How to save Windows Spotlight images for your wallpaper or phone

Hello,

This was somewhat helpful.  But after following the above instructions, some of the pictures cannot be opened.  How do I resolve that?

I would like to request that you identify where on our earth each picture was taken, so that we can visit some of them.  Beautiful.  Thank you.

Hi, 

pressing shift + right click didn't work for me. 

I get a somewhat different window to open. and can't manage to make files into .jpeg

This is what I get:

and then, as I type Ren *.* *.jpg like you've said, it doesn't work. 

this is what I get:

can you help? 

tnx

Marina Hi... This is a forum article and whilst comments are invited it is not the correct place to request help. There is another approach to this and I'll be happy to help but you need to ask a question by clicking the Ask link at top right of page... Ric.

For general info - the picture files contained in this folder include other image files - only the larger files are spotlight images (two of each in landscape and portrait modes) and they change on a daily basis so there will only be a small number in the folder at any one time. - R. 

EXACTLY!  Marina P!  

This is what I get now too... don't know how to fix either...  :(

The PowerShell module takes in different command strings than the command prompt does. My dad is a programmer and helped me figure out how to do this same command with PowerShell and it is as follows:

Dir | rename-item -newname  { $_.Name +".png" }

alternatively, you can change the part inside the quotation marks with any file extension type you prefer, such as: .jpg, .jpeg, etc.

It's obnoxious, but you can manually change each file name. Just right click, Rename, and put .jpg at the end of each.

Here's what worked for me:

4. Windows Spotlight "scrambles" the files, so we need to change them back to the .jpg file type. Here's how:

- Press the Windows key on your keyboard (usually between CTRL and ALT on the left) + R to bring up the Run box. Type "cmd" (without the quotes) to bring up the Command Prompt window. In the command prompt window, type the following command and press ENTER: cd\pathname of the folder you copied the files to, then type the following command and press ENTER: Ren *.* *.jpg

For instance, I copied the files to a new folder in Pictures, called "Spotlights", so my pathname would be C:\Users\MyProfileName\Pictures\Spotlights

If you have "Display the full path in the title bar" checked as a Folder Option, you can highlight the pathname and Copy it, then Paste it in the Command Prompt window step above.

Once I got the pictures copied to the new folder, I went through and deleted all the non-wallpaper pictures, usually anything <150KB. You can decide if you want to rename the remaining pictures to something a little more comprehensible. ;)

Hi, 

pressing shift + right click didn't work for me. 

I get a somewhat different window to open. and can't manage to make files into .jpeg

This is what I get:

and then, as I type Ren *.* *.jpg like you've said, it doesn't work. 

this is what I get:

can you help? 

tnx

Marina P,

I ran into the exact same issue.  I got around it by opening a command prompt and using the command cd/ (change directory) with the name of the directory I wanted to get to.  Once I got to the correct directory, I was able to run the command as stated above.

Hope that helps.

OK, I tried this command and got the following error.

PS C:\Users\Paul\OneDrive\Pictures\Windows Spotlight Images> Dir | rename-item-newname { $_.Name + ".jpg" }
rename-item-newname : The term 'rename-item-newname' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file,
or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and
try again.
At line:1 char:7
+ Dir | rename-item-newname { $_.Name + ".jpg" }
+       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (rename-item-newname:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

I then copied the command above and pasted it into the Power Shell window and it converted all the pics into .png files. I missed a space on the command when I typed it. Unfortunately, the photo I want wasn't there. And today was the first time I saw it! Frustrating.