In previous versions of MacOS (Until Monterey) I was able to change the initial boot screen background and subsequently the login screen even after boot to a custom graphic. I gave up trying to change it in MacOS 12 but now want to do that again in MacOS 13. Let's be honest the graphics that Apple has been using lately are just obnoxious and not real corporate friendly.
Any assistance would be most welcome.
MacBook Air, macOS 13.0
you can only make it match your user account's wallpaper. you cannot set it as a separate image.
if you are the sole user (not even a guest account) AND file vault is turned off you can go to System Settings, in the Lock Screen tab, and set "Login window shows" 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
I used to be a PC Windows user and switched to Apple to be more aware of what some of my family thought was superior, and ever since I find that Apple is not friendly to users of their product line and have a mindset of their own. Support, will not support, in issues that, in my opinion, is just common sense to help with, if that makes sense
In previous versions of macOS, I have been able to change the "boot screen" by changing some of the settings by adding a folder and image that I preferred. That process, I may have deleted that as the first couple of installations of Ventura worked and so I assumed Apple may have corrected the most hatted flaw by many users of not being able to change the boot image. However, in my latest macOS, it appears that things may have changed back to the dreaded meaningless screen, which may represent the misguided thinking of so many confused people around the world.
My research found this website but I have not attempted following the steps as it is more complicated than what I previously had. If you have the confidence and knowledge of how to follow the instructions below successfully, let me know.
Here is the site: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/452474/how-to-change-the-initial-login-screen-background-in-macos-ventura
Not looking for this on the Lock Screen post login in I already have that. This is for initial boot and first login after booting up the machine. Thing from Shutdown and turning it back on.
I understand the frustration. that is why I supplied the feedback link above. you can let apple know.
I'm not certain on that as I've never set one up. but, when I look at Users & Groups, I see Guest User in the list, but it shows up as "Off". I don't think it can be removed from the list. as long as it's off.
That's how I had it. I was able to get that to do what I wanted based on your solution. Sadly Apple needs to fix this encryption issue. The thing is I am trying to deploy several hundred Mac's in a corp environment and the client wants their corp wallpaper to be the same as the login screen. I get that. I've done that in windows for years (Heck decades at this point) and was able to easily do this with Mac up until MacOS 12. The issue is I have to have encryption.
I'll go to the link you posted and make that suggestion.
Thanks
Turning off the encryption does work but seriously? Who would leave their machine open to that. There is one other thing I am going to look into that takes me back to something like MacOS 10.15 when I have some time to do it.
Hmm. I have two iMacs side-by-side near identical, computer. Both are running Ventura. The newer one is a year old and it does not have that obnoxious login appearance whereas the other iMac running Ventura is several years older, and it has that obnoxious background. I went through and tried to match all settings on both computers, and I can’t get rid of the appearance. That encryption thing is interesting and I see your point about wanting to not disable encryption. I look forward to any new information you can provide. I am at a point where I was thinking of backing up the older iMac, and then completely erasing it and reinstalling it but with all of that work, I’ll probably still end up with the same background appearance.
Have you found out yet? If not, try this:
On the desktop menu, Go -> Go to folder...
/Library/Caches/Desktop Pictures
Inside the only one folder in there, replace the lockscreen.png with any PNG image you want. (Rename your new image as lockscreen.png first)
You might need to resize your new image to the exact same size as the default one first which is your screen size.
Restart
That works for when you lock the screen and I have that working already. What I want to do is for when it initially boots up before I have ever logged in. It can be done and documented by someone above intros thread but it requires you to turn off encryption but that's just not acceptable.
Do this instead of going through the menu:
(Somehow it was hidden in MacOS 13.1, even you press option while going there)
On the desktop, press Shift+command+G
And type exactly like this image below:
Just hit enter
Then in the long text and number folder replace lockscreen.png with another PNG you prepared with the same name. See my folder:
And this is what I got when I restart:
By the way, this is my system:
I have the graphic int here that I want in that directory and I still get the nasty aApple graphic when I do an initial boot up. I only get the one I want when I get a Lock Screen. The only difference is that I'm on a M2 MacBook Air but that shouldn't make a difference.
And I did that as a test but as I have significant personal data on my MacBook Air and take it most everywhere and given what I do for a living turning off encryption is not really an option as the optics of it would not be good.
yes, I get your dilemma. and if I personally had need to use FileVault, I WOULD NOT even consider disabling it just to get a custom login page background either.
and, how much time do you spend looking at the login page anyways? :)
I had already done it way back when you first told me about this. I regularly provide feedback to Apple. My profession is that of being an Enterprise Architect and I deal with UI/UX all the time. I am pretty sure they are tired of hearing from me. :)
Hey Mark, I am using Mac Studio and followed what you said. Couldn't find the desktop pictures folder.
However, I just updated to 13.1 and the log in pic is now my desktop pic without me doing anything more.
So thanks for your patience. I guess Apple was listening and fixed it.
Changing the startup screen in Ventura
