How to change the windows 7 splash screen / lock screen

Contributed by Haresh Karamchandani

A Client brought a Dell Laptop that he had received as a gift from a friend in the USA. The Windows 7 Splash Screen would display the friends name and logo. Our client wanted to get this removed.

We browsed the internet and came across this http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/52395-63-change-windows-splash-screen-lock-screen.

Here is a quick guide to customize the windows 7 startup screen.

1. Click start type regedit and hit "enter"

2. Right click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and select "find"

3. Type OEMBackground and hit "enter"

(the path should be:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background )

(if it is not there you need to create it*right click on background and select new DWORD name it OEMBackground set it from 0 to 1)

4. Double left click on "OEMBackground" and change the value from "1" to "0"

5. Click start and type "%windir%\system32\oobe"

6. In the oobe folder create a folder named "info"

7. In that folder create a folder named "backgrounds". Now rename your picture that you want displayed: durning logon/lock screen backgroundDefault.jpg

Everything is case sensitive so if you have to copy and paste the names. the picture needs to be under 244kb. 

The trick is to get a picture under the 244kb.

Right click on the picture and select "open" with > select paint

Press "ctrl+w"

This will bring up a box under horizontal and vertical select the amount you want to reduce the picture in %.

"Restart" the computer.

No name will appear in the start-up Windows 7 splash screen!