Find the current wallpaper (desktop background) file:<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are five different methods to find the current desktop background (wallpaper) file name, starting with the easiest option.<\/p>\n When you set a wallpaper of any image format, Windows converts that file to JPEG format and also sometimes reduces its quality<\/a>. The converted wallpaper image may exist in one of the three different locations mentioned below, depending upon the method you used to set the wallpaper.<\/p>\n When you right-click on an image file and choose Set as desktop background<\/strong> in the context menu, a copy of the image file is converted and stored as Type the above folder path in the Run dialog or Explorer address bar to access the location.<\/em><\/p>\n All you need to do is copy the transcoded image from the above to a different location, add the If you used the Browse.. option in Personalize settings to set the desktop background, then the converted and up-scaled (matching your display resolution) version of the image is stored in the following directory.<\/p>\n The file naming convention is like In case you’ve set the desktop background wallpaper via Windows Photo Viewer<\/a>, then the transcoded JPEG file is stored in the following folder as Note that the quality of the transcoded and converted (to JPEG) wallpaper may not be exactly the same as the original.<\/p>\n The registry value The classic Desktop Background applet in Windows 10 shows the currently selected desktop background file name with the full path.<\/p>\n In Windows 10 this opens the classic desktop background applet, showing the current wallpaper image file and the folder path.<\/p>\n The reference to the current desktop wallpaper may exist in one or more locations in the registry.<\/p>\n Open the Registry Editor ( In the Registry Editor, there are the keys you need to check.<\/p>\n Look for the value named Look for the value named Another history location in Windows 10\/11<\/strong><\/p>\n Go to the following registry key which stores your desktop background history.<\/p>\n The BackgroundHistoryPath0<\/strong> value lists the current wallpaper.<\/p>\n The values BackgroundHistoryPath1, BackgroundHistoryPath2, BackgroundHistoryPath3, BackgroundHistoryPath4 refer to the previous 4 wallpapers you used. The wallpaper history thumbnail images are shown on the Personalize background settings page in Windows 10.<\/em><\/p>\n We have an article that determines the Wallpaper source in Windows 7 (Refer: Add \u201cDesktop Background File Location\u201d Context Menu in Windows 7<\/a>) but that script doesn\u2019t work in Windows 8 and 10. This is because in Windows 8 and 10 the current Wallpaper source path is stored in a different registry branch. Moreover, in Windows 8 (and in early versions of Windows 10) Microsoft decided not to store the Wallpaper source path in plain text.<\/p>\n Our reader “raveren<\/em>” came up with a script for Windows 8 and Windows 10. Check out the following link:<\/p>\n https:\/\/gist.github.com\/raveren\/ab475336cc69879a378b<\/a><\/p>\n Note that Unicode isn’t supported by VBScripts. These scripts won’t function correctly if the Wallpaper path contains non-English characters.<\/em><\/p>\n You can use PowerShell to decode<\/a> the Thanks to John Dangerbrooks for the following PowerShell script (supports Unicode) that helps you decode the \n
How to Find the Current Desktop Wallpaper<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Find the wallpaper image in your Themes folder in Windows 10\/11<\/h3>\n
TranscodedWallpaper<\/code> without file extension. The transcoded wallpaper is stored here:<\/p>\n%appdata%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Themes<\/pre>\n
![\"transcodedwallpaper](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/transcoded-wallpaper-themes.png\")
<\/p>\n.jpg<\/code> extension and use it.<\/p>\n%appdata%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Themes\\CachedFiles<\/pre>\n
CachedImage_1920_1080_POS0.jpg<\/code> where the numbers indicate the current display resolution of 1920 x 1080. POS0 may indicate the monitor number (if using multiple monitors.)<\/p>\n![\"cached](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/cached-wallpaper-themes.png\")
<\/p>\nWindows Photo Viewer Wallpaper.jpg<\/code>, and the file path is written to the registry.<\/p>\n%AppData%\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows Photo Viewer<\/pre>\n
TranscodedImageCache<\/code> is updated in all of the above cases.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Using Desktop Background applet in Windows 10\/11<\/h3>\n
\n
shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\\pageWallpaper<\/pre>\n![\"classic](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/curr_wp-w10.png\")
<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n<\/a>Using the Registry Editor in Windows 10\/11<\/h3>\n
regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/p>\nHKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop<\/pre>\n
![\"wallpaper](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-path.png\")
<\/p>\nWallpaper<\/code> (Type: REG_SZ).<\/p>\nTranscodedImageCache<\/code> (Type: REG_BINARY)<\/p>\nTranscodedImageCache<\/code> is a binary value, but you can easily make out the file path by double-clicking the value and reading the data.<\/p>\nHKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Wallpapers<\/pre>\n
![\"background](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-history.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"background](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-history-thumbnails.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Find the current wallpaper file using VBScript<\/h3>\n
\n<\/a>Find the current wallpaper file using PowerShell script<\/h3>\n
TranscodedImageCache<\/code> wallpaper filename. Here’s the command-line that does the job:<\/p>\n$TIC=(Get-ItemProperty 'HKCU:\\Control Panel\\Desktop' TranscodedImageCache -ErrorAction Stop).TranscodedImageCache\r\n\r\n[System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString($TIC) -replace '(.+)([A-Z]:[0-9a-zA-Z\\\\])+','$2'<\/pre>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/powershell-transcoded-wallpaper-1.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\nTransCodedImageCache<\/code> registry value and locate\/select the wallpaper file in File Explorer. The script works in Windows 7 through Windows 11. You may also read John’s blog post Finding wallpaper location in Windows | Confidential Files!<\/a>.<\/p>\n