In this article I am creating a BGINFO generated wallpaper for each server. This is useful when working on multiple servers as it will display the hostname, IP address, OS version etc on the wallpaper. See example below.
Step 1 – Download and install BGINFO
You can download BGINFO from here.
- Save it into a directory on your c drive – e.g. c:\bginfo
- Once download run bginfo.exe.
- Customize as you want and save your settings as a bgi file (e.g. circle.bgi).
Step 2 – Share on network
Copy these files onto a share on the network. In this example I have put them in the netlogon folder so they are replicated to multiple servers.
Step 3 – Create Batch file to launch bginfo
- In the above folder create a batch file to launch bginfo. In the example above its called setbginfo.bat
- Within the batch file include the command:
start \\YOURDOMAIN\NETLOGON\bginfo\bginfo.exe \\YOURDOMAIN\NETLOGON\bginfo\circle.bgi /timer:0 /accepteula
replace YOURDOMAIN with your active directory domain name. You can test this batch file works by running it on a server.
Step 4 – Create GPO to call this command.
Create a GPO and apply it at the relevant OU
Note that setting the wallpaper should be done under the user section of a GPO. Therefore you should apply this to the OU containing the user accounts. I recommend using WMI filters to ensure that this policy is only applied to servers and not PCs (assuming that is what you want to do).
Edit this GPO and copy the batch file into here.
Click ok and you are finished! The wallpaper should now automatically apply to servers upon reboot.
