Change the color of the login screen in Windows 8.1 Pro?

[macoman]

I want to change the color of the login screen in Windows 8.1 Pro, not the background picture. I know how to change the picture of the lock screen, however... the login screen color stay the same. It is a way in how to do that?

[LimeMaster]

On the Start Screen, go to the Charms Bar and select Settings, then click Personalise. :)

[macoman]

On the Start Screen, go to the Charms Bar and select Settings, then click Personalise. :)

Already tried that and there is not login screen color choose option on there. You probably confuse with the lock screen picture, I know that you can choose a picture for the lock screen. I am looking for the color in the login screen.

[LimeMaster]

Already tried that and there is not login screen color choose option on there.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure changing the color settings will also change the login screen's background color.

[Max Norris]

Not at home at the moment so can't check, but yea agree with above, reasonably sure the login screen and start screen share the same background color.

[devHead]

The background color will be your login screen color if you don't use an image.  On my work PC with two screens, monitor 1 has an image, and monitor has my background color.

[macoman]

I choose as my desktop background color dark green and the login screen still dark blue :(

[LimeMaster]

Hmm, odd! Did you change both the Accent color & Background color?

[macoman]

Hmm, odd! Did you change both the Accent color & Background color?

both as dark green and still the login is dark blue and the navigation select on the start menu is dark blue.

[Ironman273]

Could it be that it uses the default color until someone logs in?  So if macoman has a green theme and I have a red theme it will show the default blue until either one of us logs in, which is when the background color gets applied.  With this logic the login screen would always be the default blue.

[macoman]

Could it be that it uses the default color until someone logs in?  So if macoman has a green theme and I have a red theme it will show the default blue until either one of us logs in, which is when the background color gets applied.  With this logic the login screen would always be the default blue.

I remember when I was installing Windows 8.1, there was an option to select the default color... it is a way to change that default color?

[zhangm Supervisor]

You can force a specific color combination using Group Policy.

 

Run gpedit.msc as admin. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization. Enable "Force a specific background and accent color" and type in the colors in hex (you can test #FFFF00 and #00FF00 if you want it to be very obvious that it's working). Log out, and you should see it.

 

Edit: There are color combinations that are disallowed (see the description in gpedit). This change applies to all users and when a user is not logged in. If you want some place to look up hex codes for colors, this site is reasonable.

 

http://www.color-hex.com/color-palettes/

[Ironman273]

OK, I just changed my background color to red (I actually have blue as my normal background color) and when I lock the computer (Win+L) my login screen is red.  Since I'm already logged in it uses my colors, but only after I'm logged in,

[macoman]

OK, I just changed my background color to red (I actually have blue as my normal background color) and when I lock the computer (Win+L) my login screen is red.  Since I'm already logged in it uses my colors, but only after I'm logged in,

That's not what I am looking for... I looking for to change the default color of Windows 8.1 login screen. Like I said before, there was a default color that you need to choose before finishing installing and setting the OS. I do not understand why Microsoft make it so difficult to switch to another default color when you are not logon. 

[Ironman273]

I think the option you're thinking of just sets your color as the first user, not a system-wide default color.

 

It's not like it's new behavior:

Windows 7 had a default login screen:

 

As did Windows XP:

 

You can change it via registry hacks, but that's how you had to do it in the past also.

[Athanyel]

It sounds like you're trying to set the colors on the 8.1 login screen and not the personal lock screen. If I'm right...

 

First you need to get the colors you want to have set on the login screen. The easy way is to set the colors for the logged in user via Personalize then retrieve the hex value for each color from the registry:

:: get colors for windows 8.1 current user
for /f "tokens=1,2 delims==" %s in ('wmic path win32_useraccount where name^='%username%' get sid /value ^| find /i "SID"') do set SID=%t
:: pause for WMIC oddity
reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData\%SID%\AnyoneRead\Colors /v AccentColor
reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData\%SID%\AnyoneRead\Colors /v StartColor

Once you have the values, set the colors for the system in the registry. This changes the colors on the actual login screen.

:: set login colors for windows 8.1
:: the hex values are ABGR (alpha, blue, green, red)
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v AccentColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff606263 /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v StartColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff23221e /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v DefaultAccentColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff606263 /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v DefaultStartColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff23221e /f

Hope that helps.

[Athanyel]

...and since that topic is usually followed by "...can I change the wallpaper too?"  The answer is also yes!

 

The first step is to grant Administrators rights to the necessary folders:

:: grant Administrators ownership and full control of the parent folder of SYSTEM's background folder
takeown /a /f C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData
icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData /grant *S-1-5-32-544:F

:: grant Administrators ownership and full control of the SYSTEM's background folder
takeown /a /f C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /r /d y 
icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /grant *S-1-5-32-544:F /T /C

:: grant Administrators ownership and full control of the default backgrounds directory
takeown /a /f C:\Windows\Web\Screen /r /d y
icacls C:\Windows\Web\Screen /grant *S-1-5-32-544:F /T /C

The next step removes the actual lock screen images...which are actually copies!

:: remove all copies of the SYSTEM's background
del /q C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\ReadOnly\LockScreen_Z\*

Next, remove any copies we previously made of the default background and then rename the file

:: remove any copies made of the default lock screen and make a new copy.
del /q C:\Windows\Web\Screen\img100a.jpg
ren C:\Windows\Web\Screen\img100.jpg img100a.jpg

Copy a new lock screen into the default lock screen directory with the same name as the original

:: replace default lock screen
copy /y LockScreen.jpg C:\Windows\Web\Screen\img100.jpg

Reset the important permissions

:: reset ownership of all restricted files and folders
icacls C:\Windows\Web\Screen /setowner "NT Service\TrustedInstaller" /T /C
icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /setowner *S-1-5-18 /T /C

Lock out and view your handiwork.

 

If the lock screen image is missing and just have the single color background, your lock screen image is likely too big. Shrink it down and try again.

 

[macoman]

 

It sounds like you're trying to set the colors on the 8.1 login screen and not the personal lock screen. If I'm right...

 

First you need to get the colors you want to have set on the login screen. The easy way is to set the colors for the logged in user via Personalize then retrieve the hex value for each color from the registry:

:: get colors for windows 8.1 current user
for /f "tokens=1,2 delims==" %s in ('wmic path win32_useraccount where name^='%username%' get sid /value ^| find /i "SID"') do set SID=%t
:: pause for WMIC oddity
reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData\%SID%\AnyoneRead\Colors /v AccentColor
reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData\%SID%\AnyoneRead\Colors /v StartColor

Once you have the values, set the colors for the system in the registry. This changes the colors on the actual login screen.

:: set login colors for windows 8.1
:: the hex values are ABGR (alpha, blue, green, red)
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v AccentColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff606263 /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v StartColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff23221e /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v DefaultAccentColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff606263 /f
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent /v DefaultStartColor /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff23221e /f

Hope that helps.

 

Or use this app: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.216

[Alpha_Tay]

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15554-sign-screen-change-background-color-windows-8-a.html

[Ironman273]

Or use this app: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.216

:D  I guess you should give yourself the solve.

[macoman]

:D I guess you should give yourself the solve.

Yup... I finally used the app and works like a charm.

[(Account no longer active)]

Apps are for wimps. Registry FTW!

[macoman]

Apps are for wimps. Registry FTW!

Trust me, I can work with the registry... but in this case it's too much work for just a color change.

[deepak gupta]

hey macoman i tell u just try this this will 100% work 

just go on start or press win button then take cursor in corner then click on setting and click personalize then u will see on upper background and background colour and accent colour u should choose background colour to change sign in back ground and enjoy 

 

[heuristic]

It works.