Today, we’ll talk about how to change your background on Mac. It may seem the most straightforward thing to do on Mac, but we’ll show you some useful tips to quickly change the background on your Mac and save valuable time. Also, this article is written for those users who regularly change their background on Mac. In this article, you’ll also get information about how to change screen savers and background pictures on Mac.
Contents
Complete Guide On How To Change MAC Background
How to change the wallpaper on Mac-1
You can easily change the wallpaper on your Mac from your browser, if you are surfing images in a browser; follow these steps to change the wallpaper
- Right-click on the picture you want to set as a wallpaper on your Mac.
- Now select the ‘Use image as Desktop Picture’ option from the menu.
How to set wallpaper on Mac-2
You can easily pick any picture from your Mac and set it as your wallpaper, follow these steps to see how to set wallpaper
- Navigate to the image you wish to set as your wallpaper.
- Right-click on the picture and select Services to open another list of options.
- Now select the Set Desktop Picture to set that picture as your wallpaper on Mac.
How to change the desktop background on Mac-3
If you want to change your background picture to a standard one, you need to follow these steps
- Right-click on your desktop or double-click on your MacBook touchpad
- Select the Change Desktop Background option from the menu
- A window with Desktop Preferences will pop-up
- Choose the picture you wish to set as your background
You can also navigate to the Desktop and Screen Saver window from the System Preferences
You can also set your own picture as a background on your Mac; you need to navigate to the picture in the pictures or Photos folder. You can also select a folder of images by clicking the + sign and adding the folder of your choice.
If you have chosen a folder of images that is situated on an external drive, disable it from your Mac and your background will automatically change to the standard one. You can also choose a particular day to automatically change the background picture on your Mac; you need to tick the box that says Change Picture and select a specific day for it.
How to change the screen saver on Mac
You can also change your screen saver on Mac just like the background picture; you can select a screen saver of your own choice that will be displayed when your Mac is not in use. Most of the Mac users don’t like the standard screen saver and want to change it to a screen saver of their own choice. Follow these steps to change the screen saver on your Mac;
- Navigate to the System Preferences window
- Select the Desktop and Screen Saver option
- Now select the Screen Saver tab
- Choose a screen saver of your own choice
How to change the login background on Mac
You can also change the login background on your Mac just like your screen saver and desktop background, but this one requires a different procedure. The procedure also varies according to the macOS version you bring into play. This process is completely different and not that simple as changing your desktop background or screen saver. We have two different procedures of how to change your login background on Mac; one is for macOS Catalina and another for macOS Mojave.
How to change the login background on macOS Catalina
If you’re a macOS Catalina user, first you’ll need to turn OFF the System Integrity Protection to be able to change the login background on your Mac. Follow these steps to see how to change the login background on your Mac.
- First of all, you’ll need to choose the image that you want to use as your login background, JPEG or PNG format.
- Now confirm that the image fits the resolution requirements of your screen.
- You can check your display size from the Apple Menu.
- In the Apple menu, select About this Mac and then switch to the Displays tab where you’ll see the size of your screen
- Rename the chosen file as Catalina.heic
- Now you’ll need to restart your system in recovery mode
- Hold the Command + R key shortcut on startup
- Launch the Terminal from the Utilities tab in the Menu bar
- Now enter the following command in your Terminal window: csrutil disable
- Reboot your system and login as an administrator
- Now open the Terminal window again
- Enter the following command: sudo mount -t apfs -wu /dev/disk1s5/Volumes and then sudo mount -wu /; killall Finder
- You may be asked to enter your administrator password for this step
- Now open the Finder and navigate to Macintosh HD/System/Library/Desktop Pictures
- Find the renamed file in this folder and rename it again, such as oldCatalina.heic
- Move the image to the Desktop Pictures folder
- Now relaunch the Terminal window and enter the following command: diskutil apfs updatePreboot /
- Reboot your system to see your new login background wallpaper
- After changing the login background, enable the System Integrity Protection that we disabled at the start of this process.
- To enable it again, you’ll need to restart your Mac in recovery mode by holding the Command + R shortcut in the startup
- Launch the Terminal window and enter the following command: csrutil enable
How to change the login background on macOS Mojave
The process of changing the login background on the macOS Mojave version is much simpler and trouble-free. You don’t need to disable the System Integrity Protection in this process. Follow these steps to see how to change the login background on macOS Mojave version
- First of all, you’ll need to choose the image that you want to use as your login background
- Now confirm that the image fits the resolution requirements of your screen.
- You can check your display size from the Apple Menu.
- In the Apple menu, select About this Mac and then switch to the Displays tab where you’ll see the size of your screen
- Rename the chosen file as Mojave.heic
- Open the Finder and press Command + Shift + G key
- Navigate to /Library/Desktop Pictures/
- Find the renamed file in the folder and rename it again, for instance, Mojave_old.heic.
- Now move the image to the Desktop Pictures folder, you may be asked to enter your administrator password for this step
- Reboot your system to see your new login background wallpaper
Conclusion
We told you about two different procedures on how to change your background, login background and screen saver on your Mac. It may be a simple task, but these procedures can save you some precious time. Modify your Mac by changing backgrounds and screen savers to make it even more pleasing.
