Windows 10 Wallpaper in a Picture Frame
Microsoft

Windows x includes a nice selection of default wallpapers, only it's easy to lose track of them if y'all decide to use custom wallpaper. If y'all'd like to utilize the default images again, here's how to find and use them.

The Case of the Hidden Wallpapers

Here's the trouble: in new installations of Windows, the wallpaper selection in Settings > Personalization > Background points to the default wallpaper files. At that point, you can easily change between them by using the Scan feature.

Only, if you decide to apply a series of your own wallpapers stored in a custom location and you come up back later to change the wallpaper, the defaults will take been pushed out of the five most recent images shown every bit thumbnails in Settings. Even worse, Windows will not remember where the default wallpaper files were stored when you lot click "Scan." Yous'll need to notice them again.

How to Locate and Use Windows 10's Default Wallpapers

Windows 10's default desktop wallpapers are stored in C:\Windows\Web. This folder usually contains subfolders named afterward different wallpaper themes (such every bit "Flowers" or "Windows") or resolutions ("4K").

If you lot've lost runway of this folder in Windows Settings, here's how to get it dorsum. First, open Windows Settings and navigate to Personalization > Background. Just beneath the section that says "Choose Your Picture," click on the "Browse" button.

An open dialog will pop upwards. Type C:\Windows\Web into the address bar at the top and hit enter. You lot can likewise just browse to this folder from the C: drive.

Browsing the Windows 10 default wallpaper directory

The folder shown in the open dialog will change. You can then navigate through the subfolders to pick the image you'd like to utilize every bit your desktop background. When yous're done, select the file and click "Choose Flick."

If you'd like, you lot tin as well open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\Web, then copy the default image files to a better location—such as the Pictures folder in your User account. You can and so detect the wallpapers more easily in the futurity.

Looking for the original wallpaper that came with Windows ten instead of the nighttime-lite 1? Y'all'll have to download it from the web instead.

RELATED: How to Go Windows 10's Former Default Desktop Background Back

More Windows 10 Wallpaper Tricks

If you're a fan of beautiful wallpaper like us, you can search for cool wallpapers online, use Bing's Daily Photos every bit wallpaper, or even change your wallpaper based on the time of day. And if you run a multi-monitor setup, you can choose a different wallpaper for each monitor. Accept fun!

RELATED: How to Open up File Explorer with a Keyboard Shortcut on Windows 10