Windows 10: Windows 10 Lock Screen Slide Show Displays Old Images - Cannot Change for the life of me

Windows 10 Home, Version 1903, OS build 18362.836


Ok, I don't know how many hours I've spent trying to resolve this issue, but it has been way too many. This is maddening.


I've spent hours and hours perusing the many threads on this forum and other sites complaining about variations of this same issue. The issue is that when my screen locks and begins displaying the slide show, it's using a couple of very old pictures stored somewhere on my computer, though I have no idea where not for a lack of trying to figure out where they are stored. The pictures it uses are not in the folder that I select when I select a custom folder to use for the lock screen slide show.


I have implemented many of the strategies other people have used to achieve success in getting their lock screen to actually work like they want it to. None of those strategies have worked for me. This issue dates back years. There are threads from at least 2015 talking about this same sort of issue. Apparently, Microsoft hasn't fixed it in all this time. Seems like it'd be a fairly simple fix.


The only way I can get the slide show to display anything other than the two very old images it uses is to select the "Screen" folder form \Windows\Web\Screen as the lock screen slide show folder. When I do that, it will display the standard five Windows-issued photos located in Screen. However, if I select any folder other than Screen, the lock screen slide show will display two particular old images stored in some mysterious location on my computer. I don't know and I can't find where that location is.


I have tried the process of gaining ownership of the photos individually in the Screen folder and then deleting them. That will remove that particular picture from the slide show line up.


However, if I add pictures to the Screen folder, the slide show does not use them.


If I rename one of the images that I add to the folder with the name of one of the existing standard Windows images Ie Img101, Img102, etc, it will not display my image that I renamed, but will instead display the Windows-issued image that bore that name before I deleted it even though I deleted that image.


Apparently, the Windows-issued image doesn't actually delete. For example, if I delete the Windows-issued blank blue png Img105 in Screen and rename one of my own images as Img105, the slide show will display the blank blue Img105 that was deleted, not my image. But, if I simply delete the blank blue Img105, it will not show up in the lock screen slide show.


I've gone through and set the Background image on the Lock Screen settings page under Picture to my own image, and then repeated the process five times with my own images as recommended in one thread. Apparently that worked for some people. Not for me.


I have gone into Registry Editor and tried to figure out which folder it's using to dig up the old photos of mine that it's using. No luck. I've searched every way I can think of to try to find where those two old photos are on my computer that it's using for the lock screen slide show if I select anything other than the Screen folder. No luck.


One Microsoft thread had me add a registry entry about the slideshow via Registry Editor. I did that. Changed nothing.


One thread recommended reconfiguring Windows search features. I did that. Didn't work.


I've tried five or six other fixes recommended on Microsoft and other sites. Nothing works.

In short, over the course of several weeks, I've spent at least 12 hours trying to figure this out I know, let it go, right?. Shouldn't be this hard.


What am I missing? How do I get Windows to simply show the pictures from the folder that I select in the lock screen slide show?


Below are my lock screen settings.



:)

 

How to Display the File Path of Images Displayed by the Lock Screen Slide Show?

We enjoy viewing the random images in the “Pictures” folder using the Lock Screen Slide Show.
Unfortunately with thousands of images finding the one displayed can be impossible.
Is there a method, tweak, or app to superimpose the path to the image being displayed? Or a keyboard shortcut to freeze the slide show and display the image’s path?

 

Windows 10 Lock Screen Slide show only shows on 1 monitor

Windows 10 pro clean install.

I have configured the lock screen to a slide show. However, The images are only showing on the primary monitor and not the secondary.

In W8.1 the slide show displayed on both.

Where is the setting to fix this?

TIA

 

Can't Change Lock Screen Image

I've seen a report of someone claiming to fix this via
SFC /scannow
from an elevated (admin) command prompt
but that didn't work for everyone.

Please see ideas here:
Fix : Unable to change Lock screen Picture / stuck user account picture in Windows 8 | TroubleShoot Windows
More here:
[Fix] Lock Screen Slide Show Feature Not Working in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 - AskVG

Check for any differences wrt to Win 10.

Given your timescale I appreciate System Restore would not be likely to be relevant, and even restoring a disk image (we strongly recommend disk imaging for recovery and backup) would be inconvenient.

Good luck!