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Change MacOS Monterey Login Screen Wallpaper

How do you actually change the wallpaper for the login screen on MacOS Monterey?

I don't like the default purple wallpaper and I can't seem to find any way to change it. I know how you change the desktop wallpaper in the System Preferences, but there doesn't seem to be any way to change the lock screen/ login screen wallpaper.

Has anyone found any workarounds for Monterey?

Many Thanks

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Nov 19, 2021 11:12 AM

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Apple recommended

Level 6

11,147 points

if you are the sole user (not even a guest account) AND file vault is turned off you can go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options and set "Display login window as" to "List of users". then your login screen matches your desktop background.

if you are using file vault or have multiple users, the above will not work. if that's your situation, you will need to wait for apple to address this. it may be worth your time to send feedback directly to apple. Feedback - macOS - Apple.

Posted on Nov 19, 2021 11:34 AM

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3 replies

★ Helpful

Level 1

13 points

Dec 21, 2021 4:47 PM in response to evanstuartgarrett

Hi everyone.

Was having the same issue, but looked for possible solutions in the web and found these steps that actually fixed it very quickly, even though they were probably meant for a previous version of macOS:

Copy the PNG you want as login window wallpaper to the /Library/Caches folder
Make sure the above mentioned file name is set to "com.apple.desktop.admin.png"
Log Out

The new background should be there by then.

Keep the following in mind:

I'm using Macbook Pro (16-inch, 2021) with the latest version of macOS Monterey (12.1) as of today
My current screen resolution is 2056x1329 which is the higher scaled resolution available in Display Settings for the built-in Retina XDR display
Try to make sure the image has the same dimensions as a standard macOS static lock screen background - you can use the one in "/Library/Caches/Desktop Pictures/<your UID>/lockscreen.png" as an example
FileVault has been turned on since the macbook was initialized so that shouldn't be an issue in this case like it was mentioned in previous posts

Not sure if any of these have an impact in it working, but just sharing for reference. I hope it helps.

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★ Helpful

Level 1

13 points

Dec 26, 2021 7:27 PM in response to evanstuartgarrett

These steps worked for me on a new 16" MacBook Pro M1 with Montery 12.1

1) System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault > Turn Off FileVault

2) Desktop & Screen Saver > Change background to background of your choosing, or change to another and change back

3) Apple menu > Lock screen >> background should be the one you've chosen

4) Turn FileVault back on

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★ Helpful

Level 10

210,393 points

Dec 4, 2021 12:48 AM in response to evanstuartgarrett

The long-running discussion will provide insite:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253314107

Can I change login screen with OS Monterey

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92 replies

Sep 3, 2022 10:34 AM in response to eric0101

By far the best answer because it works and it's the easiest/fastest. Such a dumb thing that Apple did in designing it this way but at least there's a workaround.

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Oct 21, 2022 8:32 AM in response to eric0101

Thank you this was very helpful and a lot easier!

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Change MacOS Monterey Login Screen Wallpaper

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