Did you know Microsoft has a new Windows XP Bliss wallpaper, updated in 4K quality to match today’s standards? Yesterday, when I made a post on X about Windows XP’s 23rd birthday, I was reminded that Microsoft recently republished the wallpaper in 4K. I’m going to re-upload the wallpaper and talk about it in this article.
If you are like me, you probably like changing your desktop background frequently, which is why I’ve configured Windows Spotlight for my desktop, but there are times when we want to try something more nostalgic, and what could be more nostalgic than a Bliss wallpaper?
Windows XP Bliss wallpaper has been refreshed with improved colours. It still has a bright green hill under a clear, blue sky with a few white clouds. It’s also in 4K now. The grass looks soft, and the scene is calm and sunny, but the saturation is somewhat off, so we’re also attaching another version that looks more like the original XP wallpaper.
The first version is the official edition republished by Microsoft Design, and the second is the unofficial modified version of the wallpaper with more accurate saturation.
The original Bliss wallpaper is still easily available on random websites (a Bing search will help you find it). The original “Bliss” wallpaper from Windows XP has a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels.
Microsoft also released a higher-quality version of the “Bliss” image with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, but that’s not enough for today’s modern screens, which is why we’re attaching the 4K edition.
Let me know which one you like the most in the comments below!
Happy Birthday, Windows XP!
Windows XP is 23 years old now.
It was released on October 25, 2001, and turned 23 on October 25, 2024.
Unlike Microsoft’s modern operating (8, 10 or 11), which initially met with negative reviews, Windows XP was mostly seen as a good operating system if we ignore some scepticism about the increased hardware requirements.
Once users upgraded to Windows XP, it quickly became everybody’s favourite, and people celebrated the operating system for its fast performance, user-friendly interface, and better compatibility. We still love and celebrate Windows XP, and the Bliss wallpaper could still be the most-seen digital image.
Out of curiosity, I also installed Windows XP in one of my virtual machines to see what still works and what doesn’t. MSN Messenger is offline, classic games like Solitaire just work fine, and
The Windows Media Player also works, but most of the websites in Internet Explorer have stopped working.
In our tests, Windows Latest observed that only Google.com loads in Internet Explorer on Windows XP.
Other websites, such as Microsoft.com, Bing.com, Copilot.microsoft.com, etc, refuse to load in the Internet Explorer, which is not surprising.
It’s pretty interesting to see Google search still working in Internet Explorer because Google has retained the legacy/classic version of the search, which shows up when you access Google.com from an outdated browser.
Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in 2014, and it’s barely used by anyone in the world. However, a few thousand people and small businesses might still use the operating system.