Manage Desktop Wallpaper with Microsoft Intune

On your Windows OS Desktop, a wallpaper is an image displayed behind the graphical user interface when the user’s desktop is visible. The wallpaper appears behind all your icons, folders, and open applications on your computer screen. Microsoft Windows allows you to use a variety of wallpapers, including photos, solid colors, or custom designs.

You can change your desktop wallpaper by right-clicking on an empty space on your desktop, selecting “Personalize,” and then choosing your desired background from the “Background” section. You can even set a slideshow of images to change periodically.

Microsoft Intune provides a way to configure desktop wallpaper on Windows 10/Windows 11 devices through device configuration policies.

Let’s understand how to configure Windows 10 / Windows 11 Desktop wallpaper using Microsoft Intune Device Restriction Policy. Microsoft Intune device restriction policies help administrators control Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS devices. These device restrictions let you control a wide range of settings and features to protect your organization’s resources.

We will configure the following settings through a device restriction policy to configure wallpaper via Intune.

• (Locked screen picture URL (Desktop only)
• Desktop background picture URL (Desktop only)

Users won’t be able to change the wallpaper when settings are configured using the device restriction policy. This is the expected behavior when you apply the wallpaper using the device restriction policy. These settings apply only to Windows Enterprise and Education versions. If you apply the same settings on the Windows 10 /11 Professional devices, you will see a “Not applicable” error for the policy installation status of this profile.

Prerequisites

We need two image URLs that we need to use for the locked screen and desktop background, respectively. The URLs should be accessible from all devices. You can keep the image file in Azure Blob Storage and create a public link to use in the policy. You can also use the image web URL, which is accessible from all devices.

How to Configure Desktop Wallpaper Using Intune

Follow the below steps to configure Windows 10 / Windows 11 desktop wallpaper through the Microsoft Intune device restriction policy.

• On the Microsoft Intune admin center, Select Devices | Configuration profiles and click on Create a profile.
• Select the following details in the “Create a profile” window and click on Create.
  • Platform: Windows 10 and later
  • Profile type: Templates
  • Template name: Device Restrictions

• Expand Locked Screen Experience settings.
• For Windows 10 Lock screen, we will select Locked screen picture URL (Desktop only). You need to provide a picture URL that is publicly accessible. For the corporate environment, the URL should be accessible from the company network.

• Scroll down and expand the Personalization settings.
• On the Personalization settings, provide the URL for the Desktop background under the Desktop background picture URL (Desktop only).
• Click on Next to move to the Assignment page.

• On the Assignment page, add the Entra ID group ( formerly Azure AD) on which you want to target the wallpaper settings and click on Next. You can apply the policy to the User group, Device group, All Users, or All devices. You can also use Intune Assignment Filters to narrow down the scope of the policy.

• On the Review + create page, review the settings and click on Create.

The Device restriction policy has now been created. Check the notifications in the notification area to confirm successful policy creation.

How to Check the Policy Status for a Device

You can validate the policy per-setting status for a device from Device Blade. Follow the below steps.

• Navigate to Device | Configuration Profiles
• Click on the Device configuration profile
• Click on Per-setting status

You can see the status for the following settings.

• Locked screen picture URL (Desktop only)
• PersonalizationLockScreenImageStatus
• PersonalizationDesktopImageStatus
• Desktop background picture URL (Desktop only)

Once the policy is successfully applied to a Windows 10/ 11 device, you can find the following details in the Registry. This is useful in troubleshooting the issue if you are not getting the desired result. You can find more details about PersonalizationCSP here.

End User Experience

Here is the end-user experience for desktop wallpaper and the locked screen.

Desktop Wallpaper:

Lock Screen:

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