{"id":5058,"date":"2017-01-03T21:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T15:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=5058"},"modified":"2019-05-12T02:52:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T02:52:46","slug":"set-desktop-background-wallpaper-without-activation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/set-desktop-background-wallpaper-without-activation\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Ways to Set Desktop Background Wallpaper Without Activation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Personalization options such as Background, Colors, Lock Screen, Themes, Start, and Taskbar are grayed out if Windows is not activated. This post discusses two ways to change the desktop wallpaper in an unactivated Windows installation.<\/p>\n

In a Windows 10 device which hasn’t been activated, the controls in Personalize window are locked down, and the message “You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC.” shows at the top.<\/p>\n

\"set<\/p>\n

Set Desktop Background Wallpaper without Activation<\/h2>\n

Option 1: Using the right-click menu or Ribbon command<\/h3>\n

Open the folder containing wallpaper images. The stock wallpapers are located under the following directories:<\/p>\n

\r\nC:\\windows\\Web\\Wallpaper\r\nC:\\windows\\Web\\4K\r\nC:\\windows\\Web\\Screen\r\n<\/pre>\n
Open a folder, right-click on an image file, and click Set as desktop background<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\"set<\/p>\n
Note that you can click the “Set as background” Ribbon command<\/a> that appears under the Manage tab when an image file is currently selected.<\/em><\/p>\n
Option 2: Using Internet Explorer<\/h3>\n
Open Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer shortcut doesn’t exist in the Taskbar by default. You can launch Internet Explorer by searching for it in the Start menu, or by typing iexplore.exe<\/code> in the Run (Win + R) dialog.<\/p>\n
Paste the complete image file path in the Internet Explorer Address bar and press ENTER. You can type the path to an image file on the local computer or a website address.<\/p>\n
\"set<\/p>\n
Right-click on the image and click “Set as background”.<\/p>\n
That’s it! These tricks can be useful when you’re testing Windows preview builds (without being activated) in virtual machine setup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Personalization options such as Background, Colors, Lock Screen, Themes, Start, and Taskbar are grayed out if Windows is not activated. This post discusses two ways to change the desktop wallpaper in an unactivated Windows installation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[381],"class_list":["post-5058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","tag-personalization"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70831,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-background-greyed-out-personalize-settings\/","url_meta":{"origin":5058,"position":0},"title":"Desktop Background Option is greyed out in Personalize Settings","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When you attempt to change my desktop wallpaper, the \"Background\" dropdown option may be greyed out in Settings \u2192 Personalize. The \"choose your background color\" option may also be grayed out. 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The Personalize page (\"Choose your picture\") displays the thumbnail image of five wallpapers; first thumbnail image is usually the current background, followed by thumbnails of previous four background images. This post tells\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"clear desktop wallpaper history","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1261,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-current-wallpaper-file-path-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":5058,"position":2},"title":"How to Find the Current Wallpaper File Name and Path in Windows 10\/11","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're using the Desktop background slideshow or third-party wallpaper changer software and want to find the file name of the currently displayed desktop wallpaper, then this article is for you. The current wallpaper path is are stored in the registry but is not displayed in the modern Personalize settings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"background wallpaper history personalize window","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-history-thumbnails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-history-thumbnails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/w10-registry-wallpaper-history-thumbnails.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9392,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-use-windows-spotlight-as-desktop-wallpaper-slideshow\/","url_meta":{"origin":5058,"position":3},"title":"How to Use Windows Spotlight as Desktop Wallpaper Slideshow","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Windows Spotlight brings fresh wallpaper images for your lock screen daily. The wallpapers are stored in the Assets folder wherein the older wallpaper images will be purged automatically as the new set of images get downloaded. 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