Configure BgInfo to run via a GPO for a consistent experience

Summary: Keeping track of which system is which is complicated for most server administrators. IT pro Rick Vanover shows how to keep all your systems consistent.

I frequently log into multiple systems, and it’s important for me to know which system is which. I often use BgInfo to provide a nice splash of information on the desktop about each system. I usually just put computer name, user name (so I know if I’m using a service account), and possibly boot time.

I have taken a new approach to utilizing BgInfo–I just run it centrally and automatically for all users via a Group Policy Object (GPO). No more fiddling around with putting it on an image or setting a configuration that ends up not being consistent. This is pretty easy to do via Group Policy with the logon script option to apply to a user GPO. This is located in User Configuration | Policies | Windows Settings | Scripts | Logon (Figure A).

Figure A 
 
Click the image to enlarge.

The script to run in this example is a bat file that runs this command:

\\rwvdev.intra\netlogon\common\bginfo\Bginfo.exe \\rwvdev.intra\netlogon

\common\bginfo\lab.bgi /SILENT /TIMER:00

The .bgi file is the specified BgInfo options (such as which fields to show), and the timer set to zero will not display the configuration file. Note: This in my personal lab; a production environment may not want to use the directory netlogon share for this type of thing.

I’ve also started ensuring that designated wallpaper is displayed when BgInfo is run; this is another way to keep RDP sessions consistent. My personal preference is to specify a wallpaper graphic because I do a lot of screen sharing.

The one drawback to this method is that if it is applied via a GPO, the first run for a user on a new system would require the license agreement to be accepted on the first run. In my opinion, that’s a minor sacrifice for the consistent experience that BgInfo brings to our complicated web of servers that we use and support.

Rick Vanover is an IT infrastructure manager for a financial services organization in Columbus, Ohio. He has years of IT experience and focuses on virtualization, Windows-based server administration and system hardware.