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Cannot make Desktop Icon titles transparent via Group Policy
Hi, I'm trying to push out a desktop wallpaper that will be pushed out to all our Win XP clients
All of out 2000 machines are running BgInfo, so it was easy just to change the BgInfo Config file to specify this new wallpaper.
This has worked, however, now the titles of the desktop icons still show a black background, i.e. not transparent, but instead showing the colour of the previous desktop backgraound colour.
I realise that I need to tick the box in Visual Effects that says "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop", but would also like to tick the other options, therefore I want to select "Adjust for best appearance" via group policy.
I have been looking at ways to do this - what I found was this reg file, which I pushed out successfully with group policy.
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Softw are\Micros oft\Window s\CurrentV ersion\Exp lorer\Visu alEffects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00 000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsof t\Windows\ CurrentVer sion\Explo rer\Visual Effects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00 000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA RE\Microso ft\Windows \CurrentVe rsion\Expl orer\Visua lEffects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00 000001
The reg file applied successfully, "Visual Effects" under "Performance Options" has all radio buttons/tick boxes ticked as it should be - BUT the settings clearly haven't applied, the icon titles are still not transparent - even after several reboots.
Then, if I manually set it to "Adjust for best performance" and then immediately back to "Adjust for best appearance", it works - but this is no good for me because I want to automate this process to all PCs.
Any ideas?
P.S. My Active Desktop is set to Disabled in Group Policy, as I was instructed to do so in a forum that I came across.
All of out 2000 machines are running BgInfo, so it was easy just to change the BgInfo Config file to specify this new wallpaper.
This has worked, however, now the titles of the desktop icons still show a black background, i.e. not transparent, but instead showing the colour of the previous desktop backgraound colour.
I realise that I need to tick the box in Visual Effects that says "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop", but would also like to tick the other options, therefore I want to select "Adjust for best appearance" via group policy.
I have been looking at ways to do this - what I found was this reg file, which I pushed out successfully with group policy.
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Softw
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00
The reg file applied successfully, "Visual Effects" under "Performance Options" has all radio buttons/tick boxes ticked as it should be - BUT the settings clearly haven't applied, the icon titles are still not transparent - even after several reboots.
Then, if I manually set it to "Adjust for best performance" and then immediately back to "Adjust for best appearance", it works - but this is no good for me because I want to automate this process to all PCs.
Any ideas?
P.S. My Active Desktop is set to Disabled in Group Policy, as I was instructed to do so in a forum that I came across.
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Pete - that's great! I included another line for the reg key above and it worked - thanks.
Now I want to remove the "Set as Desktop Background" item on context menus for JPG, GIF, etc.
I will post this as another question. D'you think you could have a look at that for me?
Thanks
Now I want to remove the "Set as Desktop Background" item on context menus for JPG, GIF, etc.
I will post this as another question. D'you think you could have a look at that for me?
Thanks
Thanks, and glad that helped!
I could, if you post a link, but I can tell you for free that I'm not sure there's a way to do it - We have the same problem here, as we use all the normal background restrictions, and use a log on script to set our company background.
However I found the same problem, and did some research, and basically found that this is a flaw in the background locking GPO settings. It appears that the only way to REALLY lock the background from changing is to employ Active Desktop, which we chose not to do (because I HATE it).
But that was well over a year ago, so if you post a link to the new Q, I can re-take a look at the subject and see what's new!
Pete
I could, if you post a link, but I can tell you for free that I'm not sure there's a way to do it - We have the same problem here, as we use all the normal background restrictions, and use a log on script to set our company background.
However I found the same problem, and did some research, and basically found that this is a flaw in the background locking GPO settings. It appears that the only way to REALLY lock the background from changing is to employ Active Desktop, which we chose not to do (because I HATE it).
But that was well over a year ago, so if you post a link to the new Q, I can re-take a look at the subject and see what's new!
Pete
Maybe somehow we can figure a way to ensure this setting is set manually (by which I just mean 'individually' as opposed to as part of the performance settings), and may that would sort it...
Just need to find the relevant reg key first!
And of course confirm that doing this sorts the problem... So on one of the machines that has the bad background, can you just try right-clicking on the desktop > Arrange Icons By > And see if 'Lock Web items on desktop' is ticked?