To be precise, this feature is currently only available in Windows 11 version 22H2, therefore it is not yet available on the stable channel. Hence, you must be subscribed to the Insider Dev channel or the Beta channel to test out these new stickers right now. Moreover, since the feature is still experimental, it needs to be enabled before you can use these stickers. Today, we are going to show you how to enable and add desktop stickers on a Windows 11 PC.
How to Enable Desktop Stickers in Windows 11
Perform the following steps to enable stickers on a Windows 11 computer. However, before you do, make sure that you are using Windows 11 22H2 by typing in winver in the Run Command box. In the popup window, you should see the details about your OS, as in the image below: Once confirmed, continue with the steps given below. Note: This process involves manual changes to the Windows Registry. Misconfiguration of critical values in the system’s registry could be fatal for your operating system. Therefore, we insist that you create a system restore point before proceeding forward with the process. Once rebooted, you can now begin adding stickers to your desktop background. Name this key “Stickers.” Name this DWORD “EnableStickers.” Although a restart is not essentially needed, we noticed that you may possibly encounter an error when adding the stickers to your desktop (next section). To avoid that, we suggest you reboot your PC.
How to Add Desktop Stickers in Windows 11
Once the stickers are enabled, you can now begin adding them to your desktop using the following steps. Remember that there is no limit to the number of stickers you can add. You can rearrange and resize them as you like, and even overlap them. However, you cannot rotate them or create your own stickers at the moment. Note: Your operating system must be activated in order to use stickers in Windows 11. However, you can customize some of the other items without activating the OS. You should now see your desktop as usually with the stickers in the background, as in the image below: Alternatively, you can navigate to the following location and click Add Stickers from the Settings app. Select the sticker(s) that you want to display on the desktop background (you can even search from the search bar) by double-clicking them, and they shall appear on the desktop. The default location for each sticker is the top-left corner of the screen. However, you can rearrange and resize them. Unfortunately, the drag-and-drop option to select the stickers from the flyout is currently not available. If you want to remove a sticker, simply click on the trash icon below the sticker. To edit these stickers in the future, simply re-enter the stickers mode using either the Settings app or the context menu, as we had previously discussed.
How to Disable Desktop Stickers in Windows 11
If you do not like the stickers feature in Windows 11, you can also disable it at any time you want and restore your old settings. Here is how:
Final Thoughts
It is clear that the Windows 11 desktop stickers are still in their preliminary state because of the issues we got to experience with them. However, they are still usable, which is probably why these are not enabled by default. Note: If the stickers still appear after the reboot, you might need to reboot the PC again or restart the explorer.exe process. You can enable desktop stickers in Windows 11 on builds 22621 and higher since there are now declared as version 22H2 by Microsoft.
