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Customize the Mac OS X Login Screen

After several hundred times of logging into your Mac you may be tired of looking at the same old login screen. Maybe you’d like to have a customized login screen for your school or employer’s workstations. Forget the $10 programs that automate the process, we’ll show you how to customize the login screen entirely on your own, for free. It’s not as difficult as you might think, and it’s a fun way to personalize your Mac a bit more. Be sure to check out the screenshot below for an example of the results.

Changing the Login Screen Apple Logo in 10.4 and before

Changing the default Apple logo is quite easy and you can put virtually any 90×90 tif image in it’s place, here’s how to do it through the GUI:

  1. Hit command-shift-G to bring up the “Go to Folder” dialog and paste in the following path exactly:
    /System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgent.app/Contents/Resources/
  2. In this directory you will find a file called applelogo.tif. Make a backup copy of the file ‘applelogo.tif’ by holding down the option key and dragging it to your desktop. this is very important if you want to revert to the default Apple logo
  3. Rename your custom tif logo file to ‘applelogo.tif’ and move it to this same Resources/ folder, you will be asked for the administrator password. Note: it must be 90×90 and a tif file (preferably transparent for best results)
  4. That’s it! Now when you login, your new logo will appear. To revert back to the default Apple logo, follow the same directions and replace the new logo with the original applelogo.tif file that you backed up

Change the Login Screen Apple Logo in 10.5 Leopard

Follow the exact same directions as above, but use this directory instead:
/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgentPlugins/loginwindow.bundle/Contents/Resources
Everything else is the same!

Changing the Login Screen Background Image – 10.4 and before

This is even easier than changing the Apple logo, here’s how to do it:

  1. Hit command-shift-G to bring up the “Go to Folder” dialog and paste the following directory path in:
    /Library/Desktop Pictures/
    (You can also just navigate here on your own through the root of your hard drive)
  2. Find ‘Aqua Blue.jpg’ and rename it to ‘Aqua Blue2.jpg’
  3. Move the JPG file you’d like to be displayed as the login screen’s background image to the Desktop Pictures directory, and rename the file to ‘Aqua Blue.jpg’
  4. Close the folders and log out or reboot, your login screen will now display your new image as the background

This trick works easily because ‘Aqua Blue.jpg’ is the default for the background image, so by placing any JPG file as the same name in the Desktop Pictures directory, it will be displayed instead. Cool huh?

Change the Login Screen Wallpaper Image in Snow Leopard 10.6

Directions for Snow Leopard 10.6 are the same as Leopard 10.5 directly below…

Change the Login Screen Wallpaper Image in Leopard 10.5

Launch the terminal and issue the following commands:

  • cd /System/Library/CoreServices
  • sudo mv DefaultDesktop.jpg DefaultDesktop_org.jpg
  • sudo cp /path/of/image.jpg DefaultDesktop.jpg

Of course, change /path/of/image.jpg to the path of the image file you want to use. Basically what you’re doing here is moving to a folder, backing up the old “DefaultDesktop.jpg” by renaming it, and then copying in the new image and naming it “DefaultDesktop.jpg” instead. This trick works the same as it did in 10.4, just with a different file name and location to work with.

The screenshow below demonstrates the final effects of these tricks:

If you happened to have misplaced, deleted, or forgot to backup the ‘applelogo.tif’ file, click here for a backup of it.

Posted by: Editor

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Comments:

Comments: 73

Comment from niclet
Time: February 22, 2007, 7:57 pm

Hit command-control-G to bring up the “Go to Folder”

Isn’t shift-command-G instead?

Comment from OS X Daily
Time: February 22, 2007, 10:59 pm

oops, thanks niclet

Comment from anon
Time: February 22, 2007, 11:02 pm

great tip. i wonder if there is a “more elegant” way to do this without changing the background to “Aqua Blue.jpg.” I’m thinking that there is probably a way to set a file pointing somewhere to “Crazy Reflection.jpg” or whatever your background file might be.

Either way it doesn’t matter but just thinking aloud.

