With no logon wallpaper set, Windows displays a pre-defined color for the logon desktop. ( If you have enabled Welcome Screen, press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice to see the logon screen background color. ) To change the logon background color to that of your choice, you need to alter the registry:

> Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT and press Enter

> Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

> Backup the registry key by exporting to a REG file

> In the right pane, double-click Background

> In the Edit String dialog box, type the Color code in R G B format and then click OK.

Example: Type 0 0 0 if you want to see a Black background. You can choose any combination from 0-255

Points to ponder

If the logon Wallpaper is set, the background Color may not be visible. So, you must reset the Wallpaper value to a blank string in this key: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

If the Background value is set under the following Winlogon registry key, the above setting is ignored. In other words, the Winlogon\Background value takes precedence over the .DEFAULT..\Background value.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

> Quit the Registry Editor and log off