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 Windows OS Hub / Group Policies / Set Desktop Wallpaper and Logon Screen Background via Group Policy

March 15, 2024

Set Desktop Wallpaper and Logon Screen Background via Group Policy

Group Policies allow you to set the same corporate desktop background wallpaper and Windows logon (lock) screen image on all computers in the domain.

You will need a JPEG file of the image you want to use as your wallpaper. The image resolution must match the minimum resolution used on your company’s monitors (for example, 1280×1024). Such an image will be centered and stretched when displayed on a high-resolution monitor.

Contents:
  • Set Desktop Background Wallpaper Using Groip Policy
  • Change Desktop Wallpaper Using the Registry and GPP
  • Change the Default Logon and Lock Screen Background via GPO

You can pre-copy the JPEG file to users’ computers via GPO, or place it in a shared network folder that is accessible to all users. We will use the SYSVOL directory on the domain controller to store the background image files. This directory is automatically replicated between all the DCs, which makes it possible to reduce the load on the WAN channels when clients download the wallpaper file. In my case, the UNC path to the background image file looks like this \\woshub.loc\SYSVOL\woshub.loc\scripts\Screen\corp_wallpaper.jpg.

wallpaper jpeg image file on sysvol share

Check that all users and computers in the domain have permission to read this file in SYSVOL.  The Authenticated Users group must have read access to the image file).

Set Desktop Background Wallpaper Using Groip Policy

  1. Open the domain GPO Management console (GPMC.msc);
  2. Create a new group policy, gpoSetCorpWallpaper, and assign it to the OU with the users you want to apply the wallpaper to. In this example, we will assign the policy to the domain root because we want the wallpaper policy to apply to all workstations and servers in the domain. Edit the GPO you have created;create GPO to set desktop wallpaper image
  3. Go to User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Desktop -> Desktop;
  4. Enable the Enable Active Desktop policy; Desktop Settings in GPO editor
  5. Then enable and configure the Desktop Wallpaper policy. Specify the UNC path to the JPEG image file in SYSVOL and set the Wallpaper Style to Fill; Desktop Wallpaper policy
    The Fill wallpaper style enlarges or shrinks the image to fit the width of the screen. It looks well almost any screen resolution.
  6. Update the Group Policy settings on the user’s computer and restart the explorer.exe process (or simply logoff  the session). Check that the new wallpaper image is displayed on the desktop.deploy windows desktop wallpaper using group policy
If Group Policy is not applied to user computers, run diagnostics on a specific client using the gpresult command (check that your background policy is displayed in the Applied Group Policy Objects section).

If you want to prevent users from changing the wallpaper image, enable the Prevent Changing Desktop Background policy in User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization.

Prevent Changing Desktop Background policy

Using WMI GPO filters, you can target a policy so that it only applies to workstations running desktop versions of Windows 10 and 11:

Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "10.%" AND ProductType= "1"

Change Desktop Wallpaper Using the Registry and GPP

You can set the parameters and the desktop background image through the registry. The registry parameter Wallpaper (REG_SZ) contains the path to the wallpaper image file (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System). In this parameter, you must specify the UNC path to your image in a shared network folder or SYSVOL.

The WallpaperStyle parameter (REG_SZ), which configures the position of the image on the desktop, is located in the same registry key. Use a value of 2 to center the image and to stretch it.

To prevent users from changing the desktop wallpaper image, create the following registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop]
"NoChangingWallPaper"=dword:00000001

Deploy these registry settings to user computers using Group Policy Preferences (GPP). Navigate to the User Configuration -> Preferences -> Windows Settings -> Registry section and create two registry items with the Update action.

set desktop wallpaper via registry keys in gpo

Item Level Targeting in GPP allows you to more accurately assign wallpaper images to users. For example, you can apply a custom desktop wallpaper only to certain users (who are added to an AD security group) and computers running Windows 10.

Open the properties of the registry parameter in the GPP, go to the Common tab, enable the ‘Item level targeting‘ option, and click on the Targeting button. Configure two rules “the operating system is XXX” and “the user is member of the security group XXX”.

gpp: targeting wallpaper settings to ad security group

This allows you to apply different desktop backgrounds to different categories of employees.

You can also enable a corporate slideshow screensaver on your domain computers from a set of JPEG images.

Change the Default Logon and Lock Screen Background via GPO

You can use Group Policies to change the default sign-in and lock screen image in Windows. In the GPO section Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization, enable the policy Force a specific default lock screen and logon image and specify a path to the new lock screen image.

However, this GPO only applies to computers running the Enterprise or Education editions of Windows 10/11 and to Windows Server.

GPO: Force a specific default lock screen and logon image

You can change the Windows 10 Professional login and lock screen background image via the registry.

