- An ex-Microsoft designer has showed off some dynamic wallpapers
- These were reportedly destined for Windows 11 23H2
- Microsoft has apparently now abandoned these idea, and the concept of fancy AI-powered wallpapers too
If you were hoping fancy ‘live’ wallpapers might come to Windows 11 – and you might have been, based on some past rumors – then I’ve got some bad news for you.
It seems that so-called live or dynamic wallpapers – embellished with animations and subtle effects to pep them up beyond your average desktop background – were once planned for Windows 11, but that’s no longer the case.
Windows Central picked up on the fact that an ex-Microsoft designer on the Windows team, Sergey Kisselev, shared some purported images of these dynamic wallpapers.
Kisselev explains that: “A variety of dynamic animations and still images were explored for Microsoft’s low-cost devices, primarily targeting educational users.”
As Windows Central’s Zac Bowden tells us, dynamic wallpapers have been spotted in preview builds of Windows 11 in the past, and Bowden believes they were supposed to be introduced with Windows 11 23H2. Of course, that never happened, and according to another person who chimed in on this topic, it never will.
The Verge noticed that Albacore, a well-known leaker on X, informs us that the components for these live wallpapers did ship in 23H2 (and actually 22H2 before it), as the groundwork for this feature – but everything was stripped out in 24H2.
That seems to definitively indicate that Microsoft has canned the idea.
“Have they already been scrapped?” Yeah.The (unfinished) components for this actually shipped with Windows 11 version 22H2 and 23H2 but got removed in 24H2. The same system component also powers the AI / depth effect enhanced wallpapersEverything cool is destined to be canceled https://t.co/YNmEDBLve2January 2, 2025
This isn’t just about the wallpapers aired here, potentially aimed more at educational customers, as noted.
You may also recall that it seemed Microsoft had nifty AI-powered wallpapers in the pipeline, featuring fancy parallax effects, but Albacore notes that the system component which was binned drove this feature, too. In other words, this idea isn’t happening, either – no fancy wallpapers for you, Windows 11 users.
Analysis: Desktop disappointment
If you were hoping for the desktop to be brought to life in a meaningful way with cool wallpapers, then it looks like your luck is out.
Worse still, the glimpse at what we could have had provided by the ex-Microsoft designer shows off some really smart backgrounds (which notably align with the new Windows 11 design scheme of having the Start menu in the middle of the screen by default).
So, we can but dream of such live backgrounds for Windows 11 – unless either Albacore is wrong somehow, or Microsoft backtracks (the latter seems unlikely). If you’re disappointed, maybe Windows 12 (or whatever the successor OS ends up being named) will give you the dynamic wallpapers you crave.
For now, though, Microsoft’s dynamic background plans appear to have run into a wall – a bland, brick one – and are not going anywhere. If you want a live background in Windows 11, you’ll need to go the third-party app route.