Series – Windows 10 Customization
In this post I will explain how you can use Group Policy to apply a lock screen background for your devices. This can be a nice addition to your end user device environment allowing you to add branding.
The first thing I usually do is push the source image to the local device. This is a good idea, especially if your users work off-site. It means when processing the policy it won’t have to search over the network to retrieve the source image. This can speed up logon times slightly as the network location may not always be available.
Create a Folder on the local device using Group Policy –
1. Open Group Policy Management Console.
2. Create a new Group Policy Object or edit an existing policy.
3. Edit the Policy & navigate to Computer Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Folders.
4. Here you can right click and choose New > Folder.
5. I usually leave the Action as Update. Add the Path, such as ‘C:\Program Files\LocalFiles’. Variables can be used too.
6. You can change the Attributes so that the folder is Hidden.
This will create a folder on the device when it is powered on and when a gpupdate has been processed.
Copy image from network location to the local folder location on the device –
1. Within Group Policy, navigate to Computer Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Files.
2. Here you can right click and choose New > File.
3. I usually leave the Action as Update. You need to select the Source file, this is the image stored on your network location that you want to copy to the device.
4. Add a Destination File, this is the location where the lock screen image will be stored on your local device (Use the Folder location created earlier).
This will copy the image file to the local folder location on the device.
Configure a Group Policy to apply the lock screen image –
1. Open Group Policy and navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.
2. Modify the policy setting called Force a specific default lock screen and logon image.
3. Enable the policy & add the image path on the device that you’d like to use as the lock screen background (This will be the Destination File path created earlier).
Once your devices have completed a full gpupdate this will change the lock & logon screen background.
It is worth noting that the Source File path that I used above is not the best place to store your resources. Ideally you should store resources within a Share on a Member Server which your workstations can read from.