How to Change Wallpaper on Windows 11 (2026 Steps)

To change the wallpaper on Windows 11, press Windows + I to open Settings, go to Personalization, then Background, and pick an image under Choose a photo. That takes about four clicks, and the same menu also controls the fit, the slideshow and multiple monitors.

The steps below use the menu names of Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2, which match on Home and Pro, on a laptop and on a desktop PC. If a setting is missing on your machine, the last section explains why.

How to change wallpaper on Windows 11 in Settings

1. Right-click an empty part of the desktop and choose Personalize, or open Settings with Windows + I and click Personalization.
2. Click Background.
3. Next to Personalize your background, choose Picture. The other options are Solid color, Slideshow and Windows spotlight.
4. Click one of the Recent images, or click Browse photos and open your own file.
5. Under Choose a fit for your desktop image, select Fill.

The desktop changes as soon as you pick the image. There is no Save button. Windows keeps a copy of the file, so the wallpaper stays even if you later delete the original from Downloads.

The fastest ways: File Explorer and Photos

If the image is already on your PC, you do not need Settings at all. In File Explorer, right-click the file and choose Set as desktop background. Select several images first and Windows turns them into a rotating set.

In the Photos app, open the image, click the three dots in the toolbar, then Set as. From there you can apply it to the background or to the lock screen.

On a Mac the route is different, and our guide on changing the desktop wallpaper on a Mac covers it. If you also use a school laptop, there is a separate walkthrough for changing the wallpaper on a Chromebook.

Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center or Span

The fit decides what Windows does when the image and the screen have different shapes.

Fill is the right default for a 16:9 wallpaper on a 16:9 screen. On a 16:10 laptop, such as one with a 2560 × 1600 panel, Fill trims a thin strip from the left and right edges, which a well composed wallpaper hides easily.

Change the lock screen wallpaper on Windows 11

1. Open Settings, then Personalization, then Lock screen.
2. Next to Personalize your lock screen, choose Picture (or Slideshow).
3. Click Browse photos and pick the image.
4. Clear the box for fun facts and tips if you want only your picture, without text from Microsoft.

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

Set up a wallpaper slideshow

Put the images you want into one folder first. Then go to Personalization, Background, choose Slideshow and click Browse to select that folder.

Under Change picture every you can choose intervals from 1 minute to 1 day. Turn on Shuffle the picture order so the folder does not always play in alphabetical order. On a laptop, the option to keep the slideshow running on battery is off by default, which saves a little power.

A slideshow works best when the pictures share a mood. Five calm Japanese scenes or five dark abstracts feel like one set; a random mix of photos feels like a screensaver.

Rain Bridge4K · DesktopPine Coast4K · DesktopSnow Village4K · DesktopCranes at Dawn4K · DesktopPlum Moon4K · Desktop

These five woodblock style desktop wallpapers share one indigo and parchment palette, so they make a natural slideshow folder.

A different wallpaper on each monitor

Windows 11 can show a different image on each screen. Set Personalize your background to Picture, then right-click a thumbnail under Recent images and choose Set for monitor 1, Set for monitor 2 or Set for all monitors.

The images you want must be in Recent images first, so pick each one once with Browse photos. To stretch one wide picture across both screens instead, choose the Span fit.

What size of wallpaper to use on Windows 11

Check your real resolution in Settings, System, Display, under Display resolution. Scaling such as 150 percent changes the size of text, not the number of pixels the wallpaper has to fill.

A wallpaper should be at least as large as that number. A 3840 × 2160 (4K) image covers 1080p, 1440p and 4K monitors, because Windows only has to scale it down. For a 5K display, look for a 5120 × 2880 original. Our PC wallpaper size guide lists the common laptop and monitor resolutions, including ultrawide.

Velpaper desktop wallpapers are 3840 × 2160 or 5120 × 2880 JPEG files, free to download from velpaper.com with no account. On Windows you use the website; the apps are for iPhone, Android and Mac. Pick one, save it, then use any of the methods above.

Rose Pulse Arcade5K · DesktopPeach Spiral Atrium5K · DesktopGraphite Passage4K · DesktopSage Sun Gallery5K · Desktop

Rose Pulse Arcade and Graphite Passage suit dark mode and a dark taskbar. Peach Spiral Atrium is the light option for a bright desk. For more wide architecture, our Gaudí wallpapers come in desktop versions too.

When the wallpaper option is greyed out

Windows is not activated. An unactivated copy shows the message that you need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC, and the Background page is locked. Right-clicking an image in File Explorer and choosing Set as desktop background usually still works.

A work or school PC. If the page says some settings are managed by your organization, the wallpaper is set by policy. Only the administrator can change it.

The image looks softer than the file. Windows recompresses JPEG wallpapers to save space, and on smooth gradients you may see faint banding. Advanced users can raise the quality with a DWORD value named JPEGImportQuality set to 100 under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Control Panel, Desktop in the Registry Editor, then set the wallpaper again. If you are not comfortable editing the registry, leave it; on most photos and paintings the difference is hard to see.

You want a moving wallpaper. Windows 11 has no built-in video wallpaper. Windows spotlight changes the picture daily, and third-party apps such as Lively Wallpaper or Wallpaper Engine add animation.