Comment from adurdin
Time: February 25, 2007, 8:23 am

Yes, open up Terminal.app and write

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture /Users/Shared/Wallpaper-Serenity.jpg

Change /Users/Shared/Wallpaper-Serenity.jpg with the path to whatever wallpaper you want to use, of course — if you don’t know what the path will be, then just drag the file into the terminal and it’ll write out the path for you.

Comment from Vladimir
Time: March 7, 2007, 4:07 pm

adurdin that is awesome I much prefer that over replacing the original JPG file

Comment from Nathan
Time: March 10, 2007, 4:44 am

Could someone please send me all of there os x wallpapers to: natleahy@hotmail.com

Thanks

Comment from Nathan
Time: March 10, 2007, 4:45 am

Could someone please send me all of there os x wallpapers to: natleahy@hotmail.com

Thanks 0000000000000000000000

Pingback from » links for 2007-08-28 | Paul Cowles
Time: August 28, 2007, 2:56 pm

[...] Customize the Mac OS X Login Screen – an ugly but quick hack to change your login screen (tags: mac hacks) [...]

Pingback from box to book at mpty
Time: September 30, 2007, 3:58 am

[...] Login Window Tweak One thing I don’t quite like is the dull blue login window. Or the dull apple for that matter. I normally tweak that by going to location and simply replacing file and file. Firefox I’m on delicious and put it in my Firefox too. I added a custom downloadbar. I upgrade the search engines, which you can control in OSX by holding down the command key while using the up and down key. posted 29.09.07 21:54 PM by mpty tagged dummy stored here [...]

Comment from George Hozendorf
Time: October 30, 2007, 4:37 am

It appears to this novice the files have changed with Leopard. Does anyone have the directory paths for both theses hacks using Leopard? Thanks

Comment from Rick
Time: November 7, 2007, 3:08 am

works in Leopard too, get rid of that hideous purple cloud, sky, space, thing, yuk.

Comment from anon
Time: November 11, 2007, 2:00 pm

@George

The new file is in /System/Library/CoreServices/ and is called DefaultDesktop.jpg.

Always remember to backup files. :)

Comment from HOLOGRAPHICpizza
Time: November 16, 2007, 12:37 pm

The new path to change the apple logo is

/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgentPlugins/loginwindow.bundle/Contents/Resources

Comment from Hans Lecaros
Time: November 23, 2007, 7:47 pm

Where do i get the Old Mac icon in the screenshot above?

Thanks

Comment from Jay Monk
Time: November 29, 2007, 9:18 am

i just realized the potential of being in the folder where the logo is in leopard. you can switch out peoples icons so that the close red ball is now green or any other colour. you can switch out the shut down and restart icons. just screw around with people lol. and yes thanks for the tips.

Comment from Jason Huebel
Time: December 15, 2007, 7:06 pm

Thanks so much for this set of tips. I upgraded to Leopard this evening and was flabbergasted that Apple would use such a hideous background on the login screen. I mean really, all that purple and the lame star field? Back to the nice, quiet, clean Aqua Blue background…

Comment from nico
Time: December 21, 2007, 6:03 am

Easier way to change login screen wallpaper with 10.5.1:
- choose a .jpg image
- name it DefaultDesktop_org.jpg
- bring it in the core services folder (System/Library/CoreServices)
- authentify when system ask for it
- tip password
- choose “replace” …and it’s done, without working in Terminal

Comment from Rough Rookie
Time: December 25, 2007, 11:07 pm

I tried to change the Aurora image at login to a cooler image – Earth…

I did the following;
Change the Login Screen Wallpaper Image in Leopard 10.5
Launch the terminal and issue the following commands:

cd /System/Library/CoreServices
sudo mv DefaultDesktop.jpg DefaultDesktop_org.jpg
sudo cp /path/of/image.jpg DefaultDesktop.jpg

first of all, what is SUDO MV and CP? I presume it’s move and copy?

After doing the Command shift G thing and getting the prompt, I still couldn’t modify the art.

Seems simple…someone please help!

Comment from Rough Rookie
Time: December 25, 2007, 11:14 pm

Sorry for lat submittal…I just read NICO’s 12-21-07 tip and it worked like a freakin charm. No problem, no programming, and it worked perfectly the first time out.

