How to backup custom backgrounds to install on another computer. | Community
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Newcomer
October 26, 2022
Question

How to backup custom backgrounds to install on another computer.

  • October 26, 2022
  • 8 replies
  • 86 views

My customer is getting a new machine. She needs to get all her custom backgrounds off the old and move them to her new computer. Is there a way to backup and restore or export and restore the background

    8 replies

    ZoomTestKitchen
    Specialist
    Specialist
    October 26, 2022

    Here are the paths where the default and custom Zoom backgrounds are stored.

     

    Default Virtual Backgrounds:

     

    This is the location of the default Virtual Backgrounds. These are the background images and movies that are included with Zoom:

     

    • macOS - /Users/USER_NAME/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data/VirtualBkgnd_Default/
    • Win10 - C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Zoom\data\VirtualBkgnd_Default/

    Virtual Backgrounds Custom:

     

    This is where any images or movies that you add as Virtual Backgrounds for the Zoom desktop application are stored:

     

    • macOS - /Users/USER_NAME/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data/VirtualBkgnd_Custom
    • Win10 - C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Zoom\data\VirtualBkgnd_Custom


    If you find this information helpful, please click on "Accept as Solution".

    If you have further questions, please reply, we're happy to help.

    Russ_Author
    Newcomer
    October 27, 2022

    I know about that folder. When I goto that folder to copy the files, all I see is files that look like this {FF063590-1868-48BC-9619-AE2F24C92BD8}. I copy the file and put in same spot on other machine and I do not see any Images

    Newcomer
    September 28, 2023

    Yes - I figured out how to see hidden files and now I can navigate to the folder listed above - for the added, customized virtual backgrounds.   I have all my old files/images  (the {FF063590-1868-48BC-9619-AE2F24C92BD8} ones) - but same - when I'm in new zoom - I don't see any of the added backgrounds.

     

    What are we missing?

    Newcomer
    November 6, 2022

    I have the same issue. The files all got copied over when I moved from an old MacBook Pro to a new MacBook Air but they don't show up in Zoom. If I look at them in Finder I can see the preview of the image but they don't show up in Zoom. I've added some new images and they show up in Zoom and in the folder.

    Newcomer
    February 23, 2023

    I"m having the same issue. Lots of backgrounds stored in the old PC, and I can see them in the folder, but can't view them directly in Windows, as they are in some other format, or at least have the gibberish names others here have mentioned. I'd rather not have to manually re-add them on my new computer, since the process of adding backgrounds one by one is not terribly efficient.

    Newcomer
    March 16, 2023

    I have a similar issue. I have two profiles for Zoom I use. I am trying to slowly eliminate the second profile but want the custom backgrounds. They all seem to be in the same folder but there must be a tag in Zoom that refers to each profile. I have had no luck. 

    Newcomer
    April 24, 2023

    Has anyone figured this issue out?  I too have copied my files off my prior laptop to the new, but none of those backgrounds show on the new laptop.

    Newcomer
    May 2, 2023

    I have a slightly different issue. For the past year I have downloaded several personal landscape photos as backgrounds for Zoom meetings. Now those images are no longer visible anywhere in my Mac Photos library; they seem to have disappeared.  I am wondering how I can retrieve those photos from Zoom and move them back to my computer.

    Newcomer
    May 8, 2023

    Is there anyone from Zoom here? 

     

    It's kind of ridiculous that the local app can't synch settings including virtual backgrounds across devices for the same account / email address.  Users shouldn't have to copy+paste from one to the other.

    Newcomer
    October 7, 2023

    Apparently no one from Zoom monitors this thread. We've been struggling with this problem for almost a year now! I sure would like to have an answer. ☹

    Newcomer
    June 12, 2023

    You just need to add .jpg to the end of each background filename. That should make your OS recognize each file as an image.

    Newcomer
    January 11, 2024

    Thank you!  This worked for me. I right-clicked to open Properties and add .jpg for each file, so I could also unblock some of the files that security flagged in the transfer.  I still had to manually add each one of the background jpegs using the Choose My Virtual Background function in the Zoom app, but I was able to make them available on my new machine.