I hate that I’m being forced to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11! Win10’s worked just fine for years and years. If I must update, at least I can have a retro desktop wallpaper. How can I set up my PC to look at least a tiny bit retro?
You’re right to plan your migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11 since Win10 reaches “end of life” in just a few months (October, 2025). After that Windows 10 will become increasingly dangerous to use as Microsoft won’t be issuing patches or updates. Windows 98? Windows 2000? Windows NT? Yikes, you should already have migrated from those operating systems (or at least disconnected them from the Internet).
Fortunately, everything’s been archived somewhere on the Internet, which means that you can indeed find any of the original Windows wallpapers, from the painfully dull Windows 3.1 wallpaper (basically a solid grey box) to the famous rolling green meadow to the stylized dark blue illuminated window. Let’s check it out…
WINDOWS DESKTOPS COURTESY OF BING
I always set up the Bing wallpaper of the day utility on my PCs, so there’s another beautiful image every day without any further intervention [see How to Setup Bing Wallpaper of the Day]. Today’s image is:
Beautiful, right? But… not very retro. Windows XP would never have been able to a complex image like this justice!
ASKING CHATGPT FOR LINKS
What if you don’t know the names of specific images or even which image was associated with which of the many different versions of Windows? Ask ChatGPT! Here’s how it went:
I asked “where can I download the original windows rolling green hills wallpaper?” and it offered a couple of different options, first identifying the Windows release – Win XP – and the name of the image – “Bliss” – in addition. Unfortunately, the links don’t work! Funny how AI ends up being like a Google search result, right?
No worries, I simply pointed that out to ChatGPT and asked for a newer option:
Notice what I typed: “the link you shared for “bliss” doesn’t work. where has Microsoft stored this image?”
It then offers up more options, notably including YTECHB, which has a single Web page that includes every wallpaper from every major Windows release. You can find it here: www.ytechb.com/download-windows-wallpapers/
GRABBING OLD WINDOWS DESKTOPS
I started out at Archive.org, however, where it offers a nice, big version of “Bliss”:
A click to ensure I am viewing the largest version of the image, followed by a right-click, and…
If I select “Save image as” I can simply save it in Pictures as “Bliss Wallpaper”. Easy, right?
Jumping over to that YTECHB site I can find other classic wallpapers too:
And even…
You remember those, right? 🙂
SETTING “BLISS” AS WINDOWS 11 WALLPAPER
The process is the same with all of these images; right-click and “Save image as” to store a copy on your computer. Then right-click on that image…
Choose “Set as desktop background” and voila! You have a retro PC wallpaper:
Now you’re ready to get that retro look, have fun trying out the various options!
As a warning, there are various extensions and utilities that offer to change your theme to look like an older version of Windows, but you need to be extra careful that it’s not also a carrier for malware. Be careful!
Pro Tip: I’ve been using and writing about Microsoft’s online universe for many years. Please check out my Windows 11 help area while you’re visiting! Thanks.