[German]Users have been reporting for months that the desktop background "Windows Spotlight" is unintentionally activated by rolled out cumulative updates in Windows 10 22H2. Happened again in December 2024 with the KB5048652 update. Here is some information and a note on how administrators can prevent this if necessary.
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Windows Spotlight as desktop background
Microsoft offers the so-called "Windows Spotlight" as a desktop background in Windows 10/11. Windows Spotlight displays changing images in the background on the lock screen and also on the desktop. The images are provided by the Bing search engine.
The user has the option of rating the images displayed by indicating whether or not they would like to see more images of this type in the future. In addition, Windows functions are occasionally presented. In addition to the images, a link is usually displayed that leads to a Bing search, which provides information about where the images were taken.
Windows Spotlight can be configured on the Settings page via the Background category (see screenshot above). I don't know how popular this gimmick is with users – my impression is that Windows Spotlight is avoided by administrators in companies.
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Update KB5048652 activates Windows Spotlight
On December 10, 2024, Microsoft also released the cumulative update KB5048652 as part of Patchday (see Patchday: Windows 10/Server Updates (December 10, 2024)). German blog reader Thomas left this German comment on my German blog post and notes that in his environment the Windows updates are distributed to the clients via WSUS.
He then rolled out and installed the cumulative update KB5048652 on the first test clients with Windows 10 22H2. After installation, Windows Spotlight is activated as the desktop background by default on all test clients.
The reader notes that he does not want the users in his environment to be bothered with "any Microsoft bells and whistles" and asks whether other administrators can also confirm this.
II myself have installed the update in question in a virtual machine with Windows 10 22H2. By default, white is set as the solid color for the desktop background and I run a ShadowOff script to hide the shadow font on desktop icons. I have not noticed any change in the desktop background there.
German blog reader MH3108 got in touch in this comment and confirmed that this was also changed in his environment with Windows 10 22H2 Enterprise by the mentioned update. The reader asked how to prevent this.
Multiple reports on the web
I did some web searching while writing this blog post – it's a recurring problem, reported by users on reddit.com.
First reddit post
In August 2024, a user on reddit.com opened the thread Windows Spotlight just got enabled following the last Patch Tuesday. "Out of the blue", his chosen desktop background image had been replaced by Windows Spotlight and the Bing default for the image.
This is a personal computer running Windows 10, and the thread creator complains that Microsoft is making these kinds of changes to personal settings, which is a deep invasion of privacy.
Second reddit post
And in September 2024, another user opened the thread Why did Windows Spotlight get enabled by itself? on reddit.com. The thread starter wrote that he had used his computer in the morning and then shut it down. When he started it up again a few hours later, he noticed that the background image had changed.
In the settings, he noticed that Windows Spotlight had been activated as the desktop background by itself. He had never used Spotlight before, the user wrote, adding that he could not find any recent updates that, to his knowledge, could cause this. Only the usual daily updates for the antivirus program were displayed. Only in the list of installed software was there an entry for an update of the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime.
Another user suspects that the last cumulative update (KB5043076 for Windows 10, probably rolled out on September 2024 Patch Tuesday) caused this. This has already happened to him. Another user writes that his desktop background has been changed to a plain-colored desktop background by updating Windows Spotlight.
Confirmation on reddit.com
In a reddit.com thread, reference was then made to the separate post Windows spotlight can be enabled without user's permission confirmed from August 2024. Someone there wrote that Windows 10/11 tries to activate Windows Spotlight at least once. Windows Spotlight is activated if no oem.theme is present and the user uses the built-in wallpaper.
Script code to activate Windows Spotlight, source: reddit.com
The above code was posted in the thread to make the switch. Also explains why it didn't work for me (I use a plain white desktop background).
Block Windows Spotlight via group policy
Administrators can block the desktop background change using group policies. Microsoft published the support article Configure Windows spotlight on December 5, 2024, which describes the options for configuring Windows 10 or Windows 11. In the elevenforum.com this article describes the group policy Turn off Spotlight collection on Desktop under:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content
as responsible for the control. Without GPO, you should also import the following .reg file to set the relevant entry for the lock on a user-specific basis.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableSpotlightCollectionOnDesktop"=0x1The problem with these approaches – if I have seen it correctly when skimming the Microsoft support page – is that the configuration is only supported for Windows 10/11 Enterprise, Education and IoT – but not for Home and Pro. But I haven't tried it out anymore. But it's yet another example of how Windows users are being held hostage by Microsoft.
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I wonder how Nadella would feel if someone went into his house all-the-time and kept moving the furniture around and painting the walls different colors and could do nothing about it?