Catsman

Q: Change login screen in Sierra

I wish to have a  picture that appears at login. How can I do this. Login picture used to be in the Caches folder but no more.

Please don't suggest changing wall paper in System Preferences as that is not what I am referring to, It is the login screen picture I wish to change.

 

Any help appreciated.

Posted on Oct 4, 2016 11:12 PM

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Q: Change login screen in Sierra

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  • by Catsman,

    Catsman Catsman Oct 6, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Catsman
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Catsman

    It worked for me for a while but no longer. Curiouser and curiouser!

  • by Eau Rouge,

    Eau Rouge Eau Rouge Oct 6, 2016 6:53 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 4 (3,047 points)
    Mac App Store
    Oct 6, 2016 6:53 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Really! Well I wonder whats happened to mine then, the only thing that happens is that it adds the alt symbol to 'Enclosing Folder'.

  • by Catsman,

    Catsman Catsman Oct 6, 2016 3:17 PM in response to Eau Rouge
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 3:17 PM in response to Eau Rouge

    SSame here.

  • by Geoffrey Bonnin,

    Geoffrey Bonnin Geoffrey Bonnin Oct 7, 2016 3:50 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2016 3:50 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    I have a 2010 Macbook Air where it works and a late 2012 iMac  where it doesn't. Both machines run Sierra 10.12.

    Wish I could find out why they react differently.

  • by Geoffrey Bonnin,

    Geoffrey Bonnin Geoffrey Bonnin Oct 7, 2016 4:19 PM in response to Geoffrey Bonnin
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2016 4:19 PM in response to Geoffrey Bonnin

    I've just found that it works on the iMac if I press the Shift key instead of the Option key.

    I started a new thread for this issue here.

  • by giskard08,

    giskard08 giskard08 Oct 8, 2016 8:40 PM in response to Eau Rouge
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2016 8:40 PM in response to Eau Rouge

    Screen Shot 2016-10-08 at 11.34.04 PM.png

    I have done this before, but Sierra is not letting me change the login screen. I've tried restarting, and no luck. It still shows the foggy pic of mountain found in the System>Library>CoreServices>DefaultDesktop file. Can you spot what I'm doing wrong?

  • by Eau Rouge,

    Eau Rouge Eau Rouge Oct 8, 2016 9:47 PM in response to giskard08
    Level 4 (3,047 points)
    Mac App Store
    Oct 8, 2016 9:47 PM in response to giskard08

    Please do not touch anything in the System folder, leave it well alone. And the defaultdesktop file is an alias and nothing to do with the login screen.

     

    Next the image you included is the correct location for the login image, you can create a png file in Preview

    name it com.apple.desktop.admin.png, then save it in the location Macintosh HD/Library/Caches.

  • by giskard08,

    giskard08 giskard08 Oct 9, 2016 4:36 AM in response to Eau Rouge
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 9, 2016 4:36 AM in response to Eau Rouge

    I'm confused, sorry. Why do you say that file has nothing to do with login screen?

    Screen Shot 2016-10-09 at 7.31.04 AM.png

    That is the image that appears on my login screen and won't go away, even though I have followed the instructions to make a file named "com.apple.desktop.admin.png", as shown in previous picture I posted.

  • by Eau Rouge,

    Eau Rouge Eau Rouge Oct 11, 2016 2:13 AM in response to giskard08
    Level 4 (3,047 points)
    Mac App Store
    Oct 11, 2016 2:13 AM in response to giskard08

    That file as its name suggests is the default desktop file, not the image you get at login. The login image is the file

    in the path Macintosh HD/Library/Caches.

     

    Do you have your mac set for Auto Login, bypassing the need to enter a password to enter your mac. The reason I mention this is because I think you may have it set to Auto Login, and therefore it is opening up on Desktop 1 (if you have more than one set) which is by default the Sierra desktop image unless you have changed it in System Preferences>Desktop. An unchanged login picture will be a blurred version of the default image, with your user image

    a space to type your password, and the restart, shutdown and sleep buttons.

     

    If the mac is set so you need to enter a password before accessing the mac then the Sierra default picture is shown as blurred, however as mentioned above in previous posts you can replace that image in Macintosh HD/Library/Caches

    with your own image, named as before, com.apple.desktop.admin.png. This should take effect after logging out and then in again, or after a restart. This will only work if you have your mac set so you need to enter a password to access your account.

     

    Is your account an Admin account, if you are the sole user of the mac then your account should be Admin by default.

  • by Eau Rouge,

    Eau Rouge Eau Rouge Oct 11, 2016 2:28 AM in response to giskard08
    Level 4 (3,047 points)
    Mac App Store
    Oct 11, 2016 2:28 AM in response to giskard08

    This is what a default login screen should look like.

     

    LWScreenShot 2016-10-11 at 10.17.35.png

  • by giskard08,

    giskard08 giskard08 Oct 11, 2016 9:49 AM in response to Eau Rouge
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2016 9:49 AM in response to Eau Rouge

    LWScreenShot 2016-10-11 at 12.28.39 PM.png

    This is my login screen. It is not set for auto login, as there are two users. (Also, before update there was a login icon for a guest user, which I still have enabled in System Preferences, but no apparent way for one to login...?)

     

    This is my Library/Caches folder:

    Screen Shot 2016-10-08 at 11.34.04 PM.png

    When I replaced login screen on El Capitan, there was already a file with name "com.apple.desktop.admin.png" that I had to replace. In Sierra, there was no such file. I inserted the file as shown, but the login screen remains the same.

    So, I remain confused....

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Oct 11, 2016 11:48 AM in response to giskard08
    Level 6 (12,607 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2016 11:48 AM in response to giskard08

    Do you have File Vault enabled? That would disallow the guest user, I believe.

  • by marode23,

    marode23 marode23 Oct 11, 2016 3:02 PM in response to Catsman
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 11, 2016 3:02 PM in response to Catsman

    for me it simply worked to rename the desired background to sierra.jpg in library/desktop pictures/. However, this will still show a blurred login screen. Is there a way for an unblurred wallpaper on login screen like it was possible under El Captain?

  • by Eau Rouge,

    Eau Rouge Eau Rouge Oct 12, 2016 1:27 AM in response to giskard08
    Level 4 (3,047 points)
    Mac App Store
    Oct 12, 2016 1:27 AM in response to giskard08

    If there is no file in the Caches folder then Sierra will default to a blurred image of the Default desktop image for the login picture.

    You can of course input your own image as you have done, but needs to fall into certain criteria.

    It helps if you have an image editor like Photoshop or similar. The file needs to be in RGB colour mode, sRGB or Adobe RGB. Make sure the file is also 8bit. It is also important that the image must be a 'layer' rather than the default Background layer, if that makes sense, screenshot below.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-10-12 at 09.11.12.png

    Screen Shot 2016-10-12 at 09.04.14.png

    New login screen.

     

    LWScreenShot 2016-10-12 at 08.59.14.png

  • by steve the cat,

    steve the cat steve the cat Oct 13, 2016 10:43 AM in response to paolocorno
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 13, 2016 10:43 AM in response to paolocorno

    when I go to my /Library/CoreData folder, there is nothing in it but an ExternalRecords folder and no other files. Inside it there is an HTMLNotes folder (which is empty) and another that is a long string of numbers and letter with dashes. I read another string on reddit that says it's in  /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg -- but that's an unblurred alias of the login image -- and my iMac won't let me change that pic.

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