Over the weekend, Twitter user @phantomofearth noticed that a classic Windows Vista Ultimate feature had been added back into the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview build— video wallpapers. Video wallpapers, also called live wallpapers, were present in Windows Vista Ultimate under the title "Windows DreamScene", and were one of the many features cut between Windows Vista and Windows 7 in the interest of preserving performance and minimizing resource utilization. Times have changed a lot since 2007, though, and it seems like Microsoft agrees enough to finally add the feature back into Windows officially, though it is a little bit buried in a few menus.
The history of video wallpapers in Windows has been an interesting one. While the feature was cut from the basic operating system for nearly 20 years, third-party providers have long since stepped in to fill the gap. Stardock, a software firm that actually cooperated with Microsoft on DreamScene, is one notable company that's also kept providing the feature in the form of
DeskScapes. Stardock is otherwise best-known for utilities like Start8, which served to add the traditional Start menu back to Windows 8 prior to 8.1.
Wallpaper Engine is also quite popular, particularly since it also implements Steam Workshop support to make it easy to find and install new video wallpapers. Wallpaper Engine can even be made to work with Ubuntu, Arch, and Debian-based Linux operating systems thanks to the
Linux Wallpaper Engine utility.
Unfortunately for DeskScapes and Wallpaper Engine, it does seem like Windows 11 bringing back the feature, which may erode some potential sales. For now, it is buried in a Windows 11 Insider Build and requires you to "enable feature ID 57645315 and restart explorer.exe" to use it. Sadly, neither the original Tweet or subsequent coverage has provided specific details, and it may actually require the use of an external utility like
ViVe Tool or to make a manual Registry edit in order to actually enable that specific feature. We've embedded the one
actual tutorial on this above.
Image Credit: Microsoft
