It has been previously reported with a large Windows update that the background setting may revert to Windows Spotlight as default, this is a bug that may occur with a large update, it does not indicate a problem with your system, and manually resetting the background to Picture should resolve the problem, are you unable to reset that setting to Picture?
Change in Default Wallpaper Setting After Updating from September 2025 to September 2026 Windows KB Patch
O V, Naveen
20
Reputation points
Hello Team,
We have a software application based on Windows 11 24H2. Previously, when using the September 2025 Windows KB patch, the administrator account was configured with the default Windows theme and background settings, and the desktop background type was set to "Picture" by default.
After updating to the September 2026 Windows KB patch, we observed that the default background setting has changed to "Windows Spotlight" instead.
Could you please confirm whether this change is an expected behavior introduced by Microsoft as part of the Windows updates?
Regards,
Naveen
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Desktop, Start, and personalization | Other
1 answer
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DaveM121 946.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor2026-10-28T08:03:29.6066667+00:00