How to get Windows 7 logon wallpaper to tile to other monitors?

windows-7 multiple-monitors login lock-screen

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Solution 1

I'm afraid this is not possible, as far as I'm aware the login GINA screens are only written for a single display source, thus preventing you doing what you are intending to do.
There may be some obscure tool out there to do it but I'm certainally not aware of one and have not come across one in over 6 months of looking, albeit on and off. ( I was trying to do the same on some of our Designers PC's)

on the plus side though there are many open source GINA's out there. perhaps there is one that suits our needs. i was reading an interesting article about them earlier: http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/security/pgina-open-source-gina-replacement.aspx

Solution 2

I believe you cannot display any logon wallpaper on the secondary (or third, etc.) monitor. The logon screen is only designed to show on the primary.

Solution 3

This is truly a limitation of Windows 7, introduced in Vista - it used to work in XP.

Even the DisplayFusion developers say :

The Windows 7 logon screen has no dual-monitor capability whatsoever, so we can't even develop a custom solution for it.

Your only option for screen lock (not logon) is a product such as the Clear lock freeware.

Solution 4

I have found a work around on Windows 8. (However still nothing on Windows 7)

Where you set the lock screen wallpaper.

(Settings>>Change PC Settings>>PC and Devices>>Lock Screen)

Enable the slideshow feature. Place desired wallpaper in its own folder and direct the slideshow to that folder only.

The image seems to slightly zoom in and slides image across screen. However will show up on all screens this way. Instead of the empty black screen on addition monitors.

Solution 5

As a counterpoint to this question, something you may not have considered, logon screen images are sometimes not such a good idea.

If you ever perform remote support, or your users log in remotely using Remote Desktop Connection (or a similar alternative) then you'll have plenty of time to regret that logon screen image while you wait for it to paint the screen.

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Oskar Duveborn

Ten year old .NET developer with a seven year history as a devop sys admin and IT-manager now doing VR game development and community management. First game released in 2012 on Xbox 360 is due for a re-release on the Steam platform and is called Eat my Shuriken and Die! Enjoys: virtualization, streamlining people, processes and policies, solving actual business problems with system integration and development and taming that bear to outperform even the best human dancers, creative demo parties like Easterparty. Current challenges: Unity, VR SDKs, organizing the very best tech events, working part-time for efficiency and enjoying life Personal hobbies: science, space, electronics, graphics, game development, UX and UI design, 3D modeling, animation, video editing, LEGO MOCs, social adventures in general and PC gaming. Mostly active at Serverfault

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Oskar Duveborn over 1 year

In 2000/XP/Vista it was easy to set a wallpaper for the logon screen, either manually through tools like Logonstudio or simple registry changes by hand on prepared installation images or through custom group policies.

In Windows 7 all this works as usual, but the secondary (or any additional) monitor is just black. The mouse pointer is visible on it but no matter what settings I can't get the logon wallpaper to tile (or stretch or fill or whatever) over onto it.

This makes it hard to OEM/company brand the installation for multi-monitor users. More annoying is the fact that it looks officially supported to brand the logon wallpaper in Windows 7 - as it's made extremely easy... apart from this little catch. XP and Vista has no problem tiling or stretching the logon wallpaper over multiple monitors.
- sheldonhull over 14 years
  
  I have triple, and only shows 2 on bootup, with one with the logon window. I think that's normal due to the graphics card settings not loading till logon right? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
- Oskar Duveborn over 14 years
  
  Well I get the same problem if I log on and then just lock the computer - after logging in and everything initializing fine.
- Oskar Duveborn almost 14 years
  
  I wonder if the Win7 logon/lock screen simply isn't using the graphics driver for security reasons (secure screen)? It could make sense though it's very graphic in nature and renders nicely at high resolutions which seems a bit weird if that were the case (and the fact that it worked in Vista which seems to have the same secure screen otherwise)
- Tamara Wijsman over 13 years
  
  For branding purposes you might want to consider a screensaver solution, I don't think there is any easy way to get the wallpaper to tile.
- Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 over 9 years
  
  Here in 2014, this situation still exists in Windows 8(.1). :)
- cowlinator almost 4 years
  
  Still a problem with Windows 10. This is by far my biggest problem with Windows, and it causes me frustration frequently. I use a laptop, and move around a lot, and my configuration of external monitors and whether the laptop lid is open changes frequently. Windows never really seems to know the correct monitor to make the primary display (well, how could it?). Fine. So now I'm left with black screens. Is the computer on? Is it on the lock screen? Are the monitors or HDMIs not working Is there a display adapter problem. OMG, would be so simple if all screens showed something at login.
- cowlinator almost 4 years
  
  Even a solution where "duplicate these displays" is used at the login screen would be helpful.
Oskar Duveborn over 14 years

Launch logon studio vista (vista version required) in compatibility mode for Server 2003 and it will work on Windows 7 - including the stupid browse button ^^
Oskar Duveborn over 14 years

Still of course, Windows 7 blatantly refuses to stretch the wallpaper over any secondary monitors - it's weird as Vista did it flawlessly... :/
Bee over 14 years

Even in compatibility mode it (logonstudio) doesn't work for me in 64bit. I still can't come across anything other than a single post saying that WINLOGON was only written with a single primary display as its focus, so it won't show on both monitors just the primary.
Oskar Duveborn over 14 years

download.cnet.com/LogonStudio-Vista/…
Bee over 14 years

Oskar, it appears after a little more research that the only "workaround" has been to use horizontal/vertical span in the graphics card to span the desktops. Unfortunately, from what I've read horizontal spanning isn't supported or even available in Win 7...possibly with ATI's "Eyefinity" but not with nvidia. Seems lots of people are upset, more for gaming than a logon screen though.
Oskar Duveborn over 14 years

Point taken ^^ Though I don't let the remote desktop client draw background images by policy anyway... at least not when using RDP and ICA - no idea how stuff like VNC handles that but I don't use'em so.. meh ;)
Django Reinhardt over 14 years

RDP doesn't draw background images unless you explicitly tell it to.
ThatGraemeGuy over 14 years

VNC can be told to ignore them too.
Oskar Duveborn over 14 years

Well that blows, it worked so well in Vista... one wonders why they didn't just turn the other monitors off then - but nooo, they decided to display a black background on them. Brilliant! Not ^^
Medinoc over 4 years

This does not seem to work on Windows 10, the slideshow still shows only on my primary monitor.