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Enabling desktop wallpaper on remote desktop terminal services

Posted At : October 18, 2007 5:51 PM | Posted By : Nat Papovich
Related Categories: Hardware

I always have to work hard to remember which server is live, which is for production, which is for development, etc. It's also difficult to tell at a glance which remote server I'm connected to over remote desktop. Typically I change the wallpaper color to red for production servers, green for development servers and yellow for staging servers. But that doesn't solve the second problem of immediately knowing which server I'm connected to.

I googled around for quite some time to find out how to enable desktop wallpaper for RDP sessions on Windows Server 2003 (2k3), but I couldn't discover how to do it. My friend Damon Gentry helped me out, and here's how you do it.

First off, your RDP client (Remote Desktop Connection client in the case of Windows XP) has to have remote wallpaper enabled. On XP, open the saved Remote Desktop Connection file to the server you are connecting and click the Experience tab. Place a check in the option "Desktop background". This allows the client to see enabled desktop wallpapers.

Second, connect to the remote Win2k3 server and from a Run box, type "mmc" to open the Microsoft Management Console. Click File -> Add/Remove Snap-in. Click the "Add..." button, choose "Group Policy Object Editor" from the list and click "Add" (you may have to push "Finish") then "Close" then "OK".

Now browse to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services. From the list, modify "Always show desktop on connection" to "Enabled" and "Enforce Removal of Remote Desktop Wallpaper" to "Disabled". Now close the MMC clicking "No" about saving the settings.

Log out of your remote desktop connection and login again, making sure your RDP client has desktop wallpaper enabled. Now you should be able to rt-click the desktop and apply wallpaper normally. I still recommend doing the colored background with the wallpaper since not all connecting clients will have desktop wallpaper enabled.

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Weird. Following the instructions given here, I manage to right-click the desktop. However, when I click OK, the wallpaper doesn't appear.

BTW, I customized the desktop by typing computer name on top right corner. Unfortunately, I can't see it remotely.
# Posted By khengsiong | 11/22/07 11:58 PM
You need to make sure your connecting client allows desktop wallpaper on the remote server, and you may have to disconnect and reconnect to the remote server after setting up everything. I've tried this on three Win2k3 server and it's been smooth sailing, so make sure you follow these instructions exactly. Let me know how it goes.
# Posted By Nat Papovich | 11/26/07 9:51 AM
Nat,
I have enabled the 'Desktop background' option under the Experience Tab. But my Win XP Pro does not have 'Font smoothing' and 'Desktop composition' options. Neither does it have 'Advanced' Tab. Perhaps different versions work in different ways...
# Posted By khengsiong | 11/26/07 6:33 PM
Hm, perhaps. I'm using the "upgraded" version of the RDP client that was pushed out via Windows Update a couple months back. Maybe you could try that one?
# Posted By Nat Papovich | 11/26/07 7:47 PM
Thank You! This post saved me hours of struggling.

Note: I messed around with various file formats and sizes. Tried .png and jpg. Eventually settled on ~100kb .jpg file, which has left me with zero delay as the background is repainted. (The 1MB .png I tested looked no better but produced a visible band of refresh each time a window was closed).
# Posted By Howard Ryb | 1/5/08 11:38 PM
OK, I know why the wallpaper didn't appear in my case (comment on 11/22/07). I didn't login to console, and there was another user logging in. The other user could see the wallpaper but I couldn't.

To make sure that I login to console, I will go to start > run, and enter 'mstsc /console' (no quote).
# Posted By khengsiong | 3/12/08 8:21 PM
Hm, I'm never heard of the /console switch, but I'm glad you figured it out and left a note here.
# Posted By Nat Papovich | 3/13/08 3:02 PM
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