Personalization Reset and Re-register Windows Spotlight in Windows 11


Windows_Spotlight-new_header.webp

This tutorial will show you how to reset and re-register Windows Spotlight for your account in Windows 11.

In Windows 11, you can have Windows Spotlight as a theme and display different background images on your desktop and lock screen, and occasionally offers suggestions on the lock screen.

If Windows Spotlights stops working and/or stops changing the background image, you can reset and re-register Windows Spotlight to fix it.

Windows Spotlight will not work while connected to a metered network (ethernet or wireless), or in Battery Saver mode.

Windows Spotlight requires Background Apps to be turned on.

Country or region and Device setup region must be the same for Spotlight to work.

Region.webp


Sometimes it may take 24 to 48 hours after resetting for Windows Spotlight to sync again.


Another option is to use the Windows spotlight, dynamic images theme.

OR:


apps.microsoft.com

Dynamic Theme - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store

This application is your ideal companion to personalize your experience with a new beautiful picture for your wallpaper and/or your lock screen each day. The pictures are coming from the Bing and Windows Spotlight sources. You can also incrust the description of each picture directly into the...
apps.microsoft.com

EXAMPLE: Windows Spotlight on Desktop and Lock screen

Windows_Spotlight_desktop_background.jpg
Windows_Spotlight_lock_screen.jpg




Here's How:

1 Change your desktop background to something other than Windows Spotlight. (see screenshot below)

www.elevenforum.com

Change Desktop Background to Spotlight, Picture, Solid Color, or Slideshow in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to change the desktop background to a picture, solid color, slideshow, or Windows Spotlight image for your account in Windows 11. You can change your desktop background in Windows 11 to be a picture, solid color, a slideshow, or Windows Spotlight...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

Windows_Spotlight_desktop_background-1.png

2 Change your lock screen background to something other than Windows Spotlight. (see screenshot below)

www.elevenforum.com

Change Lock Screen Background to Spotlight, Picture, or Slideshow in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to change the lock screen background to Windows Spotlight, a picture, or slideshow for your account in Windows 11. The lock screen (aka: welcome screen) is the screen you see at startup and when you lock (Win+L) the PC. You will need to dismiss the...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

Windows_Spotlight_lock_screen_background-1.png

3 Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.

Reset_and_re-register_Windows_Spotlight.zip​


(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code: 
:: Turn on background apps
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications" /v GlobalUserDisabled /f
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v BackgroundAppGlobalToggle /f

:: Reset Windows Spotlight
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

:: Re-register Windows Spotlight
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager* | Reset-AppxPackage"
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS* | Reset-AppxPackage"

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *ContentDeliveryManager*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"

4 Save the ZIP file to your desktop.

5 Unblock the ZIP file.

6 Extract the BAT file from the ZIP file.

7 Run the BAT file.

8 Restart the computer to apply.

9 After you sign in, you can change your desktop background back to Windows Spotlight if wanted. (see screenshot below)

www.elevenforum.com

Change Desktop Background to Spotlight, Picture, Solid Color, or Slideshow in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to change the desktop background to a picture, solid color, slideshow, or Windows Spotlight image for your account in Windows 11. You can change your desktop background in Windows 11 to be a picture, solid color, a slideshow, or Windows Spotlight...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

Windows_Spotlight_desktop_background-2.png

10 Change your lock screen background back to Windows Spotlight if wanted. (see screenshot below)

www.elevenforum.com

Change Lock Screen Background to Spotlight, Picture, or Slideshow in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to change the lock screen background to Windows Spotlight, a picture, or slideshow for your account in Windows 11. The lock screen (aka: welcome screen) is the screen you see at startup and when you lock (Win+L) the PC. You will need to dismiss the...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

Windows_Spotlight_lock_screen_background-2.png


That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 

Attachments

Last edited:
Click to expand...
dmlev said:
@dave56 , have you also copied the US settings to the Welcome screen? You can check it here in my screenshot attached: Reset and Re-register Windows Spotlight in Windows 11

If you haven't then copy the settings and do the script again, it helped me to reactivate the lock screen. Also, just as a test you can create a new test user and to check how it would behave itself and understand if this is with your profile, or with the OS...
Click to expand...
I live in the US though. Is that needed?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11Ryzen 7945HX
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
MSI Raider A18 HX
CPU
Ryzen 7945HX
dmlev said:
@dave56 , have you also copied the US settings to the Welcome screen? You can check it here in my screenshot attached: Reset and Re-register Windows Spotlight in Windows 11

If you haven't then copy the settings and do the script again, it helped me to reactivate the lock screen. Also, just as a test you can create a new test user and to check how it would behave itself and understand if this is with your profile, or with the OS...
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot (88).webp
    Screenshot (88).webp
    398.1 KB · Views: 2

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11Ryzen 7945HX
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
MSI Raider A18 HX
CPU
Ryzen 7945HX
No, all is correct there and should work after the script reset. I did this one just 2 last prompts are slightly different then in the original script. Maybe it will help you. Also maybe it helped me to run with the admin rights, so try that too. Also manually check the folders after the script run that they are empty as sometimes there were still files left somewhere and I deleted those too.

:: Turn on background apps
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications" /v GlobalUserDisabled /f
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v BackgroundAppGlobalToggle /f

:: Reset Windows Spotlight
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

:: Re-register Windows Spotlight
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager* | Reset-AppxPackage"
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS* | Reset-AppxPackage"

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest -Verbose}"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest -Verbose}"

Also have you checked with a new test user if it works?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
dmlev said:
No, all is correct there and should work after the script reset. I did this one just 2 last prompts are slightly different then in the original script. Maybe it will help you. Also maybe it helped me to run with the admin rights, so try that too. Also manually check the folders after the script run that they are empty as sometimes there were still files left somewhere and I deleted those too.

:: Turn on background apps
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications" /v GlobalUserDisabled /f
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v BackgroundAppGlobalToggle /f

:: Reset Windows Spotlight
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

:: Re-register Windows Spotlight
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager* | Reset-AppxPackage"
PowerShell -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS* | Reset-AppxPackage"

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest -Verbose}"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest -Verbose}"

Also have you checked with a new test user if it works?
Click to expand...
It look a little over 24 hours and now the pictures have regenerated in the folder.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11Ryzen 7945HX
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
MSI Raider A18 HX
CPU
Ryzen 7945HX
dave56 said:
It look a little over 24 hours and now the pictures have regenerated in the folder.
Click to expand...
Perfect, sometimes it still needs 24 hours even on lock screen to change that blue background
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
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