How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

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Start Screen is one of the new thousand features introduced in Windows 8. With the personalization options, you can change or customize the Windows 8 Start Screen. Now consider the following scenario:

Your Windows 8 OS has multiple users on the same computer. You want that each user use the same Start Screen background – and you want to disallow users from changing it. In that case you have to prevent other users to change the Start Screen background. So how can you disable the option to change the Start Screen?

Disable Start Screen Change In Windows 8 How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

In this article, we are going to share with you the a trick which will let you disable Start Screen changing option. There are two ways to do it: Using the Registry Editor and using the Group Policy Editor.

Using Registry Editor

1. Press the Windows Key + R simultaneously and put regedit in Run dialog box.

2. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Personalization

Disable Start Screen Change In Windows 8 1 How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

3. Now right-click in right pane of the window. Create a DWORD value and name it “NoChangingStartMenuBackground”.

4. Right click on above created DWORD value, select Modify. You will got this window:

Disable Start Screen Change In Windows 8 2 How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

5. Now you can use following values for Value data section:

Enable Start Screen Background Change =  ’0′ (Default Setting)

Disable Start Screen Background Change =   ’1′

6. Close Registry Editor and reboot to see results.

Using Group Policy Editor

NOTE : This option for using group policy is only available in the Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise editions.

1. Press Windows Key + R combination and put gpedit.msc in Run dialog box.

2. In the left pane navigate to:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization

Disable Start Screen Change In Windows 8 3 How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

3. Now look in the right pane, you’ll got the policy named Prevent changing start menu background as shown above.

4. Double click on this policy to get the window shown below.

Disable Start Screen Change In Windows 8 4 How To Disable Change Start Screen Background Option In Windows 8

5. Now you can use following settings:

Allow Start Screen Background Change =  Disabled/Not configured (Default Setting)

Disable Start Screen Background Change =  Enabled

After making changes click Apply followed by OK.

That’s it. Reboot to see the results.

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Kapil is passionate Windows blogger who loves to write about Windows tricks, tips and customization. He loves to help people in troubleshooting their problems.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=624934146 Mina Magdy

    I didn`t get Personalization under “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft Windows Personalization”

    help me please!!!

  • Matthew

    Neither do I. This option is not there in the retail versions. I think you need to add the key.

  • Kapil Arya

    At the time of posting the article, we have tested it on Windows 8 Release Preview. Now, as far as I Know, the key exists in Windows 8 Pro. In case, you don’t find the key in Windows 8 retail versions, then create it manually. You can also use Group Policy Editor as mentioned in the article :)