How to Save Windows Spotlight Images in Windows 11

Windows Spotlight Windows Spotlight allows your desktop background and lock screen to automatically download beautiful, random images from around the world. These pictures often look like the ones found on the Bing search page. While Windows saves these images on your computer, it does not make them easy to find or use for your own projects.

Why do this? Sometimes you see a stunning landscape or a unique photo on your lock screen and want to save it to use as a wallpaper or share with friends.

What happens when done? You will have a new folder filled with all those high-quality images ready to view or use however you like.

How to find and save Windows Spotlight images

Follow these simple steps to grab the images hidden in your system files.

1. Open the Windows Terminal app and select the Command Prompt tab.
2. (Admin privileges required) Run the following command to create a new folder in your Pictures directory:
   
   md "%UserProfile%\Pictures\WindowsSpotlightImages"
3. (Admin privileges required) Copy the hidden image files to your new folder by running this command:
   
   copy "%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets\*.*" "%UserProfile%\Pictures\WindowsSpotlightImages"
4. Once you see a success message, move into your new folder with this command:
   
   cd "%UserProfile%\Pictures\WindowsSpotlightImages"
5. Finally, turn those files into usable images by running this command:
   
   ren * *.jpg

You can now open your Pictures folder and look for the WindowsSpotlightImages folder. You will see all your saved images there as JPEG files.

Summary

Windows Spotlight downloads beautiful images to your computer for your lock screen and desktop background. By using the Terminal, you can copy these hidden files into a folder in your Pictures directory and rename them as JPEG files. This makes them easy to find, view, and use whenever you want.