Wallpaper in Windows 7 locked down by domain group policy?

I am in a situation where my wallpaper is locked to a specific image on my work computer via group policy. I can't change it via the Personalization settings since it is grayed out and says it has been set by the system administrator.

Anyone know some local GPO and/or registry hackery I can do to override the domain's policy? I could probably get away with logging in under a local account for this, but I want that to be a last resort.

Solution 1:

I was able to get around by going to this location in the registry:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Inside, there's a key called Wallpaper. I deleted it and re-set the desktop background, and it worked.

You'll have to do that every time you log on though, as group policy refreshes itself. (It can also be set to refresh automatically.)

Solution 2:

Even if there were a hack, GPO is rechecked and reset regularly and each time you log in.

I assume this policy was probably created as an over-reaction to potentially offensive desktop background images.

Petitioning your IT org to change this setting and simply rely on people making the right choice or getting talked to by their managers may be a more effective solution.

Solution 3:

Easy...just do a search for the name of the wallpaper. Once you find the location that has the filename (i.e. wallpaper.jpg), simply rename that file to wallpaper-Old.jpg (or something like that). Next place either the image, or a link to an image, that you want to use in that location with the name wallpaper.jpg ( or whatever the original file's name was). This is just continuing with what W. Jackson was hinting at...

That said, do you know the location of the file that is used for the desktop background? Can you take the wallpaper you want and save it in that location? – William Jackson

This is just a workaround that does not require hacking the registry or any of the sysadmins' settings from A/D or the local machine.

Solution 4:

A slight variation to Ryan's answer above is to load regedit and to navigate to the same key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

Under this key there may be a key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop

If there is a string called "NoChangingWallPaper" set it to = "0"

Under the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

If there are strings "Wallpaper" and "WallpaperStyle" then delete these two strings.

Close regedit and then go into the "Personalize" settings and you should be able to change the wallpaper to one of your choosing.

If this still doesn't work you may need to log out of Windows and log back in.

The above was tested successfully on Windows 10.

I also find that the Group Policy synchronisation is usually less frequent than daily (but I guess each environment could differ here). Logging onto your PC before connecting to the network can help reduce the frequency of the Group Policy re-sync as well. If you have a laptop and it supports hibernation this can also decrease the frequency of Group Policy re-sync. I can usually go at least a couple of weeks to a month without the group policy wallpaper being re-applied and this is without implementing any automation scripts on startup.