Policy
Force a specific Start background
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows81, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016
Forces the Start screen to use one of the available backgrounds, 1 through 20, and prevents the user from changing it. If this setting is set to zero or not configured, then Start uses the default background, and users can change it. If this setting is set to a nonzero value, then Start uses the specified background, and users cannot change it. If the specified background is not supported, the default background is used.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
No explicit registry values are set for enabled or disabled states.
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Scope | Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | Background ID: ID StartBackgroundSpin | decimal | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization Value name ForceStartBackground Type REG_DWORD | Range: ? to 20 |