Restore the Default Windows Lock Screen in Windows 11

What the default 🪟 Windows 11 lock screen is

The lock screen is the full-screen image you see when the PC starts, wakes from sleep, or locks with Win+L. Three things make up the default setup:

• Background: Windows Spotlight, which shows a changing set of photos and can add tips and suggestions.
• Lock screen status: a small widget showing detailed information from one app. Weather is the usual default on a fresh install.
• Sign-in screen background: the same picture shows behind the sign-in box after you dismiss the lock screen.

Changing the background to Picture or Slideshow does not delete anything. Spotlight stays available, so you can switch back at any time.

Restore the default lock screen from Settings

This method puts the background back to Windows Spotlight. It works on Windows 11 Home and Pro, and it needs no administrator rights. Wording can differ slightly between Windows 11 builds, but the layout stays the same.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.

   

2. Select Personalization in the left pane. The Personalization page opens with a list of options such as Background, Colors, and Themes.

   

3. Select Lock screen. The page shows a preview of your current lock screen at the top, with a Personalize your lock screen dropdown below it.

   

4. Open the Personalize your lock screen dropdown.
5. Select Windows Spotlight. The preview changes to a Spotlight photo. Windows may need a few seconds to download the first image, so the preview can stay blank briefly.

   

If the dropdown lists only Picture and Slideshow, or the whole page is locked, go to the "If Windows Spotlight is missing or greyed out" section below.

Reset the lock screen status and sign-in screen options

Two more settings on the same page are part of the default look. Check them if the lock screen still looks different from what you remember.

1. On the Lock screen page, find the Lock screen status dropdown. This controls which app shows detailed information, such as the weather, on the lock screen.
2. Open the dropdown and select Weather. The list also offers None and other apps, depending on what you have installed. If you want no widget, choose None.
3. Scroll down to Show the lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen.
4. Turn the toggle On. The same background then appears behind the sign-in box after you dismiss the lock screen.

If you see a Get fun facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen checkbox, it applies to the Picture and Slideshow modes. You do not need it while Spotlight is selected.

Check that the lock screen changed

1. Press Win+L. The screen locks and the lock screen appears with your Spotlight image and the status widget.
2. Press any key or click to dismiss it. The sign-in screen appears with the same background, if you turned on the sign-in toggle.
3. Sign in to return to your desktop. You do not need to restart Windows for these settings to apply.

If Win+L takes you straight to the sign-in box with no lock screen image at all, the lock screen has been disabled. See "Bring back a lock screen that has been turned off".

If Windows Spotlight is missing or greyed out

Settings can hide or lock the Spotlight option for several reasons. Work out which one applies before changing anything else.

Settings says "Some settings are managed by your organization"

A work or school PC, or a PC where someone applied a policy, can lock the lock screen options. The message appears at the top of the page and the dropdown is greyed out or missing options. This is not a fault, and Settings cannot override it.

Ask your IT administrator to change or remove the policy. On a personal PC, a tweak tool or an old script may have applied a policy years ago. The registry section below covers the one policy value on this subject that is safe to check yourself.

Spotlight is selected but the picture never changes

Spotlight downloads its photos from Microsoft, so it needs a working internet connection. If the PC has been offline or the download stalls, you may see one fixed image or a fallback picture. Do this to nudge it:

1. Open Settings › Personalization › Lock screen
2. Change Personalize your lock screen to Picture. The preview switches to a still image.
3. Open the dropdown again and select Windows Spotlight. Windows requests a fresh image.

   

4. Lock the PC with Win+L and check the result. The image may take a short while to refresh, and a new photo often appears the next time you lock the PC.

If the picture still does not change, check that the PC is online and try again later. No further fix is confirmed for this yet, so none is listed here.

Bring back a lock screen that has been turned off

If the lock screen never appears, a value named NoLockScreen may be set in the registry. When it is set, Windows skips the lock screen and goes straight to the sign-in screen. Removing the value restores the normal lock screen. Registry Editor (the built-in tool for viewing and changing Windows configuration entries) works on both Home and Pro, but this step needs an administrator account because the value sits under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (the part of the registry that applies to every user on the PC).

The steps below export a backup first so you can restore it.

The value in question is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization\NoLockScreen

The key is everything before the last backslash. NoLockScreen is the value inside it.

Settings has no route for this fix, so use Registry Editor instead. Settings has no option to turn the lock screen back on. This section uses Registry Editor only.

1. Press Win+R, type regedit, and press Enter. This opens Registry Editor.
2. Select Yes if User Account Control asks for permission. This requires administrator rights. If you are not an administrator, Windows asks for an admin password. If you do not have one, stop here and ask the PC's administrator.
3. Click the address bar below the menu and paste HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization, then press Enter. The left pane jumps to the Personalization key and the right pane lists its values.
4. If you get a message that the key cannot be found, or if the right pane has no NoLockScreen value, this fix does not apply. Close Registry Editor and use the Settings steps above instead.
5. Select File › Export to back up the key. Choose a location, name the file personalization-backup.reg, and select Save.
6. Right-click the NoLockScreen value in the right pane and select Delete.
7. Select Yes when Registry Editor asks you to confirm. The value disappears from the list.
8. Close Registry Editor and restart the PC.
9. Press Win+L after you sign in. The lock screen should now appear.

If the lock screen is still missing after the restart, the value may have come back. A policy (a rule set by an employer or school) can rewrite it each time Windows reapplies its rules. This happens on PCs managed by an employer or school. In that case only the administrator who applies the policy can fix it.

To undo the change, double-click personalization-backup.reg and confirm the merge. Restart the PC afterwards.

Switch back to your own picture later

Restoring Spotlight does not remove your earlier choices. To go back to a custom image, open Settings › Personalization › Lock screen, set Personalize your lock screen to Picture, and choose one from the recent images or select Browse photos. For a rotating set of your own photos, choose Slideshow instead. The change applies the next time you lock the PC.

What to do next

Lock the PC with Win+L now and let the lock screen sit for a moment to confirm that the Spotlight image and status widget appear. A feature update or a refreshed work policy can change these options again, so recheck Settings › Personalization › Lock screen after a major update. If the page shows the managed-by-your-organization message again, the administrator who set the policy is the person to ask.