How to Set your Ubuntu Wallpaper as the bootsplash and login screen background

By | January 3, 2010 |

xsplash-mainIf you have noticed, Ubuntu Karmic comes with a new xsplash that allows you to set custom wallpaper as the background. Not only is it more visually appealing, it is also much easier to customize than the previous usplash.

In this article, we are going to do some thing more interesting – change the bootsplash and login screen concurrently when you change your desktop wallpaper.

Note: this is currently only possible with Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 or distro with xsplash installed.

Installation

Update: A new PPA is now available for the wallpaper daemon script. You can install it with the command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:meerkat/stable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xsplash-background-settings

Once installed, you should be able to access it from System -> Settings -> XSplash Wallpaper Settings

First, install the dependencies.

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

Download the wallpaper_daemon.py script from Gnome-Look.org.

Extract the tar file to a suitable location, probably your home folder.

Go to the location where you have extracted the file. Right click on the wallpaper_daemon.py and select Properties. Go to the Permissions tab and check the box “Allow executing file as program”. Click Close.

xsplash-properties

Open a terminal and type

/filepath-to-script/wallpaper-daemon.py –-install

Remember to change the filepath-to-script to the actual filepath.

This will backup your existing xsplash screen and run the daemon.

Now change your desktop wallpaper (System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Background)

xsplash-change-wallpaper

Open a new terminal (do not close the previous one) and type:

sudo xsplash

You should see a preview of your new bootsplash. Press “ESC” to return to the desktop.

Go to Startup Application (System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications)

Click Add

Enter the command as below:
Name: Wallpaper Daemon
Command: /filepath-to-script/wallpaper_daemon.py

Remember to change the filepath-to-script to the actual filepath

Click Close.

Close all windows and restart your computer. You should now see your favorite desktop wallpaper as the bootsplash and login screen.

Screenshots

Desktop wallpaper

xsplash-desktop

Bootsplash screen

xsplash-boot

Login screen

xsplash-login

Wallpaper Changer

If you are using wallpaper changer app like Wally or Desktop Drape, they will work with the wallpaper_daemon script as well. Whenever the desktop wallpaper changes, the xsplash and login screen will change as well.

Uninstall

If you feel that the wallpaper_daemon script is taking up too much resources, or you are tired of such fancy stuff, here are the steps to uninstall it.

Go to Startup Application, delete the wallpaper_daemon entry that you have entered earlier.

Open up your Nautilus file manager and navigate to /usr/share/images/xsplash and look for this file backup.xxxxxxx where the xxx represents a string of number. Copy down the name of this file.

xsplash-backup

Open up a terminal,

sudo tar -C / -xf /usr/share/images/xsplash/backup.xxxxx

Note: Replace the backup.xxxx with the actual name of the backup file.

This will restore the default xsplash screen.

That’s it. You may also want to delete the wallpaper_daemon.py script from your computer, but that is purely optional.



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Damien Oh is the owner and chief editor of Make Tech Easier
  • sanjeev

    Nice…boot in process looks much better just two screens.

  • sanjeev

    Nice…boot in process looks much better just two screens.

  • Blinky

    Nice article, but all this GUI/boot splash stuff (in other distributions as well) probably the most pointless feature in Linux. You boot once a week/day, besides that useful boot messages get hidden – IMO utterly pointless feature.

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien

      @Blinky: IMO, whether the feature is useful or not is really dependent on each user. It might be pointless to many, but some people simply love eye candy and such features can really spice up their day.

      • AnRkey

        WTF@Blinky

        If you don’t want to use it then don’t. NOW SHURRUP!!!

        @Damien Thanks for this, quite nice for branding my servers with a nice login and my helpdesk numbers.

        R

  • Blinky

    Nice article, but all this GUI/boot splash stuff (in other distributions as well) probably the most pointless feature in Linux. You boot once a week/day, besides that useful boot messages get hidden – IMO utterly pointless feature.

    • http://maketecheasier.com Damien

      @Blinky: IMO, whether the feature is useful or not is really dependent on each user. It might be pointless to many, but some people simply love eye candy and such features can really spice up their day.

      • AnRkey

        WTF@Blinky

        If you don’t want to use it then don’t. NOW SHURRUP!!!

        @Damien Thanks for this, quite nice for branding my servers with a nice login and my helpdesk numbers.

        R

  • http://aliencam.net/ aliencam

    what I really want is to set my desktop wallpaper to be the default boot splash, but I can’t find that file anywhere! This is a nice alternative.

    • http://aliencam.net/ aliencam

      I found the original file here: /usr/share/images/xsplash

  • http://aliencam.net aliencam

    what I really want is to set my desktop wallpaper to be the default boot splash, but I can’t find that file anywhere! This is a nice alternative.

    • http://aliencam.net aliencam

      I found the original file here: /usr/share/images/xsplash

  • Matthew

    Hello, nice tip but after I put in

    /home/matthew/wallpaper-daemon.py ?-install

    I got some error messages stating that the .rc file in my theme could not be located in the pixmath path. Then sudo xsplash only showed my previous splash screen, so didn’t seem to work.

