#1 2018-06-24 08:44:32

0-day

Member

Registered: 2015-10-04

Posts: 154

change background at login

How to change background login?

ohnonot

...again

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 5,592

Re: change background at login

https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?qu … background

doxanthropos

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Registered: 2016-01-26

Posts: 32

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Re: change background at login

In BL, you can easily find and edit the config for the login by using the menu under "System" -> "Login Settings".

Just find the file that is called lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf and edit the line that says background=something.

0-day

Member

Registered: 2015-10-04

Posts: 154

Re: change background at login

# LightDM GTK+ Configuration
# Available configuration options listed below.
#
# Appearance:
#  theme-name = GTK+ theme to use
#  icon-theme-name = Icon theme to use
#  background = Background file to use, either an image path or a color (e.g. #772953)
#  user-background = false|true ("true" by default)  Display user background (if available)
#  transition-duration = Length of time (in milliseconds) to transition between background images ("500" by default)
#  transition-type = ease-in-out|linear|none  ("ease-in-out" by default)
#
# Fonts:
#  font-name = Font to use
#  xft-antialias = false|true  Whether to antialias Xft fonts
#  xft-dpi = Resolution for Xft in dots per inch (e.g. 96)
#  xft-hintstyle = none|slight|medium|hintfull  What degree of hinting to use
#  xft-rgba = none|rgb|bgr|vrgb|vbgr  Type of subpixel antialiasing
#
# Login window:
#  active-monitor = Monitor to display greeter window (name or number). Use #cursor value to display greeter at monitor with cursor. Can be a semicolon separated list
#  position = x y ("50% 50%" by default)  Login window position
#  default-user-image = Image used as default user icon, path or #icon-name
#  hide-user-image = false|true ("false" by default)
#
# Panel:
#  panel-position = top|bottom ("top" by default)
#  clock-format = strftime-format string, e.g. %H:%M
#  indicators = semi-colon ";" separated list of allowed indicator modules. Built-in indicators include "~a11y", "~language", "~session", "~power", "~clock", "~host", "~spacer". Unity indicators can be represented by short name (e.g. "sound", "power"), service file name, or absolute path
#
# Accessibility:
#  a11y-states = states of accessibility features: "name" - save state on exit, "-name" - disabled at start (default value for unlisted), "+name" - enabled at start. Allowed names: contrast, font, keyboard, reader.
#  keyboard = command to launch on-screen keyboard (e.g. "onboard")
#  keyboard-position = x y[;width height] ("50%,center -0;50% 25%" by default)  Works only for "onboard"
#  reader = command to launch screen reader (e.g. "orca")
#
# Security:
#  allow-debugging = false|true ("false" by default)
#  screensaver-timeout = Timeout (in seconds) until the screen blanks when the greeter is called as lockscreen
#
# Template for per-monitor configuration:
#  [monitor: name]
#  background = overrides default value
#  user-background = overrides default value
#  laptop = false|true ("false" by default) Marks monitor as laptop display
#  transition-duration = overrides default value
#
[greeter]
#background=
#user-background=
#theme-name=
#icon-theme-name=
#font-name=
#xft-antialias=
#xft-dpi=
#xft-hintstyle=
#xft-rgba=
#indicators=
#clock-format=
#keyboard=
#reader=
#position=
#screensaver-timeout=

0-day

Member

Registered: 2015-10-04

Posts: 154

Re: change background at login

solved with lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings

nore

>2⁹

From: squirrels' nest

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 538

Re: change background at login

Like doxanthropos just told you, edit line 48 right after [greeter]. Change

#background=

to something like

background=/usr/share/backgrounds/whatever.jpg

Make sure to include full path to your image.

And please, please learn how to use code tags when posting!

Last edited by nore (2018-06-24 14:11:53)

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 12,962

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Re: change background at login

There is also an "alternative" method for the specific login background image setting:
menu>System>Edit Debian Alternatives
and look for bl-login-background. You can hit the [+] button to set the path to some image as an alternative to /usr/share/images/bunsen/login/default.png

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Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,581

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Re: change background at login

solved with lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings

I didn't realize this had made it into stretch, nice!

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johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 12,962

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Re: change background at login

^Add to our default apps list? It would mean editing the menu too...

---

...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
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Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

hhh

Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,581

Website

Re: change background at login

I'm all about GUI settings. Put it on the discussion list.

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GalacticStone

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From: Oort Cloud

Registered: 2020-07-26

Posts: 132

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Re: change background at login

I know this is an old thread, but I tried looking for the following file to edit and it wasn't there. Has the name/location changed or does this method not work now?

I'm looking to change the background on the startup login screen. Thanks!

