Use PNG Image as Windows 11 Desktop Watermark

Earlier we posted about how to display operating system version on the Windows desktop. But this method has two limitations – firstly it displays only the operating system information, you cannot display anything custom. Secondly, it displays only in the text format using fixed font, color and text size. What if you want to display an image on the desktop as the watermark? Fortunately it is possible through an open-source application called Screen Watermark.

With the help of Screen Watermark, we can set a PNG image as a watermark anywhere on the Windows 11 desktop. We can change the position of this image and also change its opacity.

Here is how you can use a PNG image as the desktop watermark on Windows 11:

  1. First of all download Screen Watermark from https://sourceforge.net/projects/screenwatermark/. Extract the downloaded ZIP to any folder of your choice.Set PNG as Desktop Watermark
  2. Inside the folder locate the file config.xml and edit it in Notepad or Notepad++. It contains the coordinates of watermark location on the screen. The smallest value of these can be 0. And the maximum value is the screen resolution. For example, in the case of 1366 x 768 pixels screen, the xpos value can be 1366 maximum and ypos can be 768 maximum. But you have to consider the dimensions of the PNG watermark image too.Set PNG as Desktop Watermark
  3. Inside the folder, either edit the picture.png file or replace it with your own PNG image (but rename it to picture.png). You can use any standard image editor such as Microsoft Paint to create a PNG image. But if you want to add transparency to the PNG, then you can use Paint.net or GIMP. There is no image dimension limitation for this watermark image.Set PNG as Desktop Watermark
  4. Now all you have to do is launch ScreenWatermark.exe from the same folder. You will see the watermark appear on the Windows Desktop.Set PNG as Desktop Watermark

This is not all. Screen Watermark application offers the ability to change the position of the watermark using your keyboard keys but first click on the watermark to select it. You can use keys W for up, S for down, A for left and D for right movement. WSAD move the watermark position only 1 pixel, TGFH move it by 10 pixels and IKJL move it by 20 pixels.

You can change the opacity of the watermark using N (increase) and M (decrease) keys. And if you are tired of looking at the watermark, you can click on it and then press the X key on your keyboard.