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jsinclair
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Logon task for bginfo

I'm trying to get a logon task to work that will push out a custom background using BGinfo, but for some reason I can't get it to work. I have tried running the command directly, as a VBscript, but no luck. The bginfo.exe and .bgi file (contains the configuration) are both applied as files in the User Environment configuration. I am able to get this to work if I create a triggered task for reconnect using the exact same command.

Has anyone else had any issues with the logon task configuration? Is there log files I can look at? Any help would be appreciated...thanks!

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32 Replies
HartmutEhl
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

did you try to put bginfo into the user Startup Folder?

This can be easy achieved using Flex+

jsinclair
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, I ended up doing that and it appears to be working now. Not sure why the logon tasks are inconsistent. Thanks!

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HartmutEhl
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi, good to hear that it works.

I'm afraid that this is no inconsistency.

Logon Tasks will usually run before the Desktop is present.

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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Why you mind providing me with more details on how you were able to get this working as I'm new to UEM. Previously we were using persona and just had a vbs file baked into the startup folder of our image, ever since moving to UEM we are now getting ghosting of the bginfo text and was thinking this might possibly fix the issue for us.

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HartmutEhl
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

There are two configurations:

1. Background Picture

important is to put the transcoded wallpaper into the Archive.

[IncludeFiles]

<AppData>\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\transcodedwallpaper.jpg

<AppData>\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\slideshow.ini

<LocalAppData>\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Custom.theme

  Ghosting happens if you reuse the bginfo wallpaper

2. BGINFO

just a Startup link like  "C:\Program Files (x86)\BGInfo\Bginfo.exe" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\BGInfo\somefile.bgi" /timer:0 /silent /nolicprompt

hth

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VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

jsinclair‌ - seems like you got the answer you were looking for...

But, instead of adding it to the startup folder, you can also add a RunOnce registry key to call a script which reads your bgi_config file.  This is how I have done it so that I can keep the actual BGInfo files in a remote location, and it will be called at each login.  And instead of having it display info on the wallpaper, I have it set to open in a separate window.

2016-03-08_9-30-42.png2016-03-08_9-18-57.png

I use this for all my physical and virtual machines.  For My VMs, I configured it to also show me the VM Tools version as well.  If anyones interested, I don't mind sharing here for the community...just let me know!

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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hey HTH thanks for the replace currently I'm capturing the following:

#User Profile Data

[IncludeFolderTrees]

<UserProfile>

#Prevent syncing of ost file on users cache mode enabled

[ExcludeFiles]

<UserProfile>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\%EmailAddress% - Default Outlook Profile.ost

#remove bginfo wallpaper

[ExcludeFiles]

<UserProfile>\AppData\Local\Temp\bginfo.jpg

The problem I'm running into is the first time I set a new wallpaper everything is fine, I then reboot and it gets the bginfo correctly the first time. I reboot again the archive looks fine but then when I log back in it's blurred and what I'm finding is that the transcoded wallpaper is getting modifed and the old bginfo water mark is showing up on it.

If anyone has any ideas I would love to talk about this as it's been frustrating me for a number of days and our users are complaining since we didn't have this issue when we were using Persona.

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Pim999
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

If you see the BGinfo from the previous session, simply remove the UEM Config File for the Wallpaper (found in the Personalization tab in the UEM Management Console).

That stops the wallpaper from being saved for each session. With BGinfo you simply create a new wallpaper each session, so no need to save it to the profile.

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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the info Pim999 only problem with that is we want to give users the ability to change the wallpaper if they like to something other then the standard areo theme wallpaper.

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Pim_van_de_Vis

BGinfo changes the wallpaper, so the only solutions I see are:

- run BGinfo at logoff and undo the changes (don't know it that is possible).

- run BGinfo in a seperate window as mentioned above. That will prevent BGinfo from changing the wallpaper.

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epa80
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Not to hijack the thread, but, we're also trying to deliver BGInfo via a logon task, but are receiving the following popup. If we click run it will indeed work, but, can't figure out why we're getting the prompt to begin with.

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epa80
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I should clarify that this seems to happen on IE11 desktops but not IE8 desktops.

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Pim_van_de_Vis

The fix is through GPO.

User Configuration - Administative Templates - Windows Components - Internet Explorer - Internet Control Panel - Security Page  ... then it's Site to Zone Assignment List

Add the server where the .cmd or .bat file is being launched from to the trusted zone.

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epa80
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Still having the issue it seems. I have BGInfo coming from a DFS share via namespace \\server\uem, the full path to the .BAT running is \\server\uem\uemconfig\bginfo\workstation.bat. I had \\server\uem to my trusted zones like your reply said, but, still receiving it.

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Pim_van_de_Vis

I guess you have to add the actual servername and not the DFS namespace name.

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epa80
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Changing the GPO value to 1 for intranet, instead of 2 for trusted, did the trick for us. Thanks a lot!

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Pim_van_de_Vis

This should work.

Create an 'undo.bgi' file and put no information in there. Clear all defaults items and just put a space in there and save it.

Now create a Logoff task in UEM and call this line:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\BGInfo\Bginfo.exe" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\BGInfo\undo.bgi" /timer:0 /silent /nolicprompt


That removes all BGinfo from the wallpaper before the wallpaper gets exported.

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Smoke14
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

All you need to do is place everything in %logonserver%\netlogon. This will allow you to manage and change bginfo for each department, if you need.

I have one UEM log-on task for each scenario, production and development. here is an image of one of them.

UEM005.png

This is the only UEM entry I have for BgInfo.

FYI, you may want to look at http://www.glenn.delahoy.com/software/ (Desktopinfo) which is a simple executable that is dynamically controlled by a INI file. Also this is an overlay of the desktop so you don't need scheduled tasks to refresh, it refreshes on intervals you set..

I found BgInfo to be buggy at times.

Mike_A
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Pim_van_de_Vis

I've created a document that describes an implementation that always works for UEM and BGinfo.

VMware User Environment Manager and Sysinternals BGinfo

If you want to use VMware User Environment Manager in combination with BGinfo, follow these three steps to allow users to choose their own wallpaper, while still allowing the BGinfo information to appear on the wallpaper.

Step 1: Capture the BGinfo wallpaper

Step 2: Start BGinfo at logon to add the info to the wallpaper

Step 3: Undo the BGinfo at logoff to prevent ‘ghosting’ of old information.

These three steps are explained in detail in the attached document.