Thanks Nico!

Comment from Seaneee
Time: December 30, 2007, 10:01 pm

So I was able to change the login pic in 10.5, but when I did the icon swap, no dice. Still shows the same old apple logo. Cleaned caches, repaired permissions, restarted. Still same logo. Any ideas?

Comment from Harlan
Time: March 13, 2008, 11:48 pm

@ Seaneee:

I got the same problem… I deleted caches too, and resaved the nib file, no success. Apple must be caching it somewhere….

Comment from Harlan
Time: March 13, 2008, 11:50 pm

Wait! I made it work. I swapped the resources in the 10.4 directory, instead of the 10.5, it worked straight away. Wierd.

Comment from Flynn
Time: May 28, 2008, 10:23 am

Where can i get some tif logos?

Comment from ewrwerw
Time: June 9, 2008, 12:35 pm

sdfdsfs

Comment from show
Time: June 14, 2008, 2:00 am

Thanks so much for this set of tips.

Comment from whoops
Time: July 16, 2008, 9:52 pm

can someone tell me how to restore the login wallpaper to exactly how it was before. Please

Comment from Sean
Time: July 22, 2008, 12:01 pm

anyone know how to change the apple picture in the menu bar at the top of the screen?

I wanna use a rainbow apple I have.

Comment from Sean
Time: July 22, 2008, 12:01 pm

anyone know how to change the apple picture in the menu bar at the top of the screen?

I wanna use a rainbow apple I have.

email me at cid.randell@gmail.com if you know please.

Comment from Flynn
Time: August 2, 2008, 10:08 am

the logo thing worked amazingly but the backround image thing was a catastrophie!

Comment from juju
Time: August 9, 2008, 4:02 pm

Where can you get the old mac icon???? The one from the screenshot above

Comment from Randall
Time: August 14, 2008, 4:05 pm

Bad.

I tried changing the login wallpaper and it went to a default aqua instead of my picture and the original file got misplaced. Now I even tried downloading a program to set the wall paper and it still stays aqua.
Sorely disappointed.

Comment from Chris Davis
Time: September 29, 2008, 6:00 pm

Hey bro’s. Need some help here. I do EVERYTHING that the login background tutorial tells me, but everytime I head over to the login window it stays blue. What up?!?!

Comment from Chris Davis
Time: September 29, 2008, 6:00 pm

Hey bro’s. Need some help here. I do EVERYTHING that the login background tutorial tells me, but everytime I head over to the login window it stays blue. What up?!?!

Please email

cjpdavis@bigpond.net.au

Comment from deBaer
Time: October 21, 2008, 4:57 pm

Make sure that the applelogo.tif is exactly 72×72dpi, else it will be scaled in the most horrible way. (Under X.5)

Comment from cybercarl
Time: November 27, 2008, 3:11 am

In Leopard, does anyone know how, or a site that explains how to change the panel the Apple logo and buttons sit on? I suspect it means altering one of the nib files somewhere, but not sure.

Comment from Peacekeepr
Time: January 2, 2009, 2:04 am

Is there anyway to change the “box” (for lack of a better word) color? I know you can change both the txt and the background image, but i am interested in changing the color and design of the actual login window box.

Comment from cardreader
Time: January 12, 2009, 1:42 pm

I’m having the same problem as chris davis. Followed the tutorial but now, no matter what I do I get a solid blue login screen. The login box is still there, of course. Any help on this?

Comment from Jessicakayla
Time: January 12, 2009, 2:24 pm

The tutorial didn’t work for me, but i have the Aurora screen. And I did it doing both and neither worked, it just stayed the Aurora. Help?

Comment from cardreader
Time: January 13, 2009, 10:17 pm

Jessica…Try here: http://lifehacker.com/355609/customize-your-macs-logon-screen#c4202846 It gives a pretty good explanation.

Comment from Sam
Time: January 23, 2009, 12:19 pm

i changed the nib files and put a quartz composition on it but now whenever i startup my mac it keeps cycling through a blue screen and a blue screen with a loading icon rotating thing. how do i login and reset it or would i have to reinstall os x. please help!

