Change the Windows Logon screen background color

With no logon wallpaper set, Windows displays a pre-defined color for the logon desktop. ( If you have enabled Welcome Screen, press

CTRL+ALT+DEL twice to see the logon screen background color. ) To change the logon background color to that of your choice, you need to alter the registry:

* Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT and press Enter
* Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

* Backup the registry key by exporting to a REG file
* In the right pane, double-click Background
* In the Edit String dialog box, type the Color code in R G B format and then click OK.

Example: Type 0 0 0 if you want to see a Black background. You can choose any combination from 0-255

Points to ponder

* If the logon Wallpaper is set, the background Color may not be visible. So, you must reset the Wallpaper value to a blank string in this key:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

* If the Background value is set under the following Winlogon registry key, the above setting is ignored. In other words, the Winlogon\Background value takes precedence over the .DEFAULT..\Background value.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon


* Quit the Registry Editor and log off