Login Screen Issue

[Itzdavid926]

okay so I’ll get to the point straight away. After updating to the latest update for Mojave, my login screen now defaults to the picture of the dunes instead of copying my current wallpaper. I’ve checked that I’m the 501 admin user, and the only way I can get it to change to my current wallpaper is if I manually edit my current wallpaper as the “Mojave.heic” file using root access under desktop wallpapers. I’ve also ran the apfs update preboot command in terminal and for good measure though it did nothing because file vault is turned off.

Running a 2017 4K iMac

Is this a new thing? Am I crazy?

I don’t wanna do a whole system restore just for this only to find out its gonna stay the same.

 

[chabig]

You cannot change the login screen background. The machine's firmware puts up that screen. Only after you put in your password can the machine decrypt your drive and boot the OS, which then displays your selected background.

 

[Itzdavid926]

Previously, the login screen would copy exactly what you had for the desktop image. This is echoed on an official apple support forum. I screenshoted said article. So confused!

 

[chabig]

As I said, the OS doesn't even boot until you put in your password. Everything prior to that is done in firmware. The post you found details how to replace the images that the firmware uses.

 

[Itzdavid926]

I see what you’re saying now. I swear that previously the login screen would mirror your wallpaper. I guess I’m just crazy!

 

[chabig]

I know it did in the past, too. But Apple has been tightening the security of the system. Only if you turn off FileVault (not recommended) will it behave the way it used to.

 

[Itzdavid926]

I’ve had FileVault off since the beginning, though. I’ve never had it turned on. I know that on Sierra and before it would have a blurred image of your current wallpaper, then I seem to remember it having a direct copy like I said in high Sierra and Mojave. Now it’s just the default dunes. ‍♂️‍♂️

 

[chabig]

Maybe it's not directly related to FileVault then. But Apple is tightening system security and you've found one of the effects. But if you have FileVault turned off, you just need to replace that image file. Personally I wouldn't consider it worth the effort. How often do you reboot the machine anyway--weeks, months?

 

[tamaralig]

I think it's normal now. Mines does the same thing on 3 Macs, 1 running beta https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156

 

[Itzdavid926]

I think it's normal now. Mines does the same thing on 3 Macs, 1 running beta https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156

Thank you! This shows me that this is normal behavior if, between the two of us, we have 4 machines all doing the same thing.

 

[canuckRus]

okay so I’ll get to the point straight away. After updating to the latest update for Mojave, my login screen now defaults to the picture of the dunes instead of copying my current wallpaper. I’ve checked that I’m the 501 admin user, and the only way I can get it to change to my current wallpaper is if I manually edit my current wallpaper as the “Mojave.heic” file using root access under desktop wallpapers. I’ve also ran the apfs update preboot command in terminal and for good measure though it did nothing because file vault is turned off.

Running a 2017 4K iMac

Is this a new thing? Am I crazy?

I don’t wanna do a whole system restore just for this only to find out its gonna stay the same.

Normal since Mojave install. Chabig nailed it.