Windows Picture and Fax Viewer

[Kills On Site]

In Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, the default program for viewing most pictures, if you right click you can select the option to "Set as Desktop Background". The school would like this option removed from the right click menu so that students will stop setting a different, and possibly offensive, background. Anyone know how to do this?

[AmIdYfReAk]

Wallpaper (Folder) Background

Background for folders: To create a template folder with a background image, create a new folder and customize it to create a hidden desktop.ini file inside. Edit the desktop.ini in the folder and add two lines:

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=Background.bmp

Then create a hidden image file in the folder and name it "Background.bmp". This image can be .bmp, .jpg, or .gif, but you will need to edit the image file extension in your desktop.ini file to match the image file name.

Wallpaper - Desktop - Disable Changing

Allow Wallpaper/Background Changes - Disable

Manual: Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop. NoChangingWallPaper
DWord value: 1 prevents changing wallpaper, 0 allows changes.

The same value can be created in the following Registry branch, to make the restriction machine wide.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop

Wallpaper - Users

To modify the wallpaper for every new user added to the machine.. and has the added benefit of showing up during log on:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. In the right pane change to path to Wallpaper.

[Tormentius]

Does your school use Active Directory and Group Policies? If they do then create a policy with a label that makes sense and then edit the user configuration portion of the policy. The two settings you're looking for are these:

Code: Select all

 User configuration\Administrative Templates\Desktop\Active Desktop\ Active Desktop wallpaper

Set this to the UNC (most efficient) or literal path, eg. "%systemroot%\wallpaper.jpg" which is where the image you want to use for wallpaper resides. System root is a good one to choose since non-administrative users don't have write access to that folder (which prevents them from switching the image to something offensive).

Code: Select all

 User configuration\Administrative Templates\\Control Panel\Display\Prevent Changing Wallpaper

This one prevents using the display applet to change wallpaper.

Amidy's way will also work but its awkward to deploy and manage and it will permanently alter registry values. Group Policy doesn't permanently alter the registry and provides a couple thousand options for managing your user's environments.

[AmIdYfReAk]

nice own torm, i dident have enough time to look up the AD Commands.

i usually just put my Commands in an AutoAdmin script and run it on startup though a network resorce.

[Kills On Site]

Alas we actually use Novell, not AD or GP. The desktop itself is unaccessable from a student, so this desktop.ini trick seems like it would work. Thanks for the help.

[AmIdYfReAk]

the ini part is only for folders, not for the desktop.

[Tormentius]

nice own torm, i dident have enough time to look up the AD Commands.

i usually just put my Commands in an AutoAdmin script and run it on startup though a network resorce.

That works too. I'm pretty AD-centric since the school network I manage is about 6 hours north of me and has a couple hundred students so the more I can automate the more cash they save.

[AmIdYfReAk]

check this out,

http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

Compile a script to write the Reg values as needed to make the BG and force it not to be changed..

then put it on a Accessable Network resorce ( share, drive, etc ) and get your teacher to deploy it to all of the students through novell.

[Kills On Site]

Well I tried the reg thing for all users, I got to the Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies, no ActiveDesktop existed so I created it, then added the DWORD value. It didn't work, you can still change the desktop.

[dzjepp]

So why doesn't your school have a proper sys. admin? Or do they let students do it as sort of a bonus credits thing?

[Tormentius]

Yeah, I've been wondering the same thing. From the questions KoS has posted so far his school's admin sounds like a waste of skin.

[Kills On Site]

Well I am an intern this semester. The admin spends his time fixing things that are broken and aren't working throughout the school. In the grand scheme of things, this sort of issue is of much less importance, hence why I get to do it.

I tried the reg key under the Current_User, since Novell actually only uses one user on the computer and so far it seems to work. Thanks for the good and quick responces guys.

[AmIdYfReAk]

During Highschool, i helped my Computer administrat quite a bit actually.

helping him Fix computers and etc, i dident get into any networking stuff, that is my weakness.

[Kills On Site]

Well that reg edit didn't seem to work, the computer was being slow and I thought it worked when it didn't change instantly, then I logged off, and I tried it again and it still changes.

I tried this. It also did not work. I added the keys as an admin and then restarted and loged in again as an admin, the keys were still there, but they had no affect on the background. Then when I logged on as a student, logged off and then back on as an admin the keys were no longer in the registry.

[Tormentius]

I dont think you need AD group policy.

Start->Run

type gpedit.msc

have fun.

:icon14: That works too although it needs to be done on each machine individually.

[Kills On Site]

Well I tried editing the group policy, it again didn't work.

As for the need for network or individually, that does not matter as at our school we build master clone files, there are about 4 different models of Dells at the school so it makes it fairly easy. As update like this would be implemented in a computer, along with various other things, and then we would create a clone file from that computer and distribute it to all the computers in the school, essentially Norton Ghost, but it is Novell ZenWorks.

[dzjepp]

So did you ghost all the end-user machines already with the new policies?

[Kills On Site]

The group policy didn't work. Nothing has worked so far, I think Novell is butting heads with what I'm trying.

[AmIdYfReAk]

You said the Reg worked, then you logged out and back in then it dident work..

Then why wouldent you apply it to a login script to apply each and everytime the user loggs in?