How to Change the Desktop Background in Windows 10 and 11

Windows 10 and Windows 11 both let you change the desktop background from Personalization settings. You can use a picture, a solid color, a slideshow, and—where available—Windows Spotlight.

Change the background from Settings

Right-click an empty area of the desktop and select Personalize.
Select Background.
Under Personalize your background, choose the background type you want.

Picture

Choose one of the recent images or select Browse photos to pick another image from your PC.

You can also right-click an image file in File Explorer and choose Set as desktop background.

Solid color

Choose Solid color, then select a color from the available palette.

Slideshow

Choose Slideshow, then select a folder that contains the images you want Windows to rotate through. You can also configure the change interval and shuffle behavior.

Windows Spotlight

On supported Windows configurations, Windows Spotlight can show a changing Microsoft-selected desktop image.

Choose how a picture fits the screen

For picture and slideshow backgrounds, Windows provides several fit options:

Fill — fills the screen but may crop the image
Fit — shows the complete image and may leave borders
Stretch — fills the screen by changing the image proportions
Tile — repeats a smaller image
Center — displays the image at its original size in the center
Span — spreads one image across multiple monitors

Multiple monitors and virtual desktops

Windows can apply different pictures to different physical displays when using a picture background. Windows 11 also supports assigning different picture backgrounds to different virtual desktops.

Some combinations have limitations—for example, slideshow backgrounds and per-monitor/per-virtual-desktop behavior do not support every arrangement.

Windows 10 note: Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. The personalization steps remain useful on existing Windows 10 PCs, but Microsoft no longer provides normal free security updates for the operating system.