  1. Edit your GPO and go to Computer Configuration -> Preferences -> Windows Settings -> Registry;
  2. Create the following parameters in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive with the path SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PersonalizationCSP:
    Parameter nameActionTypeValue
    LockScreenImagePathReplaceREG_SZFull path to the image file (can be a UNC path)
    LockScreenImageStatusCreateREG_DWORD1
    LockScreenImageUrlReplaceREG_SZFull path to the image file (can be a UNC path)
    PersonalizationCSPCreateREG_DWORD1

    Change lock screen and logon image on WIndows Professional via the registry

  3. Restart your computer and check that the Windows sign-in screen and the lock screen have a new background image that you have specified.
Learn how to automatically lock the Windows screen after inactivity.
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14 comments

Canny Con April 20, 2016 - 10:07 am

Group policy works only once for win 10 clients.
I mean, when a user login to a win 10 client PC, It gets the wallpaper from server.
Now if we change the wallpaper on the server (By replacing that .bmp file with same name) it never changes on client computer.
However if a new user login to the same PC, it gets the new wallpaper.
Can you please help!
Thanks.
 
 

Reply
admin April 22, 2016 - 5:44 am

Try to use a different file name

Reply
Peter August 8, 2016 - 2:56 pm

This won’t work for a Computer object OU as desktop wallpaper is User config? You need loopback enabled right??

Reply
Max August 22, 2016 - 9:47 am

In this example GPO is targeted to the users OU. If you want apply background policy to OU containing computers, you should enable loopback mode.

Reply
Richard April 18, 2018 - 5:16 pm

Hello dear,

I need your help How to change the wallpaper on a daily or weekly basis? but having GPO.

Greetings and thanks! Richard

Reply
admin April 20, 2018 - 10:06 am

I think you’ll have to use the scheduler tasks or PowerShell scripts to change the path to wallpaper file in registry.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"Wallpaper"=" C:\Windows\SYSVOL\sysvol\woshub.loc\scripts\Screen\mon.jpg"

Also you can daily replace shared wallpaper file \\woshub.loc\SYSVOL\woshub.loc\scripts\Screen\corp_wallpaper.jpg using the task scheduler on DC.

Reply
Richard April 21, 2018 - 7:20 am

Hello admin!

Thank you for your prompt response,

You are currently applying problems, I mean that it is updated automatically every day.

Regards,

Richard

Reply
Richard April 21, 2018 - 7:30 am

@echo off
echo.
echo Eliminando el archivo fondo de pantalla existente…
echo.
del /q C:\Scripts\Wallpaper\wallAplicated\wallpaper.jpg
echo.
echo Configurando las variables aleatorias…
echo.
C:
CD C:\Scripts\Wallpaper\wallpapers\
echo.
set /a myRand=%random%%%20+1
set /a myRand=%random%%%20+1
echo.
echo Copiando y renombrando el archivo aleatorio al directorio GPO para ser aplicado…
echo.
copy wallpaper%myRand%.jpg C:\Scripts\Wallpaper\wallAplicated\wallpaper.jpg
echo.
echo Listo!! El fondo de pantalla ha sido cambiado satifatoriamente!
echo.
echo Esperando 5 Segundos para finalizar…….
timeout /t 5
Exit
—————————————————————————–

I am currently applying this script found here, which is excellent, but I repeated the images the next day: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-server-2008/104870-change-wallpaper-daily-via-gpo.html

I was able to apply the indicated script every day with 20 wallpaper, however, I have noticed that sometimes the same image is repeated a few times.

How can I solve so that the same image is not repeated in those 20 days? so that all the wallpaper will be applied.

Greetings and thanks in advance for your answers.

Richard

Reply
admin April 24, 2018 - 5:45 am

You can try to rename jpg files in the C:\Scripts\Wallpaper\wallpapers\ folder every day according to the following scheme. For example, you have 5 jpg files:
wallpaper.jpg – (current wallpaper image)
wallpaper1.jpg
wallpaper2.jpg
wallpaper3.jpg
wallpaper4.jpg
wallpaper5.jpg

Next to rotate wallpaper files use the following code:

REN wallpaper.jpg wallpaper_tmp.jpg
REN wallpaper1.jpg wallpaper.jpg
REN wallpaper2.jpg wallpaper1.jpg
REN wallpaper3.jpg wallpaper2.jpg
REN wallpaper4.jpg wallpaper3.jpg
REN wallpaper5.jpg wallpaper4.jpg
REN wallpaper_tmp.jpg wallpaper5.jpg

Reply
Richard April 24, 2018 - 5:24 pm

Ok excellent, they also gave me that same idea and it works for me. I think it was the most practical and uncomplicated.

Expert Comment by:Steve Knight
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29095902/How-to-change-the-wallpaper-randomly-to-all-users-of-the-domain-every-day-without-being-repeated.html

Thank you very much for helping me!

Regards!

Reply
Rizwan March 3, 2022 - 5:35 am

Hi We deploy Wallpaper via GPO and it’s work well but when ever we switch Laptop network on wifi wallpaper not apply over wifi and see black screen only, in LAN network it’s working fine.
Thanks in Advance please help here

Reply
admin March 3, 2022 - 6:16 am

Strange problem. Is your domain controller accessible when connected via a Wi-Fi network?

Reply
Dashrath Yadav December 1, 2023 - 7:34 am

Use the same LAN DNS to WiFi also.

Reply
Simon January 7, 2025 - 12:51 pm

Preventing wallpaper change by group policing has the side effect that every application can change the wallpaper, but the user could not reset that. At least on my machine (W10p).

Reply

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