extract_images

A Rust utility that extracts background images from Windows 10/11 Content Delivery Manager assets and saves them to your Desktop with organized naming.

Description

Windows 10/11 stores wallpaper and background images in a hidden directory. This tool finds those images, copies them to your Desktop in a new folder called processed_backgrounds, and renames them sequentially as image_1.jpg, image_2.jpg, etc.

Features

• 🖼️ Extracts Windows background images from system assets
• 📁 Creates organized folder structure on Desktop
• 🏷️ Sequential naming for easy browsing
• 🔄 Overwrites previous extractions (cleans up old files)
• 📊 Shows progress and file count

Installation

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or 11
• Rust toolchain (install from rustup.rs)

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/Tembocs/extract_images.git
cd extract_images
cargo build --release

Usage

Basic Usage

Simply run the executable:

cargo run --release

Or if you've built the binary:

./target/release/extract_images

Command Line Options

# Custom output directory
extract_images --output "C:\MyWallpapers"

# Set minimum file size (in KB)
extract_images --min-size-kb 200

# Use custom prefix for files
extract_images --prefix "wallpaper"

# Exclude certain file extensions
extract_images --exclude-extensions "ico,bmp"

# Verbose output
extract_images --verbose

# Dry run (see what would be copied without actually copying)
extract_images --dry-run

# Combine options
extract_images --output "D:\Images" --prefix "bg" --min-size-kb 150 --verbose

What it does:

1. Check for existing output folder (default: Desktop/processed_backgrounds)
2. Delete it if it exists (to ensure fresh extraction)
3. Create a new output folder
4. Copy and rename all qualifying images from Windows assets directory
5. Display the number of files copied

Output Location

Images are saved to: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\processed_backgrounds\

Technical Details

The program extracts images from: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets

Dependencies

• clap — Command-line argument parsing (derive macros)
• dirs — Locate the user's home directory
• term_size — Terminal width detection for decorative output

Dev dependencies

• tempfile — Scratch directories for tests

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

Troubleshooting

No images found?

• Ensure you're running Windows 10/11
• Check if Content Delivery Manager is enabled in Windows settings
• Try running as administrator if permission issues occur

Permission errors?

• Run the command prompt/terminal as administrator
• Check that the Desktop is accessible and writable