Current Windows Wallpaper Location

[admin]

Built-in wallpapers
A copy of the current wallpaper can be found by entering one of the below paths in Windows File Explorer address bar.

Path 1 -
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\CachedFiles

Path 2 -
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper

Note: TranscodedWallpaper does not have a file extension, even though it is a JPEG image file.
To view the image, right click on the file and use "Open With" option; or select the image and press Enter.
This will bring up the "Select an app to open..." or "How do you want to open this file?" dialogue box. Any popular image viewer should work - such as the "Windows Photo Viewer" or the "Photos" app.
Alternatively, drag and drop the file into a Firefox tab or mspaint window to view/edit.

Note for Windows 10/11: The above locations have limitations. For example, if the wallpaper you're looking for is no longer visible in the 'Background' tab in the Settings app, you can't recover it. It will work for your last five wallpapers but nothing older. 1

Path 3: Default Windows wallpapers -
%SystemRoot%\Web

Check in one of the below folders -

"4K" for 4K wallpapers,
"Screen" for lock screen backgrounds,
"touchkeyboard" for colorful abstract backdrops in Windows 11 2
"Wallpapers" for default Windows wallpapers

Path 4: Wallpapers from installed themes (Aero, etc.) -
%SystemRoot%\Resources\Themes

Path 5 [wallpapers from per-user installed themes (including pre-installed themes from OEM)] -
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

Path 6: If Windows Photo Viewer was used to set desktop wallpaper -
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows Photo Viewer\