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A Little Neat Trick to Grab Windows 10 Startup Desktop Screen Pictures

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4 Sep 2018CPOL2 min read 28.6K   10   22
If you like those beautiful Windows10 PC startup screens and wonder how to capture and save them as images, this tip/trick is for you...

Introduction

Windows 10 PCs startup screen is beautiful. Those were shot by pros and picked by pros. Is it really worth saving them somewhere? You bet!

Background

Here are some Windows 10 startups:

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Before you use the code, you should know these things:

  1. All those photo assets are here:

    C:\Users\simon\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets

    NOTE: You should replace simon with your local user name

  2. Windows 10 will automatically/silently/quietly update those photos on a daily basis (depending on your Internet connection)
  3. Those files have weird names and have no extensions. Something like this:

    Image 4

  4. The truth is, they are all JPEG files. 

Updated: according to commenter (E Anderson), there are other file formats other than JPGs. In my tests, I haven't seen any other formats, because all those weird-named-files in my asset folder can be converted to JPGs and I can view all of them no problem. But still, his claim might be the case in different PCs. Plus, the main purpose of this trick is to capture the beautiful startup screen, and JPG works for this purpose, so it's up to you smart readers' decision to perfect the script further or not. 

Using the Code

Here are the little trick steps:

  1. Create 2 temp folders like this:
    • C:\temp\pics
    • C:\temp\pics\101
  2. Create an old school DOS command batch file:

    C:\temp\pics\AutoPic.bat

    Only 3 lines of "code" here:

    del C:\temp\pics\101\*.* /Q
    copy C:\Users\simon\AppData\Local\Packages\
    Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets\*.* C:\temp\pics\101
    Ren C:\temp\pics\101\*.* *.jpg 

    All it does is to clean the last batch, dump this batch and rename results to *.jpg, that's it!

    NOTE: Don't forget to change "simon" with your user name (If you don't know how to do it, please ask your buddy, not me...)

Also update: You can also use %UserProfile% to replace "simon" for generic purpose. Thanks Jackson Savitraz for the tip (I actually should have known it myself. Again, thanks)

Image 5

3. Now, just double click (or right click to run as local admin) AutoPic.bat, after 2 seconds, you should get results similar to this:

Image 6

You can open these JPEGs with any photo viewer you prefer. Of course, you can rename/save them whichever, wherever fitting your needs and interests.

Please respect copyrights as well, just a reminder...

Points of Interest

If you really like to save beautiful photos, you probably want to do this frequently (twice a week maybe). Because those photos are updated by Windows 10 quite often.

Again, this tip is only for Windows 10 PC. Specifically, tested under this version on my PC and some other PCs I can mess up with ;-)

If in the future, Windows 10 changes its behaviour, we probably have to update our script. But the basic idea is there...

Image 7

Enjoy and hope this helps!

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer
Canada Canada
Yet another jack-of-all-trades programmer?


Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionWindows 10 Startup Screen Pics Pin
Member 150875531-Mar-21 20:46
Member 150875531-Mar-21 20:46 
Suggestionuse as a prank? Pin
Jackson Savitraz10-Sep-18 1:08
professionalJackson Savitraz10-Sep-18 1:08 
GeneralRe: use as a prank? Pin
scifidude10-Sep-18 5:48
scifidude10-Sep-18 5:48 
Questionlocation info Pin
JoachimWinkler6-Sep-18 23:22
JoachimWinkler6-Sep-18 23:22 
AnswerRe: location info Pin
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:49
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:49 
GeneralGood Info, but Pin
loyal ginger6-Sep-18 5:06
loyal ginger6-Sep-18 5:06 
GeneralRe: Good Info, but Pin
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:53
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:53 
Answerusername Pin
evlncrn86-Sep-18 1:17
evlncrn86-Sep-18 1:17 
just use %USERPROFILE% for the user folder.. which means people dont have to change simon all the time (unless they're called simon) or ask their friends for help... and im pretty sure the names are a hash of something
GeneralRe: username Pin
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:54
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:54 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
James McC.5-Sep-18 18:52
professionalJames McC.5-Sep-18 18:52 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:55
simonp_ca7-Sep-18 14:55 
QuestionThere's more than just JPEG files in there Pin
E. Anderson5-Sep-18 6:02
E. Anderson5-Sep-18 6:02 
AnswerRe: There's more than just JPEG files in there Pin
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:31
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:31 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Member 135197135-Sep-18 5:21
Member 135197135-Sep-18 5:21 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:32
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:32 
QuestionI didn't get any of the startup desktop screen pictures. Pin
Member 139239535-Sep-18 3:20
Member 139239535-Sep-18 3:20 
AnswerRe: I didn't get any of the startup desktop screen pictures. Pin
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:35
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:35 
QuestionMon vote 5 Pin
AchLog5-Sep-18 3:04
AchLog5-Sep-18 3:04 
AnswerRe: Mon vote 5 Pin
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:44
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:44 
GeneralRe: Mon vote 5 Pin
AchLog5-Sep-18 21:05
AchLog5-Sep-18 21:05 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Jackson Savitraz5-Sep-18 0:55
professionalJackson Savitraz5-Sep-18 0:55 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:44
simonp_ca5-Sep-18 13:44 

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