Have you ever wished that you could put your own picture instead of the welcome screen when booting up Windows XP? Follow the simple instructions below to do just that!

Prior to explaining how to change the background of Windows XP welcome screen you must have at least basic knowledge of the Windows OS, in particular - Windows registry. If you do not have any experience with the adjustment of the registry, it is better to use the help of someone more experienced, or did not go further. Even that if you just follow the next steps you will be able to change the welcome screen background but it is on your own risk.
Now we have that straighten the first step is to access the registry. Go to Start > Run, then type "regedit" in the run box. Navigate to the wallpaper entry: HKEY_USERS > .DEFAULT > Control Panel > Desktop

If you are unsure how to do that check this article:

Howto make changes to Windows registry

Double click the wallpaper value. Type in the full path of your image and the filename. The wallpaper graphic must be a bitmap file (.bmp), not a JPEG or other graphic format.

To find the path, go to the image you want. Right click the image and select Properties from the drop down menu. Look for the path next to the word "Location" in the Properties window. Remember that the filename will need to be written after the last place in the path. Separate this by using a backslash mark.


You can set your image to be either tiled or stretched across the screen. If you want to tile the image set the TileWallPaper value to 1. If you want to stretch the wallpaper set the WallPaperStyle value to 2. Another way to get the wallpaper tiled is to set the TileWallPaper value to 1


Close the registry and restart your computer. You will notice the changes when you log off or upon restart.