How To Change Windows 8 Start Screen Background

The default Windows 8 Developer Preview Start screen background is not appealing. If you decide to change the background, you won’t find any option under Control Panel for the job. The background image can only be replaced by editing a system file which is a difficult task for most of Windows 8 users.

Windows 8 Start Tweaker is a fantastic utility to change the default Start screen background with a custom one. Unlike other tools, this tool also lets you change Metro background color as well.

Windows 8 Start Tweaker to change the Start screen background

Step 1: Download Windows 8 Start Tweaker zip file from here. Right-click on the zip file and select Extract all option to get Win8StartTweaker.exe file.

Step 2: On the first run, you might see the Chinese language. Worry not! Click on the US flag (located at the bottom right) to change the language to English.

Step 3: Click on the default Start screen background image to select a new image file. For best results, select an image file whose height is double than the screen resolution. For example, if your screen resolution is 1440 x 900, then the height of the image file should be x1800 px.

Step 4: Click on Metro background image to set a new Metro background color. This color covers the logon screen, Start screen search and some other areas.

 

Step 5: Finally click on Apply button to see the change. Click Yes for the prompt to automatically log off and log on your system to apply the changes. Even though the tool lets you restore the original background and color, do make a system restore point so that you can revert to the original Start screen background and Metro color without any issues.

Windows 8 Start Screen Tweaker is a freeware and works great on both x86 and x64 versions of Windows 8. Want to change Windows 8 Metro Start button as well? Check out our how to change Windows 8 Metro Start button guide.