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I Have Windows 2008R2 server with active directory.

All client systems are Windows 8/8.1 Pro.

I need to push corporate wallpaper through AD GPO on client system, I have created a shared folder on server with .jpg file in it and given its shared path is GPO for setting up wallpaper. After creating policy and testing it on one of client system it works and it applies the wallpaper.

Now the problem is that whenever we change wallpaper file in shared folder it does not get updated on client system. Client system still shows previously applied wallpaper.

Strange thing is on client system under "Personalize---> Desktop Background" it shows newly updated wallpaper's thumbnail image, but it is not getting applied.

After doing some search I came across few articles from technet, but that did not help.

http://support2.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;977944

Thanks in advance.

amitsgokhale
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6 Answers6

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This is because when the computers run group policy, they don't see a newer version number for the wallpaper GPO they have, and therefore don't reprocess the GPO, so they use the settings they cached when they fetched that GPO. Try running a gpupdate /force on one of the computers with the old wallpaper to verify that this is the cause. (If the wallpaper updates after running that command, that's the problem).

Going forward, you can deal with this by either following up a wallpaper change with a gpupdate /force to all your clients, or by simply making a change in the GPO after a wallpaper change. Personally, I'd recommend changing the GPO - the most obvious way that comes to mind is by changing the filename of the wallpaper each time (add a version number to the end, for example, corpwallpaperv2.png) and updating the GPO to fetch to the new version.

HopelessN00b
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  • Thanks for reply.. I tried gpupdate /force but that did not worked. Strange thing is on a client machine I can see the new wallpaper under "Desktop-->Properties-->Personalize-->Desktop Background" There I can see the thumbnail image of new wallpaper which I have changed on server. But I will try your another suggestion of changing file name.. – amitsgokhale Oct 30 '14 at 13:58
  • @amitsgokhale You didn't say what kind of GPO this is... it might only apply at boot or logon, so try restarting the machine as well. – HopelessN00b Oct 30 '14 at 14:02
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There is a proposed answer to your problem on a support post on Technet

Hi, It seems a known issue that the wallpaper would display for a second at user logon or logout. The picture you specified as wallpaper would be converted and saved as trancodedwallpaper.jpg which is stored in %Appdata%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes.

If the convertion process failed the right wallpaper couldn't be displayed. It seems the trancodedwallpaper.jpg in your cilents still pointed to the old file. You can edit HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper to address it as mentioned in the below thread(which also listed many other workarounds): Wallpaper via Group Policy and Windows 7 http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/thread/a1ebfe81-421e-4630-8c1f-8068222ee533 And please also see this Forum FAQ which may be helpful: Forum FAQ: Wallpaper policy may not work on Windows 7 Clients http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverGP/thread/6e4c2546-9cfd-49b7-b193-9007517a5632

Itai Hay
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As I was figuring out Group Policy I also ran into this problem where the wallpaper wasn't changing even though group policy had been applied and the picture in the menu had changed. This was because Wallpaper settings are a policy that requires a log off before they will apply properly. It took me ages to find a place that actually said that and it was aggravating me to no end. Maybe this may be irrelevant to you at this point but I hope it helps somebody.

DeynaTaggerung
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Please follow the steps,I am sure it will work for you.

  1. Go to the following path:-

    C:\Users\select user name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\

  2. Rename the TranscodedWallpaper to TranscodedWallpaper_old

  3. Now logout from current user and login again.You will get your changed wallpaper.

Community
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Satish Barpagga
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Some one are mentioning below ideas but practically this is not possible because how many time we will do same thing. We are using 200 system so how we can go one by one...?

Please follow the steps,I am sure it will work for you.

Go to the following path:-

C:\Users\select user name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\ Rename the TranscodedWallpaper to TranscodedWallpaper_old Now logout from current user and login again.You will get your changed wallpaper

Ravindra Singh
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If there are multiple users in a single computer or multiple computers you can create a batch file:

  1. Open Notepad and add following lines...

    echo Delete TranscodedWallpaper
del %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper
echo Done!

  2. Save as file_name.bat

  3. Run the "file_name.bat" save as type: All file.

You can also put it on startup and so, you don't need to run every time.

  1. Create a shortcut of a file_name.bat and paste the shortcut to the all user's startup folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp"

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-get-startup-folder-in-start-all-programs/d3f5486a-16c0-4e69-8446-c50dd35163f1?auth=1

alexander.polomodov
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Md. Saidur Rahman
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