{"id":5913,"date":"2017-11-14T10:32:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T05:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=5913"},"modified":"2023-01-20T20:47:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:17:07","slug":"clear-background-wallpaper-history-windows-10-registry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-background-wallpaper-history-windows-10-registry\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Clear Background (Wallpaper) History in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you change the desktop wallpaper, Windows remembers the file name and path of the last four wallpapers. The Personalize page (&#8220;Choose your picture&#8221;) 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 you how to clear the wallpaper history using Registry Editor.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5914\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history.png\" alt=\"clear desktop wallpaper history\" width=\"700\" height=\"268\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>Clear Desktop Background History<\/h3>\n<p>To reset the history, all you need to do is change the wallpaper image five more times, selecting the built-in wallpapers from the folder <code>C:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\theme1<\/code> and <code>C:\\Windows\\Web\\Wallpaper\\Windows<\/code>. But, if you wish to clear the desktop background history using the Registry Editor, use these steps or apply the REG file available below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Start the Registry Editor (<code>regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/li>\n<li>Go to the following branch:<\/li>\n<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Wallpapers<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5915\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history-regedit.png\" alt=\"clear desktop wallpaper history using registry editor\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<li>Delete the following values in the right-pane:<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>BackgroundHistoryPath0<\/li>\n<li>BackgroundHistoryPath1<\/li>\n<li>BackgroundHistoryPath2<\/li>\n<li>BackgroundHistoryPath3<\/li>\n<li>BackgroundHistoryPath4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Automate the above steps using REG file. Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/clear-wallpaper-history-w10.zip\">clear-wallpaper-history-w10.zip<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This clears your desktop wallpaper history in the Personalize Settings page, and the slots are replaced by the Windows 10 &#8220;Hero&#8221; wallpaper &#038; other stock images from folder <code>c:\\windows\\web\\wallpaper\\theme1<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/w10-clear-background-history-2.png\" alt=\"clear wallpaper history in windows 10\" width=\"700\" height=\"244\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5916\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you change the desktop wallpaper, Windows remembers the file name and path of the last four wallpapers. The Personalize page (&#8220;Choose your picture&#8221;) 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 you how to clear the &#8230; <a title=\"How to Clear Background (Wallpaper) History in Windows 10\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-background-wallpaper-history-windows-10-registry\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Clear Background (Wallpaper) History in Windows 10\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[381,441],"class_list":["post-5913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","tag-personalization","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1261,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-current-wallpaper-file-path-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":0},"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 &quot;Windows 10&quot;","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":70831,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-background-greyed-out-personalize-settings\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":1},"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. Also, on the top, it says the following: Some of these settings are hidden or managed by your organization.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop background grayed out due to registry based policies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/desktop-background-grayed-out-policies.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/desktop-background-grayed-out-policies.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/desktop-background-grayed-out-policies.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/desktop-background-grayed-out-policies.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3211,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/make-alt-tab-background-transparent\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":2},"title":"How to Make Alt+Tab Background Fully Transparent","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On Windows 10, when you use Alt + Tab to switch windows, the grid background is black by default, and the background windows and desktop icons are displayed as shown in this image. This post unveils some hidden registry settings to configure how the Alt+Tab switcher displays. (Desktop icons shown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"alt+tab transparent","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alttab1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alttab1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alttab1.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":5913,"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. We saw how to save the lock screen wallpapers using various methods, including\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"spotlight image as desktop wallpaper - bing images - dynamic theme","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dynamic-theme-options-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dynamic-theme-options-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dynamic-theme-options-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dynamic-theme-options-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":992,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-background-file-location-right-click-menu-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":4},"title":"How to Find Current Wallpaper (Desktop Background) File Location in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Desktop Background Slideshow is a neat little feature in Windows 7 which helps you shuffle your desktop background from a image file store folder, at predefined intervals. But, as Windows doesn't show the file name of the currently displayed wallpaper, it becomes a problem if you have thousands of images\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5058,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/set-desktop-background-wallpaper-without-activation\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":5},"title":"2 Ways to Set Desktop Background Wallpaper Without Activation","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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. In a Windows 10 device which hasn't been activated, the controls in Personalize window\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"set desktop background wallpaper without activation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/set-wallpaper-background-activation-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/set-wallpaper-background-activation-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/set-wallpaper-background-activation-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/set-wallpaper-background-activation-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}