This worked for me. The first script that fixes Lockscreen Spotlight to refresh daily, if it isn't.

Hi, I am by no means tech-savvy; however, my employers, a small business with fewer than 10 employees, asked me to evaluate and test the built-in Copilot feature in Windows to see if it could streamline processes in our office. I was selected for this bc as their research consultant and data analyst, and I'm essentially the only employee using a laptop throughout the day!

As a way to familiarize myself with software that I have never been trained on, I decided to address a problem that has plagued my HP laptop for over a year. I could never get the default blue lock screen to refresh, as in the spotlight feature, to work, including its daily refresh of new backgrounds.

I created an account here to share the script that Copilot generated, as all the fixes I attempted over the years came from this site. Any Google searches I conducted usually led me back here, so I thought it would be helpful to share this solution with others who may be experiencing the same issue.

Below is the script. It indicated that it should be run in PowerShell as an Administrator.

--Sarah

# ============================================================
# Reset-WindowsSpotlight.ps1
# This script resets Windows Spotlight (the lock screen refresh feature)
# by clearing its cache, re-registering its package, and re-enabling
# the rotating lock screen background in Windows 11.
#
# IMPORTANT:
# - Run this script as Administrator.
# - Ensure no Group Policy or enterprise management is imposing
# a custom lock screen.
#
# Tested on Windows 11 24H2 (May 2025 release).
# ============================================================

# Check for Administrator privileges.
if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal] [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")) {
Write-Error "This script must be run as Administrator. Exiting."
exit 1
}

Write-Output "Starting Windows Spotlight reset process..."

# Step 1: Define paths for Spotlight cached assets and settings.
$spotlightAssetsPath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
$spotlightSettingsPath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

# Step 2: Delete cached images and settings.
if (Test-Path $spotlightAssetsPath) {
Remove-Item "$spotlightAssetsPath\*" -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Write-Output "Cleared Spotlight Assets: $spotlightAssetsPath"
} else {
Write-Output "Spotlight Assets folder not found at: $spotlightAssetsPath"
}

if (Test-Path $spotlightSettingsPath) {
Remove-Item "$spotlightSettingsPath\*" -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Write-Output "Cleared Spotlight Settings: $spotlightSettingsPath"
} else {
Write-Output "Spotlight Settings folder not found at: $spotlightSettingsPath"
}

# Step 3: Re-register the Windows Spotlight package.
Write-Output "Re-registering Windows Spotlight package..."
try {
Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | ForEach-Object {
Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -ErrorAction Stop
}
Write-Output "Successfully re-registered Windows Spotlight."
} catch {
Write-Error "Error re-registering Windows Spotlight: $($_.Exception.Message)"
}

# Step 4: Ensure that Windows Spotlight (rotating lock screen) is enabled.
$registryPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager"
if (-not (Test-Path $registryPath)) {
New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force | Out-Null
}
# Enable the rotating lock screen background.
Set-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "RotatingLockScreenEnabled" -Value 1 -Type DWord
Write-Output "Enabled rotating lock screen background in registry."

# Step 5: Refresh group policies and system parameters.
Write-Output "Refreshing group policies and system parameters..."
try {
gpupdate /force | Out-Null
rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True
Write-Output "Policies and system parameters updated."
} catch {
Write-Warning "Unable to fully refresh system parameters. A restart may be required."
}

Write-Output "Windows Spotlight reset process complete."
Write-Output "Please restart your computer to ensure all changes take effect."

Welcome to the forum. I do believe I remember several threads regarding spotlight refresh. It is very kind of you to share your solution. Since not only is the forum searchable, your thread will also show up in web search, so we appreciate any and all input that may help anyone coming to the forum for assistance. Thank you.

DuguaySarah94 said:

Write-Output "Windows Spotlight reset process complete."
Write-Output "Please restart your computer to ensure all changes take effect."

Click to expand...

Typically, a restart isn't required. The user needs to log out and logon again.

DuguaySarah94 said:

I could never get the default blue lock screen to refresh, as in the spotlight feature, to work, including its daily refresh of new backgrounds.

Click to expand...

I've carefully made sure that the PCs I look after keep to a plain single colour lock screen. So I won't be testing this.

What is interesting is that copilot assumes that ordinary users belong to the administrators group. If you use a separate administrative account, then the script probably won't work, as clearing the cache and settings and fixing the registry entry to enable the rotating lock screen are per-user settings, but these will be done to the administrator account, not the user whose lock screen isn't rotating.

Skeptic Mike said:

What is interesting is that copilot assumes that ordinary users belong to the administrators group. If you use a separate administrative account, then the script probably won't work, as clearing the cache and settings and fixing the registry entry to enable the rotating lock screen are per-user settings, but these will be done to the administrator account, not the user whose lock screen isn't rotating.

Click to expand...

A workaround is to create an elevated scheduled task, which runs the script on behalf of the user, and then provide the user a shortcut or batch file to call the task. This has been covered several times on this forum with other desktop fixes.

Yes. Don't believe everything Copilot suggests... Always test.

garlin said:

A workaround is to create an elevated scheduled task, which runs the script on behalf of the user,

Click to expand...

So, how do you pass the identity (SID) of the user to the scheduled task? In this case you can use the scheduled task only for the part that requires elevation. But there are cases where you'd need to pass that information. I thought it might be possible by creating an event which logged the user ID and using an event trigger for the scheduled task, but didn't follow that up.

One solution (which follows the 80/20 rule) is to check who's logged on. This doesn't work so well if you have inbound Remote Desktop Sessions or user switching going on, but it's good enough for 80% of normal home users.