Wallpaper

[clareq]

We set our wallpaper on Windows 7 by GPO, pointing to a network location. A batch file runs on the server hosting the wallpaper, renaming a series of wallpapers, so every day \\server\wallpaper\desktop.bmp is a different picture, and users get a different wallpaper. This means we can advertise coming events or special occasions, or just push the motivational message of the day.

 

The same GPO on Windows 10 doesn't work. Users get the wallpaper that was active the day they first logged on to a machine, and carry it around with them, and it doesn't change - even though going to Personalize shows the correct wallpaper in the preview. We use local profiles, but redirect Appdata, though I can't find the wallpaper cached in there.

 

Any ideas? if I can find out where it is stored I'm half way there!

[clareq]

nearly there - it's %appdata%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper - if I delete that file from my appdata and reboot I get the correct wallpaper. So, how do I prevent that file from sticking - would preventing them saving that file to the server break anything?

[Joanne]

have you tried changing the .bat file to a .cmd file? (same code - different extension) the .cmd files seem to run better on the newer versions of Windows.

[clareq]

The .bat runs on the server - that bit works, because our Windows 7 machines get a different wallpaper every day.

[Joanne]

I push it out through group policy, user settings...

 

 

Create a test OU, a test user and try it out on a machine.

[Davit2005]

What about Excluding the directory from roaming profiles.

 

User Config > Policies > Administrative Templates > System/User Profiles > Exclude directories in roaming profile and add the folder path.

 

We actually use BGInfo here which sets the wallpaper as a background.

[clareq]

@Joanne I do that too - it works perfectly. My problem is that I change the image the GPO is pointing at, by renaming the file, but the old image remains on Win10 machines. @Davit2005 I've looked at that, but we don't have roaming profiles, just redirected appdata. I could never get BGInfo working, and my current system works well for our Win7 machines, I just need to tweak it a little for Win10.

[Joanne]

What if you just overwrite the file?

[AJWhite1970]

I gave up when I looked at this, I set my Windows 10 wallpaper with BGInfo during login instead.

 

c:\system\Bginfo.exe \\server\settings\BGInfo\Student10.bgi /SILENT /NOLICPROMPT /TIMER:0

Edited January 29, 2016 by AJWhite1970

[clareq]

@Joanne - that's my question - what file should I overwrite? It appears that with Windows 10 transcodedwallpaper (no extension) is created at logon, which is the jpg of the wallpaper. Once it's there is doesn't overwrite with the new wallpaper. So it appears I need to get rid of transcodedwallpaper in some way.

[clareq]

So, preventing the saving of transcodedwallpaper to the server breaks it completely, and students don't get a wallpaper at all. i think I need to look at a different way of doing this - anyone got a guide for BGinfo?

[Davit2005]

We simply run as a logon script bat file

 

%logonserver%\NETLOGON\BGinfo\bginfo.exe %logonserver%\NETLOGON\BGinfo\Students.bgi /timer:0 /NOLICPROMPT

 

Runs BGinfo.exe and uses the bgi as the config file, open BGinfo save the settings you want and save it as .bgi and then adapt the above scipt accordingly. We set a different one for staff that includes their job title department etc all pulled from AD using vbs scripts.

[clareq]

Thank you - I'll start some experimenting

[Sanchez]

Have you tried using jpg files instead of bmp? That way Windows 10 won't have to transcode the image in the first place and it should pull from the network each time.

[clareq]

I think I've got BGinfo working - I've tried it on every iteration of Windows since 95, and finally got it working

[clareq]

BGInfo is working, and setting the wallpaper as expected - I was so pleased I rolled it out to my Windows 7 machines as well, and removed the GPO which set the wallpaper. However, since doing that, students can right click on an image in their user area and "Set as Wallpaper", or use paint or IE to do the same thing. So how do I keep using BGInfo, as I like the extra information it provides, but prevent students from changing wallpapers?

[AJWhite1970]

You need to enable the GPO to prevent changing desktop background

 

[clareq]

Thanks - how did I miss that one?

[AJWhite1970]

No problem. I have it enabled for everyone. At first teachers used to complain that they wanted their own desktop pictures, I pointed out it was a corporate network not their home PC. These days everyone just accepts that's the desktop they get when they login and it's years since anyone complained...

[mullet_man]

I am encountering the exact issue although we push the wallpapers in a slightly different way instead we have a gp that copies the jpgs from a share to the local machine.

 

Either way it doesn't change when the new jpg has been updated, and copied onto the laptop.

 

We change our desktop weekly but might have to stick to a generic one for W10 devices.

[clareq]

Bginfo works well on Windows 10

[jonspurs]

If wallpapers are being set via UNC, does that mean everytime someone logs on, the image is fetched from the server? Does that not put extra stress on a network? Or is it cached?

I was just reading Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper (“Background”) and it said "TIP #5: DONT EVER USE A UNC PATH FOR A DESKTOP WALLPAPER… EVER!!"

Cheers,

Jon

[Joanne]

If wallpapers are being set via UNC, does that mean everytime someone logs on, the image is fetched from the server? Does that not put extra stress on a network? Or is it cached?

I was just reading Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper (“Background”) and it said "TIP #5: DONT EVER USE A UNC PATH FOR A DESKTOP WALLPAPER… EVER!!"

Cheers,

Jon

 

Yeah use GPO to copy the image to the C: drive one time only. OR SECRET OPTION B: add it in on your image

[jonspurs]

Yeah use GPO to copy the image to the C: drive one time only. OR SECRET OPTION B: add it in on your image

 

Thanks Joanne. I saw your screenshot uses UNC - do you not notice any performance issues or is the JPEG size tiny?