There is also an "alternative" method for the specific login background image setting:
menu>System>Edit Debian Alternatives
and look for bl-login-background. You can hit the [+] button to set the path to some image as an alternative to /usr/share/images/bunsen/login/default.png

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Daily Driver : Lenovo Ideapad 3 (8G RAM, 250G SSD, Boron)
Workstation : HP Slim Desktop (4G RAM, 1TB HDD, Boron)
Past hardware : Commodore 64, TRS-80, IBM 8088, WebTV

hhh

Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,581

Website

Re: change background at login

In the Main Menu, navigate to System Settings>Login Settings. That will open a GUI and you can change the wallpaper there. Save, close, then logout.

I actually don't know what the checkbox "Use user wallpaper if available is available" is about, but the image you use has to be moved out of your home directory and into a system directory (I use /usr/share/images). Open Thunar File Manager, type /usr/share/images and hit Enter, then right-click an empty space in that folder and choose "Open as root". Now open another instance of Thunar and navigate to the wall in your home directory and you'll be able to cut/paste or copy/paste into the root directory. At least, that's one way to do it.

Last edited by hhh (2025-06-01 20:20:05)

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I don't care what you do at home. Would you care to explain?

GalacticStone

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From: Oort Cloud

Registered: 2020-07-26

Posts: 132

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Re: change background at login

In the Main Menu, navigate to System Settings>Login Settings. That will open a GUI and you can change the wallpaper there. Save, close, then logout.

I actually don't know what the checkbox "Use user wallpaper if available is available" is about, but the image you use has to be moved out of your home directory and into a system directory (I use /usr/share/images). Open Thunar File Manager, type /usr/share/images and hit Enter, then right-click an empty space in that folder and choose "Open as root". Now open another instance of Thunar and navigate to the wall in your home directory and you'll be able to cut/paste or copy/paste into the root directory. At least, that's one way to do it.

Thanks! That did the trick. 

---

Linux User #624832 : Chaotic Good Dudeist, retro-PC geek.
Daily Driver : Lenovo Ideapad 3 (8G RAM, 250G SSD, Boron)
Workstation : HP Slim Desktop (4G RAM, 1TB HDD, Boron)
Past hardware : Commodore 64, TRS-80, IBM 8088, WebTV

WizardofCOR

Member

Registered: 2023-07-28

Posts: 15

Re: change background at login

Well, since this is here...

I've always loved the Beryllium image background (and have used the same method above for aligning login screens.)
But I wanted to change my Grub menu screen to it as well.
So I cheated.
I went into /boot/grub/images/bunsen/ and renamed the "default.png" to "olddefault.png", and placed a copy of the "beryllium.png" in there, renaming that copy to "default.png".

A little lazy I know, but easily accomplishes the Task without any code manipulation. 

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Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,581

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Re: change background at login

I do the same, sudo update-grub finds images in the order described here...

Image Priority

If more than one suitable image is available to GRUB 2, the following order is used to determine which image is used as the GRUB 2 background.

    GRUB_BACKGROUND setting in /etc/default/grub
    First image found in /boot/grub
        The first image found, in this order: jpg, JPG, jpeg, JPEG, png, PNG, tga, TGA
        If multiple images of the same extension, alphanumerically.

    Wallpaper designated in /usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh (if desktop-base installed)

    WALLPAPER= line in /etc/05_debian_theme * GRUB 1.98 only

        The default setting is /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png (the desktop-base package must be installed)

    Default theme (no image): default_theme colors specified in /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

Note: Not all these options are available in GRUB 1.98

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Displays

So I just realized, but haven't tested, you can just name the new image a.jpg on BL, put it in /boot/grub and not even rename default.jpg or png or whatever. sudo update-grub, reboot

-edit- confirmed on trixie

❯ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for animal: 
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background image: a.jpg
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.57+deb13-rt-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.57+deb13-rt-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.57+deb13-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.57+deb13-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.48+deb13-rt-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.48+deb13-rt-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.48+deb13-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.48+deb13-amd64
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Found BunsenLabs GNU/Linux 13 (Carbon) on /dev/nvme0n1p4
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

~ took 6s 
❯ 

Last edited by hhh (2025-12-22 01:49:32)

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marens

Member

From: World without M$

Registered: 2023-02-02

Posts: 1,057

Re: change background at login

^ My favorites:

broken-W10.png                        ZZTux.png
   

If you are using grub themes, you also need to replace the background.png image:

Then add to /etc/default/grub (example):

GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/SM*LinuxMint/theme.txt"

And of course at the end:

$ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for marens: 
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/SM*LinuxMint/theme.txt
Found background image: broken-W10.png
---
done

Last edited by marens (2025-12-22 02:45:13)

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Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,581

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Re: change background at login

Sweet wallpapers!

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greenjeans

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Registered: 2025-01-18

Posts: 276

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Re: change background at login

ZZ-Tux, I love it!