide appropriate Feedback to Apple. (Writing here doesn’t get Feedback to Apple.)


… Anyway, thanks, again, to you, and everyone, who helped with this question!!!

You are absolutely welcome!

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Mar 24, 2021 5:52 PM in response to E. Kennedy

Thank you for the feedback, E. Kennedy.


I'm glad you now have some control, even if not your ideal.

Things can only get better from here, I guess :-)


The List of Users option suggested by jeffreythefrog, and Halliday, was an interesting, one.

Surprised it made a difference ... must experiment with that some time, to appreciate the difference.


Please feel free to post again in the Apple community, if you wish.

Cheers







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Mar 24, 2021 6:20 PM in response to brbo


brbo:


«The List of Users option» is actually one I hadn’t thought of, with the original Discussions on this issue. It was found when the original recommendations didn’t work for a user, and we found they were using the “Name and password” option: changing it to the “List of users” option fixed their issue.


As the “Display login window as” options are all about how the Login Window is presented, we see that the first window displayed (except in certain Single-User cases) after a Mac finishes booting up, is called, by Apple, the Login Window (or Login Screen).


In cases where the system is recognized as a Single-User system, if the “Display login window as” is set to “List of Users”, the Login Window (or Login Screen) is skipped, to show the Lock Screen (or Lock Window) of that Singer-User.


Otherwise, the Login Window (or Login Screen) is always displayed right after the system boots up.


Unfortunately, none of us have found a way to change the background of the Login Window (also known as Login Screen).

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How can I change lockscreen in macOS Big Sur?

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