How to set the PRE LOGON screen on windows 8.1

Is it the shade that you slide upwards to get to the password/user choice screen?

Shawn,

Thanks for getting back to me. I am trying to build a Windows 8.1 image on a pc ( no touchscreen) So if I logout of the computer it is the screen that I see there. I know how to set the lock screen and of course your basic desktop wallpaper. I am referring to the screen after you logout.  With windows 7 you easily did that via a registry hack and simply put your background.jpg in oobe\info\backgrounds and named it Backgrounddefault. I read in a forum here that windows 8 no longer allows you to customize that as you could with windows 7. I would like to know if that indeed is accurate

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/a8db890c-204f-404a-bf74-3aa4c895b183/cant-customize-lock-or-logon-screen-backgrounds?forum=W8ITProPreRel

I hear you, but when you logout and it goes back to an image, it's still an image that you can drag up (the one that show the time and icons at the bottom), right?

As I understand it, that is displayed using the same lock screen as the screen the user would normally see when logged in (with screen locked).

If no user is logged in (fresh boot or logged out), the image used there is determined by a default set in the default template user profile (the user profile in the registry under the HKEY_Users and ".default" key).

I'm not presently where I can research to get the exact key, but I'm about 94% sure that's how to change it. I'll get back to you.

Shawn,

The lock screen is different. It does not affect the look of the Pre-logon screen. I need to come up with a solution if there is one. As I mentioned with Windows 7 companies could brand their own logo design so that it was visible as a background at the ctrl alt del logon screen.

So the screen you're seeing doesn't have the clock on it, or slide upwards when you drag it with your mouse?

I'm not sure how to invoke the screen you're seeing.  What steps do I take to see what you see?  I'm sure there's a way to get what you're wanting but I'm not understanding what you're looking at.

I don't think you can set the one with the logon box, I don't think it paints any graphic at all, just a solid fill color.  But the shade screen with the clock can be set with the default (no logged in users) lock screen discussed here (finally found it).  http://superuser.com/questions/505989/how-to-change-default-login-lock-screen-of-windows-8

But remember; if a user is actually logged in and they lock their session, the screen shown will be theirs and not the default (although you can force theirs with group policy also).

The path in the registry does not exist

HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization\lockscreen

the other way suggested here I cannot alter permissions to access the dir

  Navigate to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\ReadOnly\LockScreen_Z\" and replace that picture. You will also need to add permission to "System" to read it.

I was able to alter permissions and set the pre-logon desktop jpg by doing this

"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\ReadOnly\LockScreen_Z\" and replace that picture. You will also need to add permission to "System" to read it.

When I click on that I get a logon prompt but the screen is all blue. IS there a way to also have that set with a custom.jpg?

... 

 Navigate to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\ReadOnly\LockScreen_Z\" and replace that picture. You will also need to add permission to "System" to read it.

It is amazing how many techies cannot understand this question/issue!  In Windows 7, it was the screen where you press ctrl+alt+del to get to the login box; it was blue with whisps.  In Win 8+, it is the screen prior to a clean login, or after sign-out; in Win 8 it was the Space Needed illustration; in Win 8.1 it is the curved color stripes. 

These Win8+screens cannot be changed w/o the above solution (so far).  Now can this be done on a Surface?

Personalization Settings should give us a Sign Out Screen background feature!!