Is Windows Spotlight not working? Here’s how to re-register or reset Windows Spotlight and fix its issues in a single swoop.
By default, Windows 11 uses Windows Spotlight to display a new desktop and lock screen wallpaper every day. In general, this feature works perfectly. However, under certain circumstances, the Spotlight feature might not work. For example, Windows Spotlight may not display new wallpapers, or it may show a black screen as the desktop and lock screen wallpaper. In those cases, you can try simple steps like clearing its cache and restarting its service to fix Windows Spotlight. However, if those are not working, you have to re-register or reset Windows Spotlight.
Thankfully, while you have to do multiple things to reset Windows Spotlight, it is pretty simple if you use my PowerShell script. In this quick and easy guide, I will show you the steps to re-register or reset Windows Spotlight using PowerShell. Let’s get started.
Before You Start
- Administrator rights are required to follow the steps below and re-register or reset Windows Spotlight in Windows 11.
Steps to Re-register or Reset Windows Spotlight
The first thing we should do is stop using Windows Spotlight before resetting it. To do that, open the Settings app by pressing the “Windows key + I” shortcut. Next, go to the “Personalization” tab in the sidebar, then click the “Background” option.
On this page, select “Picture” from the “Personalize your background” dropdown menu. This changes your system’s wallpaper.
Next, open the Start menu, search for “Notepad” and click the top result. This opens the Notepad app.
In the Notepad app, copy and paste the script below. What this script does is turn on the background app, delete the Spotlight cache files, and then re-register the Windows Spotlight feature.
# Turn on background apps
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications" -Name "GlobalUserDisabled" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" -Name "BackgroundAppGlobalToggle" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
# Reset Windows Spotlight
$foldersToDelete = @(
"$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService", "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Microsoft\IrisService",
"$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets", "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"
)
foreach ($folder in $foldersToDelete) {
if (Test-Path $folder) {
Remove-Item -Path $folder -Recurse -Force
Write-Host "Deleted: $folder"
} else {
Write-Host "Not found (skipped): $folder"
}
}
# Re-register Windows Spotlight
$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *ContentDeliveryManager*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml'
Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest
$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml'
Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest
Write-Host "Done."
After pasting the script into Notepad, press the “Ctrl + S” shortcut. Now, navigate to your desktop in the “Save” dialog, type “reset_spotlight.ps1” in the “File name” field, select “All files” from the “File type” dropdown, and click “Save“. With this, you’ve saved the script file to your desktop.
Now, right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar and select the “Terminal (Admin)” option.
In the Terminal window, run the following command while replacing “C:\path\to\reset_spotlight.ps1” with the actual path of the PowerShell script you saved earlier.
This script will temporarily change the execution policy to “Bypass”, runs the script to reset or re-register Windows Spotlight, and then automatically changes the execution policy back to “Restricted”.
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass; "C:\path\to\reset_spotlight.ps1"; Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Restricted
After that, close all windows and restart your computer. After restarting, open the Settings app by pressing “Windows key + I“, then go to “Personalization” > “Background” and select “Spotlight” from the “Personalize your background” dropdown menu.
That is it. With that, you’ve re-registered Windows Spotlight, and it should be working fine now. Do keep in mind that it might sometimes take 24 hours or more for Spotlight to download and display a new wallpaper on the desktop and lock screen.
(Optional) If you want, you can delete the PowerShell script file saved to your desktop.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
