Disable preliminary lock screen background Windows Server 2016

Rewriting to answer the actual question instead of my (incorrect) assumptions:

On a fresh Windows Server 2016 installation I used Paint to create a solid color image and saved it to the Desktop; either PNG or JPG will work.

Then I opened the Personalize settings window and opened the Lock Screen section.

With Background set to Picture, I clicked Browse and selected the image I'd just created.

Then I logged off and confirmed that the image was now set as the Lock Screen background. I also rebooted and confirmed the same image showed up again both on the lock screen and the logon screen.

NOTE: If your organization is enforcing GPs preventing the lock screen from being changed, this may prevent you from changing the picture.

The following guide only applies to Windows Server 2012+, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education. The group policy in question has no effect on Windows 10 Professional when running build 14393 Version 1607 aka Windows 10 Anniversary Update

1. Open Local Group Policy Editor (GPedit.msc) by searching for it.

2. Navigate to the following branch:

   Local Computer Policy -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization.

3. In the right, double click or double tap on Do not display the lock screen setting.

4. Select Enabled radio button.
5. Click or tap OK when done.
6. Exit from Local Group Policy Editor.
7. You may need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.

1. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit) by searching for it.

2. Go to the following Registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization

If “Personalization” registry key is not found, create it by right clicking on

3. Windows, and select New -> Key.

4. Create a new a DWORD (32-bit) value named NoLockScreen.

5. Set its data to 1.
6. Exit from Registry Editor.
7. You may need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.

If you save the following code as a .reg file you can make this change automatically:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization]
"NoLockScreen"=dword:00000001

Source: Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10 / 8.1 & Windows Server 2016 / 2012 (R2)