    Can you suggest a fix?

    Thanks,

    Matthew

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien

      What is the theme that you are using for your desktop? If you have installed a custom theme, that could be the cause of the problem. Try to change back to the default theme or any other pre-installed theme and see if it works.

  • Matthew

    Hello, nice tip but after I put in

    /home/matthew/wallpaper-daemon.py ?-install

    I got some error messages stating that the .rc file in my theme could not be located in the pixmath path. Then sudo xsplash only showed my previous splash screen, so didn’t seem to work.

    Can you suggest a fix?

    Thanks,

    Matthew

    • http://maketecheasier.com Damien

      What is the theme that you are using for your desktop? If you have installed a custom theme, that could be the cause of the problem. Try to change back to the default theme or any other pre-installed theme and see if it works.

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  • Christophe

    Hello,
    Very good way to change the login screen. But I don’t understand this sentence :”Remember to change the filepath-to-script to the actual filepath”. Can you help me ?
    Thank you,
    Christophe.

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien

      @Christophe: If you saved the wallpaper-daemon.py file in your home folder, your filepath will be /home/your-login-username/. If you saved it in the wallpaper folder in your Home directory, the file path will be /home/your-login-username/wallpaper.

      Do you understand now?

      • Christophe

        Hello,
        Thank you very much ! It works.

  • Christophe

    Hello,
    Very good way to change the login screen. But I don’t understand this sentence :”Remember to change the filepath-to-script to the actual filepath”. Can you help me ?
    Thank you,
    Christophe.

    • http://maketecheasier.com Damien

      @Christophe: If you saved the wallpaper-daemon.py file in your home folder, your filepath will be /home/your-login-username/. If you saved it in the wallpaper folder in your Home directory, the file path will be /home/your-login-username/wallpaper.

      Do you understand now?

      • Christophe

        Hello,
        Thank you very much ! It works.

  • MattyD

    #!/bin/sh

    # Quick Script to change the XSplash Login Screen
    # MattyD [email protected]
    # 1/27/2010

    clear

    echo “This script WILL change your login screen”
    echo “You should backup the xsplash before running”
    echo “I’ll try to back it up…but I make no promises…”
    echo “Input the specfic path to the new login graphic :”
    read NEWONE

    TIMESTAMP=`date +%m%d%y%H%M`; export TIMESTAMP

    sudo cp /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg /usr/share/images/xsplash/$TIMESTAMP.jpg

    sudo cp $NEWONE /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg

    sudo ls -halt /usr/share/images/xsplash/*.jpg

    sleep 5

    echo “Testing Boot Screen…press esc key to exit test…”

    sleep 5
    sudo xsplash

    echo “DONE!”

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien

      @MattyD: Thanks for your script.

      For those who are not sure what the above code is, it is a simple script that you can use to change the XSplash login screen.

      Copy the code into a text editor and save it as xsplash-login.sh.

      Execute the script from the terminal:

      /path-to-script/xsplash-login.sh

  • MattyD

    #!/bin/sh

    # Quick Script to change the XSplash Login Screen
    # MattyD [email protected]
    # 1/27/2010

    clear

    echo “This script WILL change your login screen”
    echo “You should backup the xsplash before running”
    echo “I’ll try to back it up…but I make no promises…”
    echo “Input the specfic path to the new login graphic :”
    read NEWONE

    TIMESTAMP=`date +%m%d%y%H%M`; export TIMESTAMP

    sudo cp /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg /usr/share/images/xsplash/$TIMESTAMP.jpg

    sudo cp $NEWONE /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg

    sudo ls -halt /usr/share/images/xsplash/*.jpg

    sleep 5

    echo “Testing Boot Screen…press esc key to exit test…”

    sleep 5
    sudo xsplash

    echo “DONE!”

    • http://maketecheasier.com Damien

      @MattyD: Thanks for your script.

      For those who are not sure what the above code is, it is a simple script that you can use to change the XSplash login screen.

      Copy the code into a text editor and save it as xsplash-login.sh.

      Execute the script from the terminal:

      /path-to-script/xsplash-login.sh

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  • Mk

    Quick Update – The Wallpaper daemon now downloads as a .deb file, so it installs itself, and add itself to startup automagically.

  • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

    Thanks for notifying.

  • Anglave

    Using Ubuntu 10.10 on a PowerBook G4

    apt-get install xsplash-background-settings fails, saying
    E: Unable to locate package xsplash-background-settings

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

      Did you add the repository?

      sudo add-apt-repository ppa:meerkat/stable

      • Ray

        I added the repo but it still isn’t working for me on 10.10. Installed xsplash background settings 1.6.1 and it doesn’t seem to work. Program is installed, permissions for the folder are set, but wallpaper doesn’t change! Please help Thank you!

        • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

          Which version of Ubuntu are you using?

          • Ray

            Ubuntu Maverick 10.10

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