Slideshows are an amusing way to view pictures. Whether it is a collection of your best memories that you might want to showcase at a family gathering or photos of all the exhibits your organization participated in.

Perhaps you wish to play the slide show of your favorite photos as Desktop wallpaper, screensaver, or lock screen. Whatever tickles your pickle, we have discussed all the ways to view photos as a Slideshow in this guide here.

Now there are a couple of ways you can achieve this on your Windows 11 computer using native apps.

1. Set up a Slideshow as Desktop Wallpaper

Note: Before you proceed, make sure you have all the pictures that you wish to include in the slideshow placed under a single folder directory. You can only choose a single folder to play a slideshow from.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the 'Settings' tile.

After that, click on the 'Personalization' tab from the left sidebar to proceed.

Next, click on the 'Background' tile from the right section of the window to continue.

Then, click on the dropdown on the 'Personalize background' tile and select the 'Slideshow' option.

Afterward, click on the 'Browse' button. This will open a File Explorer window on your screen. Locate the folder that comprises the pictures and select it.

Once you have chosen a folder, select the duration for how frequently the picture should change using the dropdown menu.

You can also shuffle the picture order by turning on the 'Shuffle the picture order' tile.

The slideshow will be turned off when you are on battery power by default. To let it run on battery power, turn on the toggle on the respective tile.

2. Set up a Slideshow as Lock Screen

Similar to a Desktop slideshow, you can also set one as the Lock Screen. Again, ensure you have all the pictures under a single folder directory.

First, head to the Settings app from the Start Menu. Then, click on the 'Personalization' tab from the left sidebar.

Next, locate and click on the 'Lock Screen' tile to continue.

After that, click on the dropdown menu and select the 'Slideshow' option.

Next, click on the 'Browse' button to proceed. This will open a File Explorer window; use it to select the folder containing photos you wish to play as a slideshow.

You can also add multiple folders here to include in the slideshow. To do so, again click on the 'Browse' button and select the folder using the File Explorer window that opens.

3. Set up a Slideshow as Screen Saver

Setting up a slideshow as a screensaver is a fairly similar process.

Head to the Settings app and then to the 'Personalization' tab, as shown in the previous sections of this guide. Then, from the right section of the window, click on the 'Lock Screen' tile to proceed.

Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'Screen Saver' tile to continue. This will open a separate window on your screen.

On the separate window, click on the dropdown menu and select the 'Photos' option.

Afterward, click on the 'Settings' button to continue. This will bring a separate window to your screen.

Then, click on the 'Browse' button. It will open an Explorer window; choose the directory that includes all the photos you wish to set as a slideshow.

Once selected, you can set the slideshow speed using the dropdown menu. There is no granular control, but you can choose from 'Slow', 'Medium', or 'Fast' options.

Finally, click the checkbox if you wish to shuffle the picture order. Once all the preferences have been set, click on the 'Save' button.

On the main window, select the wait duration (i.e., the time your PC needs to be inactive for the screen saver to kick in). Then, click on the 'Apply' and 'OK' buttons to apply the changes.

4. Run a Slideshow Using the Photos App

If you have your computer connected to an external screen and wish to display the slideshow of your pictures, the Photos app is your best option.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Photos. Then, click on the 'Photos' tile from the search results.

You can either select the pictures and start a slideshow right away; however, if you wish to have the selection handy as you might have to play frequently, you can also create a folder of the selected pictures.

To create a folder, make sure you are on the 'All Photos' tab. Then, select all the pictures that you want to include in your slideshow. Once you have selected all the desired pictures, click on the 'Move/Copy' button in the ribbon menu. Then, select the 'Move to a folder' option. This will open a new window on your screen.

Note: You can either select the photos using the checkboxes or by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on individual thumbnails. 

From the overlay window, select the directory of your choice and click on the 'Create Folder' option.

Then, provide an apt name for it and click on 'Create'.

After that, click on 'Move' to move all selected pictures in that folder.

Now, from the main dashboard, navigate to the newly created folder using the left sidebar.

Afterward, click on the 'Start Slideshow' button or press F5 on your keyboard.

To run a slideshow without creating a folder, select the desired pictures. Then, click on the 'Start slideshow' button in the ribbon menu.]

By default, a slideshow will be played with background music. You can disable it by clicking on the 'Sound' icon from the floating bar. You can also adjust animations, transitions, loops, and music themes by clicking on the 'Music' logo.

5. Set up a Slideshow using Windows Media Player

Surprisingly, Windows Media Player still ships with Windows 11. It can play music, videos, and pictures. All you need to do is have all the pictures that you want to include in your slide show under a single folder.

Before you proceed, head to the 'Pictures' directory by heading to File Explorer. If you do not have it pinned, as seen in the screenshot, type or copy+paste the address mentioned below in the address bar and press Enter.

C:\Users\<your username>\Pictures

Note: Replace the '<your username>' placeholder with your username in the above-mentioned directory address.

Next, create a new folder here by right-clicking in the right section. Then, hover over the 'New' option and click on the 'Folder' option from the sub-menu. Next, give an apt name to the folder and move all the photos that you wish to have in the slideshow to this directory.

Now, head to the Start Menu and type 'Windows Media Player'. Then, from the search results, click on the 'Windows Media Player Legacy' tile.

You might be prompted to select settings for the player. Click on the 'Recommended Settings' option to continue. After that, from the main dashboard, click on the 'Pictures' tab on the left sidebar. Next, click on the 'Folder' tile from the right section.

Now, navigate and double-click on the folder that you created earlier in this guide.

Next, click on the 'Play' button to start the slideshow.

If the slideshow starts in a windowed mode, find and click on the 'Fullscreen' mode in the bottom right corner.

6. Set up a Slideshow using Google Photos

If you do not have access to any of the aforementioned apps, you can still set up a slideshow using Google Photos on your computer's browser.

First, head to photos.google.com using your preferred browser. After that, sign in with your Google account credentials.

Once signed in, if you do not have photos uploaded to your Google account, you will need to upload them from the computer. To do so, click on the 'Upload' button and select pictures using the File Explorer window.

Once you have uploaded the pictures, select them using the tick marks on each thumbnail. After you have selected all the desired pictures, click on the '+' button.

Then select the 'Album' option. This will bring an overlay window to your screen.

From the overlay window, click on the 'New Album' option.

Then, enter an apt name for the album and click on the 'Done' button to proceed.

Once the album is created, click on the 'ellipsis' icon.

Next, select the 'Slideshow' option. This will play the pictures in a fullscreen slideshow.

Google Photos will then play a slideshow of pictures in full screen.

That's all there is to it, folks! Those are all the ways you can run a slideshow on your Windows 11 computer.