Restrict User Changing Wallpaper via Group Policy Server 2008/2012
Some organizations want to keep the wallpaper set according to their need so that they can communicate or show the message to everybody. In this article, we will learn how to restrict the users to change the desktop wallpaper via group policy.
Open up the Windows server and log in to it. First, we need to create the folder, store the image wallpaper image on this folder and share the folder with everyone in the organization.
Restrict User Changing Wallpaper via GPO
Right click on the folder which contains the image and go to the properties.
Click on sharing and then select share.
Click on the pop down menu beside “Add” and select find people.
Enter the group which contains all the users and click on check names. It will ask for admin credentials. Enter the credentials and press Ok.
As a result, it will bring up the required group press Ok. In the next window click on permission level, you have to select read option and click on the share as shown in a below-mentioned image.
Click on done on the next window and note down the desktop path as we will need this path later on.
Now open the domain controller to create the GPO and then force the same desktop wallpaper on every computer in the organization. Click on start and look for administrative tools open “active directory users and computers” and “Group policy management” one by one
In Group Policy Management we will create and apply new desktop wallpaper policy required OU in Active Directory users and computers and in this case our OU is “Global Users”.
Go to the group policy management and right click on Global Users and select the first option “Create a GPO in this domain, and link it here”.
Rename it accordingly and press Ok. It will create a new group policy and right click on newly created group policy and click Edit.
In group policy management editor expand user configuration option then expand Policies then click on administrative templates then expand desktop and then click on desktop.
From the right side look for desktop wallpaper and right click on it to select edit. Enable the policy and under wallpaper, name enters the path where we had stored the image and apply Ok.
Now in group policy management editor under administrative templates click on control panel to select personalization and look for option “Prevent changing desktop wallpaper”.
Right click on this option and select the edit option it will open up a new window and choose the Enable option to apply the settings.
Desktop wallpaper restriction is now implemented on all the computers of an organization.
