Learn how to change Desktop Images
Start enjoying your own pictures!
When you turn on your computer, there is a default background picture that shows up on your screen. It is often a plain looking picture provided by the manufacturer of your computer advertising their name. If you are lucky, they may have used a picture provided by your operating system software provider, which is usually a little more interesting. However, with just a few steps, you can replace this picture with your own favorite picture from a recent vacation or with any other picture you find on the internet.
Save your picture to the desktop wallpaper folder
Change your desktop wallpaper picture
FYI for Internet Explorer and Firefox users
Did you get a fuzzy desktop image?
Widget for Mac users
Save your picture to the wallpaper folder: The background picture is also known as wallpaper. Save or Copy any digital picture to your hard drive's wallpaper folder by using the following steps:
- Find the picture you would like to use. If you already know how to copy a picture file, skip to step 2 to find the desktop wallpaper folder where you will copy or save the picture. For others, follow steps A or B below.
- If the picture is already saved on your computer:
- Select Window's 'Start' button on the bottom left hand corner of your screen.
- Select 'My Picture' or 'My Documents' to access the location of your picture.
- Single click on your picture file so it is highlighted.
- Select 'Copy this File' from the left hand column.
- If you want to use a picture from an internet web page:
- Right click on the picture to open up a drop-down menu.
- Select 'Save image as' to open a pop-up screen.
- Select the drop-down arrow near the top of the pop-up screen
- If the picture is already saved on your computer:
- Select your hard drive. (By default this is labeled as your 'C:' drive.)
- Then select the folder named 'Windows' which will open a new list of folders.
- Select the folder named 'Web' to open the final set of folders.
- Select the folder named 'Wallpaper'
- Finally, select 'Save' or 'Copy'. The picture is now saved to your wallpaper folder. Follow the steps in the next section to change your current background picture to the new picture you just saved.
Change your desktop wallpaper picture:
- Clear your screen of open files so you can see your computer's background image.
- Right click on the picture to open up a menu list.
- Windows users, select 'Properties'. Vista users, select 'Personalization'.
- Select 'Desktop' from the screen that opened from the previous step.
- You will now see a list of pictures. Many of the pictures came with your computer. Select the picture you saved using the steps in the previous section.
- Select 'OK' and your background image will change to your new picture. Enjoy!
FYI for Internet Explorer and Firefox users: If you right click a picture on a web page, you will see an option to 'set as desktop background'. This will automatically change your background image to the new picture. This is a very quick and easy method compared to the steps above. However, if you change your wallpaper in the future, you will not be able to return to this picture unless you find it again on the internet. Using this method only saves the picture temporarily. It is worth the extra couple steps to save the picture to your wallpaper folder as explained above so you can always use the picture again in the future.
Did you get a fuzzy desktop image?: If you want the image to fit your full desktop screen, the resolution of the image must be just as good as the resolution set for your computer monitor. If not, you will get a fuzzy image. To learn more about your computer monitor's resolution, see our article on web accessibility.
Generally, small pictures you find on the internet have lower resolutions. Try to pick a larger picture or perform a search for computer wallpaper on the internet. With Windows, you can also 'center' or 'tile' the picture, instead of expanding it to fit the whole screen. You can select this option under 'Position', which is on the same screen where you select the image you want to set as your wallpaper.
If you use pictures you've taken with a camera, you should not have any problem with fuzzyness.
Mac users: Apple offers a widget (small software download) to easily change background pictures.
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