How to customize Lock Screen theme in Ubuntu 20.04

Solution 1:

In a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04, the default shell theme.. and lock screen both are configured to use the css file

Yaru/gnome-shell.css which is inside the /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/Yaru/gnome-shell-theme.gresource

this is configured in the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/modes/ubuntu.json

{
    "parentMode": "user",
    "stylesheetName": "Yaru/gnome-shell.css",
    "themeResourceName": "theme/Yaru/gnome-shell-theme.gresource",
    "debugFlags": ["backtrace-crashes-all"],
    "enabledExtensions": ["[email protected]", "[email protected]", "desktop-icons@csoriano"]
}

So, you can pointout what ever .gresource file you want to use and the corresponding gnome-shell.css

for example, If I want Yaru-dark theme, I can simply point out like this by editing the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/modes/ubuntu.json

Take Backup of the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/modes/ubuntu.json before editing

{
    "parentMode": "user",
    "stylesheetName": "Yaru-dark/gnome-shell.css",
    "themeResourceName": "theme/Yaru/gnome-shell-theme.gresource",
    "debugFlags": ["backtrace-crashes-all"],
    "enabledExtensions": ["[email protected]", "[email protected]", "desktop-icons@csoriano"]
}

Please note that Default shell theme and lock screen uses same file.. so If you want Yaru shell theme for the desktop session.. you need to install it as a local theme which is another topic.

I have not tried with full path of the .gresource file.. in the line

"themeResourceName": "theme/Yaru/gnome-shell-theme.gresource",

this means.. theme/Yaru/gnome-shell-theme.gresource is a relative path of the base /usr/share/gnome-shell