Customize the Mac OS X Login Screen
February 22nd, 2007 - Mac OS X, Tips & Tricks, Fun, How to, Customize, 10.5
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:
- 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/ - 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
- 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)
- 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:
- 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) - Find ‘Aqua Blue.jpg’ and rename it to ‘Aqua Blue2.jpg’
- 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’
- 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 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.
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Comments:
Comments: 23
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…
Pingback from dunull.org » MacOS X: Change Background
Time: December 18, 2007, 3:58 pm
[…] http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/22/customize-the-mac-os-x-login-screen/ […]
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.
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