Microsoft Spotlight is a stunning collection of high-resolution, high-impact photographs. The company has long used them for its lockscreen images. Starting with Build 22518 (Dev Channel), users can elect Spotlight images for desktop backgrounds. That’s what “Windows 11 22518 gets Spotlight background” means. To learn more , see “Configure Windows Spotlight on the lock screen.”

If Windows 11 22518 Gets Spotlight Background, Then What?

Starting in Build 22518, Windows 11 offers Spotlight collection as an option for “Personalize your background.” To access this item, right-click the desktop on a Windows 11 PC (Build 22518 or higher). Then, click the carat at the right of “Personalize your background.”

As you can see in the lead-in graphic for this story, that produces a menu of background image/color options. They now include “Spotlight collection” (at bottom). Choose that option and your desktop background will come from a collection of amazing images.

Confusion Sometimes Foils Rapid Reporting

At first, I could not find the Spotlight collection option as described. Only gradually did I realize it was my fault. Seems that while I had applied the 22518 update to my Dev Channel PCs, they hadn’t yet been restarted. Can’t get to a new version or build without a restart. Amusingly, operator error reared its frustrating and fulsome head.

But once I was running the right Dev Channel version, everything worked as described here. I have to laugh at myself for missing an obvious boat. But that’s the way things sometimes go here in Windows World. Before you can run, you must be able to walk…