// you’re reading...

Computer


How To: Change The Log On Screen Saver In Vista

By Matthew Michaels ⋅ November 9, 2007 ⋅ Email This Article Email This Article ⋅ Print This Post Print This Post ⋅ Post A Comment
vista-screensaver-change.jpg

The other day I wrote about how you could select a default account to automatically log on to and skip the user account screen saver, in this post I will explain how to change the default screen saver set in the user account panel.You can choose by a select amount of screen savers that come incorporated with vista or search google for websites with free screensaver downloads.


1) Click on Start to open the Start Menu.

2) In the search box type regedit and press Enter.

3) When the UAC prompt comes up, click Continue.

4) In regedit, go to: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

5) In the right panel, right click on SCRNSAVE.EXE and click Modify.

6) Type in the full path to the screen saver you want to use. eg: C:\Windows\System32\Aurora.scr

7) Click OK or press Enter.

8) Close regedit.

Here is a list of the full path address to the screen savers that come incorporated with vista:

» C:\Windows\System32\Aurora.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\Bubbles.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\logon.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\Mystify.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\PhotoScreensaver.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\Ribbons.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\ssBranded.scr

» C:\Windows\System32\ssText3d.scr

» C:\Windows\SysWOW64\logon.scr <---Default

Actually a while ago I discovered that a few of the screen savers came with hidden settings you can access them through regedit aswell, follow the step explained in this tutorials if you are interested.

Also Read:

Spread The Word:
[Ask] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Furl] [Google] [Ma.gnolia] [Mixx] [MySpace] [MyWeb] [Reddit] [Sphere] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] More »

Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Rate This Article:


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 1 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
Post's TagsTags: , , , ,

Discussion

4 comments for “How To: Change The Log On Screen Saver In Vista”

  1. Here’s how to change the logon screensaver to use the PhotoScreensaver in Vista to display images at the logon screen.

    1. Begin with a new Vista image.

    2. Put the PC on the network and logon as Administrator.

    3. Right click on the new desktop, click Personalize, Screen saver

    4. Select Photos and change the Wait time to 1 minute (for quicker test)

    5. Click Preview to make sure it works, click Apply, OK

    6. Wait 1 minute and allow the Screen saver to run once.

    7. Escape out of the Screen saver and return to the logged on desktop.

    8. Click Start, in the Search bar type Regedit and open the Registry editor.

    9. Expand HKEY_USERS

    10. Expand the top S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx key

    11. Navigate down to SoftwareMicrosoftWindows Photo GallerySlideshowScreensaver

    12. Right click on FolderPath and Modify to C:UsersPublicPictures

    13. Navigate back up to SoftwareMicrosoftWindows Photo Gallery

    14. Right click on the Windows Photo Gallery key and click Export and give it the name of Photo and save to the desktop

    15. Navigate back to HKEY_USERSS-1-5-21xxxx-xxxxControl PanelDesktop

    16. Right click on the Desktop key and click Export and give it the name of 521Desktop and save to the desktop

    17. Close Regedit and return to the Desktop

    18. Right click on the exported Photo.reg and click on Edit

    19. When the file opens in Edit mode, highlight the entire S-1-5-21-xxxxx-xxxx string and copy (Ctrl+C)

    20. Click on Edit, Replace

    21. In Find what: press Ctrl+V to enter the entire S-1-5-21-xxxx key name

    22. In Replace with: enter .DEFAULT (yes, include the dot)

    23. Click File, Save as and name the edited file DefaultPhoto (needs to remain .reg NOT .txt)

    24. Repeat the process of editing Photo.reg and this time edit to replace the S-1-5-21-xxxx key name with S-1-5-19

    25. Save this edited file as Photo519 (needs to remain a .reg NOT .txt)

    26. Repeat the process of editing the 521Desktop.reg file and save one edited file as 519Desktop with the respective edits (find & replace w/ S-1-5-19); save a second edited file as DefaultDesktop with the respective edits (find & replace w/ .DEFAULT)

    27. Right click on the PhotoDefault.reg file (on the Desktop) and click Merge, Continue, Yes, OK

    28. Right click on the Photo519.reg file (on the Desktop) and click Merge, Continue, Yes, OK

    29. Right click on the 519Desktop.reg file (on the Desktop) and click Merge, Continue, Yes, OK

    30. Right click on the DefaultDesktop.reg file (on the Desktop) and click Merge, Continue, Yes, OK

    31. Continue in Regedit and Expand HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop

    32. In the Desktop settings (in the right pane) Right click on ScreenSaveTimeOut and Modify the time to desired length of time

    33. Repeat the process in HKEY_USERSS-1-5-19Control PanelDesktop and use the same time entered for .DEFAULT

    34. Close regedit, restart the PC. Once the PC is at the logon screen, wait for the photos to appear after the amount of time set (in ScreenSaveTimeOut).

    [Reply]

    Matthew Michaels Reply:
    October 17th, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Thanks for posting that, I’m sure many will find it useful :)

    [Reply]

    Posted by nottmb | October 17, 2008, 12:55 am

    2. Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  2. windows vista screen savers | December 26, 2007, 11:23 am
  3. windows vista screen savers | January 30, 2008, 12:17 am

Post a comment

Polls

What do you think of the new design?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Chat With Me Live

Author Bio

Matthew

Hello!, Matthew is awesomely cool with tons of knowledge and lots of experience in blah blah blah ...he doesn't like writing about himself cause it always seems to come out sounding self-centered, instead he will write this in a third person which most authors do anyway...perhaps it's because it makes us sound important cause it gives the illusion someone (non biased) thinks so highly of us they took some time off their own to write this :).Read more about me here...

Add me to one of the following:

Matthew On MySpaceMatthew On FacebookMatthew On Stumble Upon