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Guide

One wallpaper per display

macOS gives every display, and every Space, its own wallpaper, as long as one setting is off: Show on all Spaces. Turn it off, then set each display or Space in turn.

By at Neon FrenchieUpdated Checked on macOS 27.0.1 on

A different wallpaper on each display

  1. Open System Settings, then Wallpaper.
  2. Turn off Show on all Spaces. While it’s on, macOS uses the same wallpaper on every display and Space.
  3. Move the System Settings window onto the display you want to change, and choose a wallpaper.
  4. Repeat on each display.

For a photo, the menu next to it sets how it fits that screen: Fill Screen, Fit to Screen, Stretch to Fill Screen, Center or Tile. Displays with different shapes, like a laptop and an ultrawide monitor, often look best with Fill Screen.

A different wallpaper on each Space

Spaces are extra desktops you can switch between with Mission Control. Apple’s own tip for giving each one its own picture is to make System Settings open on every Space first:

  1. In System Settings, then Wallpaper, turn off Show on all Spaces.
  2. Control-click System Settings in the Dock, choose Options, then under Assign To choose All Desktops.
  3. Switch to each Space (Control-Right Arrow or Control-Left Arrow, or swipe with three or four fingers) and choose its wallpaper.

Afterwards you can set System Settings back to None under Assign To. You can have up to 16 Spaces.

About “Displays have separate Spaces”

Many guides say you must turn on Desktop & Dock, then Displays have separate Spaces first. Apple doesn’t say so. According to Apple, that setting gives each display its own set of Spaces, puts the Dock on every display, and is needed for Split View on other displays and for Stage Manager. If your displays still won’t take different pictures with Show on all Spaces off, it’s worth trying, but it isn’t the first thing to change.

Mirrored displays share one desktop

If both screens show exactly the same thing, they’re mirrored and share one wallpaper. In System Settings, then Displays, select the second display and set Use as to Extended display.

Live wallpapers on several displays

MacScapes draws its own living wallpaper on every display, and you can turn it off on any of them in MacScapes, then Settings, then Displays. With Pro, each display can show a different vibe’s background, while widgets and sound follow the active vibe. The scene is the same on every Space of a display. When Match desktop picture and lock screen is on, MacScapes also saves a still of each display’s scene as its macOS wallpaper, so Mission Control and the Lock Screen match. See the scenes.