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. We can use Microsoft Intune to manage desktop wallpaper on Windows 10 and later devices.

Windows 11 Desktop Wallpaper

In this blog post, we will discuss, 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 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)

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


Prerequisites

We need two image URLs which we need to use for the locked screen and desktop background. 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.


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.

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

Intune Device Configuration Profiles | Desktop Wallpaper

  • 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.

Intune Device Configuration Profiles | Desktop Wallpaper Locked screen experience

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

Intune deploy wallpaper via intune

  • In 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 on 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.

Intune Device Configuration Profiles | Desktop Wallpaper

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

Intune Device Configuration Profiles | Desktop Wallpaper

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


How to Check 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)

PersonalizationLockScreenImageStatus
PersonalizationDesktopImageStatus

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

PersonalizationCSP Registry keys on windows 10 / Windows 11


End User Experience

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

Desktop Wallpaper:

Intune Desktop Wallpaper End User Experience

Lock Screen:

Intune Desktop Wallpaper End User Experience - Locked screen


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7 thoughts on “Manage Desktop Wallpaper with Microsoft Intune”

  1. This doesn’t works on windows 11 systems. We have a bunch of laptops with both Windows 10 and 11. Only shows up on 10 but not 11.

  2. It works, but user can’t change the desktop wallpaper once the policy is applied. Any option to enable user to select other desktop wallpaper as well?

    1. This is the limitation of configuring wallpaper using device configuration. If you want to allow user to change the settings then it need to be implemented using a script by updating the registry keys. The image files can be either copied along with script using win32 apps or azure storage can be used to keep the files accessible from all devices.

  3. This only works for Windows Enterprise and Education versions.
    Do you happen to have a workaround to make it work on Windows Pro?

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