GP Specifying the computer background

[Stuart_C]

I'm trying to specify the background on my computer accross the network. I nip into GP and set "Turn on Clasic Shell" to disable then enable "Active desktop" and then specify my background.

No whilst this works for some reason mu background image pixelates. I go in as admin and specify the same background manually and it looks fine.
Why?
And how do I specify my background?
What is going wrong?

[Stuart_C]

OK,
Slight update. When I log in as my test user the background is, initially, displayed OK. The desktop and taskbar are loaded and the background flickers (refreshes) and then the image is rubbish. When I log off the rubish image clears displays a perfect one then the computer logs off.

It's as though it's doing thing properly then for some reason putting a rubbish background over the top.

[Stuart_C]

Thought I'd just bump this as I'm still stumpted.

Anyopne else set the background via Group Policy? Did it work fine?

[bmdixon]

These are the settings we have in group policy for changing the background:
User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates ->Control Panel/Personalization

Prevent changing desktop background - Enabled

User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Desktop/Desktop

Allow only bitmapped wallpaper - Disabled  
Desktop Wallpaper - Enabled  
Wallpaper Name: <PATH TO YOUR BACKGROUND IMAGE.JPG>
Wallpaper Style: Stretch
Disable Active Desktop - Disabled  
Disable all items - Enabled  
Enable Active Desktop - Enabled   
Prohibit adding items - Enabled  
Prohibit changes - Enabled  
Prohibit closing items - Enabled  
Prohibit deleting items - Enabled  
Prohibit editing items - Enabled

We also have the following set:
Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> System/Group Policy

User Group Policy loopback processing mode - Enabled
Mode: Merge

Hope that helps

[ricki]

Hi

Have a look at BgInfo and apply it with a log in script and it works great fast and gives you info on each machine about the computer and the user using the computer.

Richard

[Stuart_C]

Right,
I finally got somewhere with this and I thought I had it all working. Tested it on a number of computers and it all looked good. Enabled it for my organisation and I hit a random problem.

The destop seems to apply OK during the load of personal settings during the login. The it brings up the task bar then refreshes and loads the Icons. When it loads the icons load the background goes wrong. (see attached PDF).

The problem is that it seems to do this at random with no pattern to it. It works fine for a student on one computer then they move to a differnet room and it goes wrong. I saw it fail on a computer that 20 minutes before had had a student on it and using it fine.

It did go wrong a little in my initial testing but I thought it wa due to it being loaded from the network. I copied the file locally and it seemed to work fine. The images is being shrunk by the computer but it is in the correct proportions.

[Stuart_C]

Oh I've had to "Turn off Classic Shell" and "Enable Active Desktop" as well in GP to get it to work (obviously)

[aaronjwilkinson]

I use a very simple vbs script to apply the background to all users at logon. We simply have the .bmp file (which it has to be) stored on a share...and the script maps to it. Works for all users just fine

PM me your e mail address and i'll send it your way...you just need to edit the UNC and filename of course.

A

[Stuart_C]

Thanks, I'll let you know if I can't figure out why my problem is occuring.

You did give me an interesting thought with your line about "We simply have the .bmp file (which it has to be) stored on a share". New Image is a JPG file. (only 500K). Looking in the Group Policy editor I found this description under the description for User Config > Admin Templates > Desktop > Active Desktop > Allow only bitmapped wallpaper

Permits only bitmap images for wallpaper. This setting limits the desktop background ("wallpaper") to bitmap (.bmp) files. If users select files with other image formats, such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, or HTML, through the Browse button on the Desktop tab, the wallpaper does not load. Files that are autoconverted to a .bmp format, such as JPEG, GIF, and PNG, can be set as Wallpaper by right-clicking the image and selecting "Set as Wallpaper".

Also, see the "Active Desktop Wallpaper" and the "Prevent changing wallpaper" (in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Display) settings.

There is an implication that the Active Desktop is converting my JPG's into Bitmaps for the purposes of the background. When I tried saving my image as a BMP file it rocked in at 26Mb!!! Which might explain the slow load of the desktop Icons I have suddenly started seeing and why the wallpaper doesn't display properly.

Assuming this is the case then I have to ask "Why is it doing any file conversion when it should be able to display the jpg, especially when it quickly loads it during the login"? and "How the heck do I make it play nice"?

[Stuart_C]

Well it does appear that using a small BMP image has speeded up my login's and the reliability of the background load. Yet I don't understand WHY this happens.

Has anyone specified a jpg background and had it work smoothly?