How to Change Wallpaper on Windows 10 (Step by Step)

To change the wallpaper on Windows 10, press Windows + I, open Personalization and stay on the Background page. Set the Background list to Picture, click Browse, open your image and choose Fill under Choose a fit. The desktop changes at once, and there is nothing to save.

The menu names below come from Windows 10 version 22H2, the last version Microsoft released. Free support for Windows 10 ended on 14 October 2025, but personalization works exactly as before, on Home and Pro alike. If your PC already runs the newer system, follow our guide on how to change wallpaper on Windows 11 instead, because the menus there are laid out differently.

How to change wallpaper on Windows 10 in Settings

1. Right-click an empty part of the desktop and choose Personalize. Or press Windows + I and click Personalization.
2. The Background page opens first. In the drop-down list under Background, choose Picture.
3. Click one of the thumbnails under Choose your picture, or click Browse and open your own file.
4. Under Choose a fit, select Fill.

The small preview at the top of the page shows the result straight away. Windows stores its own copy of the image, so deleting the original from Downloads later does not remove the wallpaper.

Fill is the right choice for nearly every wallpaper: it covers the whole screen and trims whatever sticks out. The other options, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center and Span, behave the same as in Windows 11, and the table in our Windows 11 guide explains each one, along with a different picture on each monitor.

Two shortcuts: File Explorer and Photos

If the image is already on your PC, you can skip Settings. In File Explorer, right-click the file and choose Set as desktop background. That is the whole job.

Select several images with Ctrl first, then right-click one of them and use the same command. Windows turns the selection into a slideshow that rotates on its own.

In the Photos app, open the picture, click the three dots in the top right corner, then Set as and Set as background. The same menu also offers Set as lock screen.

How to make the wallpaper change automatically

1. Put the pictures in one folder, for example a new folder called Wallpapers inside Pictures.
2. Go to Personalization, Background and choose Slideshow in the Background list.
3. Under Choose albums for your slideshow, click Browse and select that folder.
4. Pick an interval under Change picture every, from 1 minute to 1 day.
5. Turn on Shuffle if you do not want the pictures in alphabetical order.

On a laptop, the slideshow pauses on battery unless you turn on the switch that allows it. Leave it off if battery life matters more than variety.

A slideshow looks deliberate when the pictures share a palette. Five random photos feel like a screensaver; five pictures in the same ink and paper tones feel like a set.

Ink Quiet Lake4K · DesktopInk Mist Ridge4K · DesktopInk Mountain Mist4K · DesktopInk Bamboo Grove4K · DesktopInk Snow Branch4K · Desktop

These five Japanese ink wash desktop wallpapers use the same grey and paper palette, so a folder of them changes the scene through the day without changing the mood.

Change the lock screen picture on Windows 10

1. Open Settings, Personalization, Lock screen.
2. In the Background list, choose Picture. The other options are Windows spotlight, which brings in new photos from Microsoft regularly, and Slideshow.
3. Click Browse and pick the image.
4. Turn off the switch for fun facts and tips if you want the picture without text from Microsoft on top.

Further down the page, Show lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen decides whether the same picture appears behind the password field. Turn it off if you prefer a plain sign-in screen.

Change the wallpaper without activation

On a copy of Windows 10 that is not activated, the Personalization pages are greyed out and a line at the top says you need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC. That locks the background, the lock screen, colours and themes in Settings.

The File Explorer route still works. Right-click the image and choose Set as desktop background, exactly as above. What you cannot change without activation is the fit, the slideshow interval and anything on the Lock screen page.

Ignore downloads that promise to unlock personalization or activate Windows for free. They are a common way to get malware onto a PC, and the right-click route already does the job.

On a work or school PC you may instead see that some settings are managed by your organization. That is a policy set by the administrator, and only the administrator can lift it.

Restore the default Windows 10 wallpaper

The familiar blue picture with the Windows logo is still on your drive. In Settings, choose Picture, click Browse and go to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows. The file is called img0.jpg.

Sharper copies for large screens, including 3840 × 2160, sit in C:\Windows\Web\4K\Wallpaper\Windows. Pick the one that matches your resolution.

Match the accent colour and hide the icons

Windows 10 can take its accent colour from the wallpaper. Go to Personalization, Colors and tick Automatically pick an accent color from my background. Start menu highlights and the selection colour then follow the picture, even during a slideshow.

On the same page, Choose your color switches Windows between Light and Dark. A dark taskbar sits best over a dark or mid-tone wallpaper; a light one needs a pale image to look intentional.

A calm wallpaper loses its point under three columns of shortcuts. Right-click the desktop, open View and untick Show desktop icons. The files stay where they are, only hidden.

Which wallpaper size to use on Windows 10

Check your resolution in Settings, System, Display. A 3840 × 2160 image covers Full HD, 1440p and 4K screens, because Windows only has to scale it down. Our PC wallpaper size guide has the full chart for laptops, ultrawide monitors and two-screen setups.

Velpaper desktop wallpapers are 3840 × 2160 or 5120 × 2880 JPEG originals, free to download on velpaper.com with no account. On Windows you use the website; the apps are for iPhone, Android and Mac. Wide, quiet compositions suit Windows 10 best, with the taskbar along the bottom and the icons down the left.

Horizon Wall4K · DesktopWindow Square4K · DesktopOne Block4K · DesktopCobalt Soft Horizon4K · Desktop

Horizon Wall is one long concrete wall across a misty plain, so the icons sit on open sky. Window Square is a slanted patch of afternoon sun on a cream wall, warm and bright. One Block keeps a black stepped tower in the lower right and leaves the rest white, and Cobalt Soft Horizon is the dark option for dark mode. More in this spirit are in our minimalist wallpapers. Windows 10 has no built-in moving wallpaper; for that, see how to set a live wallpaper on PC.