Comment from jesse
Time: March 1, 2009, 8:20 pm

Sam you can probably log in through Single user and restore any nib files that you changed. i just messed up my mac by basically erasing my login window, so i couldnt log in at all. luckily i was able to fix it through booting in single user. i think you just have to hold command S as the computer is booting

Comment from pop
Time: March 5, 2009, 8:04 am

This Is only working when I log out. But when I booting I get only blue screen and poor resolution as well. Does any body know, where could be problem?

Comment from John Jansen
Time: March 12, 2009, 1:29 pm

1 tiny tip for changing you login screen background.

The image you are trying to use must not be in a user specific directory i.e. your “Documents” directory etc. Put it somewhere common to all users

Comment from mEan.MAC
Time: March 17, 2009, 11:02 am

Important Tip:

If you create your images on a PC – it will not work. This maybe one of the reasons this trick does not work.

I created my images on a PC (using Photoshop). I was then able to use Graphic Converter on my Mac and re-save the images. Once I did that it worked.

Comment from Michael Pescetto
Time: March 30, 2009, 10:22 pm

Does anyone know how to take a screenshot of the login window like they did above? I tried the command+shift+3, but it has no desktop to save to, and I’m pretty sure that it’s a launchd that doesn’t start till you’re logged in.

thanks.

Pingback from My OS X Login Screen ;) « Brandon’s Blog
Time: April 2, 2009, 12:28 am

[...] want to back this up, copy it somewhere safe in case you need it again. Another method is described HERE if you don’t want to replace the original file and you don’t mind using your [...]

Comment from jacob
Time: April 9, 2009, 7:20 am

jacobandellis

Comment from jacob
Time: April 26, 2009, 5:35 pm

djhdfhddbfb

Pingback from Loginox | Urban Mainframe
Time: May 16, 2009, 2:31 am

[...] login image of your Macintosh can get boring after a while. While it has always been possible to change the login wallpaper, it’s a convoluted process and a little intimidating for the [...]

Comment from E Sheldon
Time: August 20, 2009, 6:11 am

For those with the blue screen: You may have to change the ownership of DefaultDesktop.jpg after copying.

From the terminal:

sudo chown root DefaultDesktop.jpg

Comment from T Davis
Time: August 29, 2009, 11:55 am

Can we get this updated for Snow Leopard?

Comment from T Davis
Time: August 29, 2009, 7:17 pm

Never mind. Apparently its all the same. It hadn’t occurred to me that upgrading would just set them back to default. I’m embarrassed at how obvious that is.

Comment from Logan
Time: September 17, 2009, 10:16 pm

Go to http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b8153bbc83d3e8b6d2db6fb9a8902bda to download New Login Screen v1.0.zip. it contains a FREE program to change the background of the login screen in less than 30 seconds!

Comment from Bryan
Time: October 26, 2009, 6:50 pm

I did the above instructions to change my Login Background for Mac OS X 10.6. Both files DefaultDesktop.jpg and DefaultDesktop_org.jpg changed to the image I wanted. But now my login screen is just a blue screen. What went wrong?

Comment from bobbytomorow
Time: November 11, 2009, 8:52 pm

thanks now I, like many others, have a plain blue screen as a login image >:(

Comment from Anon
Time: December 16, 2009, 4:33 am

Ditto on the blue screen. Can’t even rename the default background from DefaultDesktop_org.jpg to DefaultDesktop.jpg.

Comment from RootyMcRooter
Time: December 16, 2009, 11:31 am

if you are having problems with a blue screen it is likely a permissions issue, make sure you copied it over properly as sudo

by default users do not have access to anything in /System because it is so easy to mess things up, Apple did this on purpose to avoid problems.

same thing with the file name, if you can’t rename it, it’s permissions (need admin access, which is why command says sudo)

you can do all this through the GUI as well, just Get Info on the DefaultDesktop.jpg image and click the lock icon under Sharing & Permissions to unlock it and be able to change the image

Comment from RootyMcRooter
Time: December 16, 2009, 11:35 am

this works too apparently

set new:

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow
DesktopPicture “/path/to/background/image.jpg”

revert:

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow
DesktopPicture “/System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg”

