Desktop background niggle via GPO

[timbo343]

This is a little niggle that i have a the moment and was wondering if anyone has seen this problem before. We push out student backgrounds via group policy but the wallpaper doesn't show until the user fires up a window and then minimizes it or if they click the start menu, parts of the background are displayed. Is there something im missing or not configured.

 

See Attachments for problems

[FN-GM]

Are you using local profiles? We had this, we created a new default profile and it resolved the issue.

[Steve21]

How are you setting them? Only thing I can think of is whether it's applying after the user logins in, so there's nothing "set" when they login, and it's only as it's updating that it's showing.

 

There are a few background hotfixes available, but has this been working before fine and only just started or always been like that?

 

Steve

[timbo343]

Are you using local profiles? We had this, we created a new default profile and it resolved the issue.

 

Yeah, the kids don't use mandatory or roaming profiles, they are created when a student logs in. Might have a look at creating new default profiles on all student machines.

 

How are you setting them? Only thing I can think of is whether it's applying after the user logins in, so there's nothing "set" when they login, and it's only as it's updating that it's showing.

 

There are a few background hotfixes available, but has this been working before fine and only just started or always been like that?

 

Steve

 

Its been like this since moving to windows 7 - nearly 2 years ago but i have only just managed to get round to sorting it. They are set when they log in. In Group Policy User Config >> Admin Templates >> Desktop >> Desktop >> Desktop wallpaper is set to the relevant path.

Edited February 5, 2014 by timbo343

[cscc]

Have a look at bginfo. Place in the start menu under the startup entry and it will apply after the login procedure.

 

BgInfo

[FN-GM]

If you find the default profile fixes it I used this script to push it out.

 

rmdir /s /q "C:\Users\Default"
robocopy "Source" "C:\Users\Default" /dcopy:T /MIR /SL /r:0 /w:0
attrib C:\Users\Default +h
Exit /B 0

 

Just put the profile in a sub folder called source. Making sure the ownership is correct is key as well.

[Arthur]

Is there something I'm missing or not configured.

Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper

 

Is the wallpaper being copied from a UNC path (see tip #5 in the linked article)?

[timbo343]

Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper

 

Is the wallpaper being copied from a UNC path (see tip #5 in the linked article)?

 

Yep, the wallpaper is being copied from a UNC path as tip 5 says, however i have followed the guide to the word and i cannot get the jpg to copy from the file share on the server to the machines using the file extensions. Trouble is, when doing the RSoP you i cannot see the file extensions been applied as RSoP doesn't display this information.

[Arthur]

Yep, the wallpaper is being copied from a UNC path as tip 5 says

Do you mean the opposite?

 

TIP #5: DON'T EVER USE A UNC PATH FOR A DESKTOP WALLPAPER… EVER!!

 

Simply put using a UNC path puts a lot of stress on network as it has to download file every time the wallpaper is loaded. It also means that if the network path cannot be contacted when the user logs on all they will get is a black background wallpaper. This is particularly obvious when someone logs on with a laptop not connected LAN.

[timbo343]

Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper

 

Is the wallpaper being copied from a UNC path (see tip #5 in the linked article)?

 

Yep, the wallpaper is being copied from a UNC path as tip 5 says, however i have followed the guide to the word and i cannot get the jpg to copy from the file share on the server to the machines using the file extensions. Trouble is, when doing the RSoP you i cannot see the file extensions been applied as RSoP doesn't display this information.

 

EDIT: It might help if i have the policy in the right Configuration... got to remember its computer configuration NOT user configuration!

[timbo343]

Do you mean the opposite?

 

I meant im applying a wallpaper via a UNC path.. which is obviously what i shouldnt be doing... damm MS.

[timbo343]

Update:

 

Using the group policies i still get the original problem as i do with the default profile option. Its strange how it works fine on a laptop though yet all the other machines around school have this problem - this is before i started copying the image to the machines.

[timbo343]

I think I've finally found out what was causing this to happen, it was either...

 

a. a corrupt policy in group policy

b. we had DWM set to disable which disabled with aero theme but the latest version of Cubase requires DWM to be enabled so we had to create a brand new group policy for students as we had set DWM to be disabled in an earlier version of group policy and trying to remove the policy wasn't successful.