By default, a pink and purple background appears on the Login screen, Lock screen, and Desktop on macOS Monterey. Apparently, both the Login screen and Lock screen show the same background that you set as your current desktop wallpaper. Similar to Big Sur, macOS Monterey provides no native option to set a custom background for the login screen. This is a pesky limitation more so for users who like to customize Mac login screen with their favorite wallpaper.
Login Screen vs Lock Screen One shouldnt confuse the login screen with the lock screen as both are different. The login screen appears when you start up [boot into Mac] or log out of a user account whereas the lock screen appears when you lock your Mac.
While you cant change the lock screen in Monterey on Mac, which boasts the same background image as your desktop. However, there is a workaround you can use to change the login screen on macOS Monterey. The trick involves using a third-party app, Deeper by Titanium Software to change the background image of the login window. It can get the task done in a few clicks and without any complicated steps.
Now lets see how to change the login screen background on your Mac running macOS Monterey 12.0 or later. The below tool supports Intel-based Mac as well as Apple Silicon Macs with an M1 chip.
How to change the startup screen on macOS Monterey
- Download Deeper for macOS Monterey and install the app on your Mac.
- Open Deeper and click OK on the warning window.
- Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and click the Privacy tab.
- Click the lock at the bottom and enter your password [or use Touch ID] to make changes.
- Scroll through and select Full Disk Access from the sidebar on the left.
- Tick mark the checkbox next to Deeper to grant it the required permissions to work.
- Click Quit & Reopen in the popup that appears.
- Open Deeper and enter your Mac password to access the app.
- Once the app loads up, go to the Login tab.
- Under Login, click the Select option and choose an image youd like to set as your login screen. TIP: Choose an HD wallpaper for a better appearance.
Thats it. Deeper will apply the necessary changes. Now restart your Mac and it will welcome you with a new login background.
NOTE: To get back the default login wallpaper, simply go to Deeper > Login, and click on Restore.
Limitation The above process only works as long as there is only one user account [no guest users, root user, or other users].
Update [21 February]: If FileVault is turned on, the replacement image will not appear at startup. However, opening the login window from the fast user switching menu will display the replacement image.
To turn off FileVault, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and open the FileVault tab.
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