Spotlight collection, which was available exclusively for the lock screen, is now available for the Windows 11 desktop as well.
What are Windows Spotlight collection pictures?
For users who are not familiar, Windows 11 now allows users to set curated Bing search images as desktop and lock screen backgrounds. Windows 11 automatically downloads and applies new backgrounds each day. The Spotlight collection feature can be turned on by navigating to Settings > Personalization > Background/Lock screen and selecting Spotlight collection.
The Spotlight collection brings new beautiful images to your Windows 11 desktop and lock screen each day.
At times, when you come across a beautiful picture, you might want to save it. Unfortunately, as you might have noticed by now, Windows 11 does not let you save Spotlight collection desktop and lock screen backgrounds.
When you right-click on the Spotlight desktop or lock screen background, it does not offer the save option. Although the Learn about this picture icon on the desktop can tell you more about the picture and where it was taken, it does not exactly help you save the current desktop background.
Although Windows 11 does not offer a direct way to save Spotlight pictures, it downloads Spotlight pictures to your PC. Downloaded Spotlight collection pictures are kept in the drive where Windows 11 is installed.
This guide will show you how to save Spotlight collection desktop and lock screen pictures in Windows 11.
Location of Spotlight collection desktop and lock screen pictures in Windows 11
Windows 11 saves all Spotlight collection desktop and lock screen pictures in the following location:
%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets
But if you visit that folder, you might not find any images. Read on to know how to get the Spotlight images.
NOTE 1: Windows 11 automatically deletes old spotlight collection pictures. So, you may not be able to save old images.
NOTE 2: You must have admin rights to access the location/folder where the downloaded spotlight collection images are saved.
NOTE 3: Both Spotlight lock screen and desktop pictures are stored in the same location.
Save Spotlight desktop and lock screen pictures in Windows 11
As said above, all downloaded Spotlight collection images are saved in %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets folder. Here is how to save them.
Step 1: Open the Run command box using search or Windows + R hotkey.
Step 2: In the Run command box, copy and paste the following path and hit the Enter key to open the folder containing all Spotlight collection images.
%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets
Step 3: Although the Assets folder contains recently downloaded images, including the current desktop and lock screen spotlight pictures, they are not saved in viewable JPG or PNG image formats. You need to convert them to JPG or PNG formats to view them.
Step 4: So, copy and paste all files from that folder to a new folder (create a new folder) on your desktop.
NOTE: We can convert files in the Assets folder to JPG or PNG (without copying them to a separate folder), but doing so might make the current desktop/lock screen background turn black.
Step 5: Now, open the new folder on the desktop containing copied files, right-click on an image file, click Rename, and then add .JPG or .PNG at the end of the current file name and then hit the Enter key to save it.
Now, open the file with the Photos, Windows Photo Viewer or any other image viewing program to check if it’s the picture that you want to save.
Note that you need to repeat this step for all the images in the folder until you find the image file you want to save. Once you find the picture/wallpaper you want, please copy and paste it to a location of your choice. That’s it.
The desktop and lock screen Spotlight pictures are usually 1920 x 1080. So, they might not be perfect for 4k screens.
Download previously featured Windows Spotlight collection pictures
If you are unable to find an older Spotlight collection picture, you might be able to find the same with third-party apps. XSpot and SpotBright are the two good apps that can help you high quality Windows Spotlight collection wallpapers.
Both these apps are free and available to download from the Windows 11 Store.
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