Comment from Anon
Time: December 16, 2009, 2:53 pm

Fixed permissions, and tried Rooty’s second suggestion as well. Still blue = (

Comment from Anon
Time: December 16, 2009, 3:31 pm

Had to use a free trial of the $5 software Visage Login to finally get rid of the blue login screen. http://keakaj.com/visagelogin.html

Comment from Hotha Dweller
Time: December 16, 2009, 3:36 pm

@Anon

You probably corrupted the plist file com.apple.loginwindow.plist

They are fickle

Comment from Hotha Dweller
Time: December 16, 2009, 3:40 pm

Oops posted too soon, com.apple.loginwindow.plist is located in

~/Library/Preferences/

and

/Library/Preferences/

Two different files.

Make a backup of com.apple.loginwindow.plist and rename it to something like com.apple.loginwindow.plist-backup

Rebooting will rebuild the file usually

Comment from mccoytest
Time: January 1, 2010, 10:19 am

I have to admit I did not read ALL the comments on changing the login screen for 10.6 but here’s my $.02:
1) follow the first two instructions
2) instead of the the third, create a link to a file in your wallpaper directory. It doesn’t have to exist (yet) The following syntax is a good example:
sudo ln -s /pictures/Wallpapers/myCurrentLoginScreen DefaultDesktop.jpg
3) that’s all the sudo’s you need; then go to your wallpaper directory and create another soft link from the filename you chose to an existing image, like this:
ln -s SwirlGreenOnBlack.png CurrentLoginScreen
4) there is no 4, but now you can change your login screen easily, any time you want, by removing the CurrentLoginScreen link and resetting it to a new image.

Comment from Pavyon
Time: January 13, 2010, 2:21 pm

hey, that’s cool :)

Comment from zorro
Time: January 16, 2010, 6:01 am

Xes, viva la revolution

Comment from harry
Time: January 19, 2010, 6:54 pm

Found this one as background. Only 1440×900 for 15″.
He scares the intruders. ;-)

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/2689/defaultdesktop.jpg

Pingback from Change the Mac Login Screen Background – OS X Daily
Time: January 25, 2010, 6:59 am

[...] Customize the Mac OS X Login screen [...]

Comment from Phil
Time: February 9, 2010, 3:41 pm

So I have this really sweet desktop background right now, and I set my login screen to be the same image b/c that’s how sweet it is. Then I thought “what if I could link them so whenever I change my desktop, it also changes my login screen?!”

The first thing that came to mind was to create a symlink/alias to the desktop image and drop it in place of the DefaultDesktop.jpg. So I found the plist file where that’s located:

defaults read com.apple.desktop
or
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

But I can’t figure out how to access the right node of that object. It’s buried in Background.default.ImageFilePath (I come from javascript land, so I usually access nested objects with dot syntax). Does anyone know how I can retrieve that property in terminal?

Does that seem like it would work? Or am I oversimplifying a task that is way to complex to be worth the time in the first place?

Comment from Bo
Time: February 23, 2010, 10:48 am

Does anyone know what the hex color code is for the background of where the logo icon is placed? It doesn’t appear that .tif images can be transparent and I would like the background to match.

Comment from whorider
Time: February 24, 2010, 9:44 pm

Fix Permissions:

sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/CoreServices/Your_New_Wallpaper_Name

Comment from John Doe
Time: March 5, 2010, 6:17 am

I would like to know how I could change the Mouse Position on the Login Screen, I find it a bit of a drag bringing down the mouse from the upper left corner of the screen, plus I want to know how to change the cursor speed on the Login Menu as well. Lets say for example for the new Position of where the mouse begins I want it to be at the center of the screen or have it sitting else where thats near the Login Window, to make things easier.

Thanks :)

Comment from nick
Time: March 7, 2010, 2:14 pm

i tried this~~ “nicholai-mitchkos-macpro31:~ nm$ sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture “/Users/nm/Desktop/Mac.jpg”

2010-03-07 16:12:52.191 defaults[577:a0b] _CFGetHostUUIDString: unable to determine UUID for host. Error: 35

can anyone help me change it i run snow leopard 10.5.5

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February 22nd, 2007