How to Clear Background (Wallpaper) History in Windows 10

When you change the desktop wallpaper, Windows remembers the file name and path of the last four wallpapers. The Personalize page (“Choose your picture”) displays the thumbnail image of five wallpapers; first thumbnail image is usually the current background, followed by thumbnails of previous four background images. This post tells you how to clear the wallpaper history using Registry Editor.

Clear Desktop Background History

To reset the history, all you need to do is change the wallpaper image five more times, selecting the built-in wallpapers from the folder C:\windows\web\wallpaper\theme1 and C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows. But, if you wish to clear the desktop background history using the Registry Editor, use these steps or apply the REG file available below:

• Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
• Go to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers



• Delete the following values in the right-pane:
• BackgroundHistoryPath0
• BackgroundHistoryPath1
• BackgroundHistoryPath2
• BackgroundHistoryPath3
• BackgroundHistoryPath4
• Exit the Registry Editor.

Automate the above steps using REG file. Download clear-wallpaper-history-w10.zip.

This clears your desktop wallpaper history in the Personalize Settings page, and the slots are replaced by the Windows 10 “Hero” wallpaper & other stock images from folder c:\windows\web\wallpaper\theme1.