Categories: Windows 11 & Windows 10Windows Server

SOLVED: Windows 10 Lock Screen Graphic GPO Not Working On 1703

If you have Windows 10 Enterprise or Education you should be able to use a GPO to set a custom lock and home screen.  Unfortunately, Windows 10 1703 broke that and it has been driving many IT staff crazy trying to fix it.

After a few weeks of banging around with Microsoft Partner Support they have just confirmed that this will be fixed shortly:

After checking with our Product team, it seems that our issue will be fixed on the non-security cumulative update that will be released on the 4th Tuesday of May, which is May 23

Crystal – MS Partner Support

I know my staff will be happy and as this is holding up several deployments.  One of my customers put a global deployment on hold because Win 10 1703 would not respect the GPO that sets the custom lock and home screens.

Note that if you have Windows 10 Pro, S or Home, this GPO is completely ignored and there really is no easy way to set a custom lock and home screen.

In case you do not already know, the GPO to set a custom home and lock screen is:

COMPUTER > POLICIES > ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES > CONTROL PANEL > PERSONALIZATION > FORCE A SPECIFIC DEFAULT LOCK SCREEN AND LOGON IMAGE

Enjoy!

View Comments

  • Hi everybody (and people who are looking for the same answer than me ;))
    Just a (late) update about this topic... after hardest web researches/tests and with actual WinOS build (21H2), here is how to set a custom lockscreen image (1) without "Fun facts, tips & tricks" options (2)(shitty Spotlight ;)):

    1) 1st reg.key: "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PersonalizationCSP"
    Value name: "LockScreenStatus" (DWORD) // value to "1"
    Value name: "LockScreenPath" (SZ) // value to "\\share\picture.jpg"

    2) 2nd reg.key: "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager"
    Value name: "SubscribedContent-338387Enabled" (DWORD) // value to "0"

    You can use GPO rule (registry push) or ps script to do so.
    Enjoy and cheers ;)

  • Your article has a good source of information and many informative topics because we all know that Windows 10 is one of the most important it is a Windows 10 operating system can provide numerous benefits to you and your organization, including the following: Windows 10 has two-factor authentication implemented into its system. This feature adds a higher level of security, since users have to confirm their identity before they can log on to the computer. I am very thankful on your article it gives more knwledgeable information

  • You refer to Windows 10 Enterprise build 1703. We are having the problem with Windows 10 Enterprise 1709 and 1803. So if the KB you list has actually fixed it for 1703, what about 1709 and 1803. What KB(s)?

    • I am using Win 10 v1803 with most of my Enterprise customers and I am not seeing any issue with the Lock Screen GPO.

  • SO WIN10 PRO DOESN'T SUPPORT THIS AS OF NOW, CORRECT?
    DOES THIS APPLY TO DESKTOP IMAGES AS WELL?

  • This doesnt' work in our environment. We have a lockscreen gpo in place that sets the lockscreen that involves rotating between 2 different images based on the week. We can't set the 2 GPO settings because it breaks our national lock screen banner.

    And the powershell script fails too. Even with an admin account we don't have enough rights to use the script, so you need more than just a regular admin account.

    • My bad... I was trying to run it in powershell and the last command "rmdir" was failing. Just ran it in an elevated command prompt window and it seems to have worked.

      At first I was getting the solid colour logon background, but it eventually updated.

  • It indeed is solved in the mentioned hotfix, but...

    In rare occasions it still fails to set the lockscreen background on windows 10 1703 Enterprise. (1 out of 400). We fixed that by running the following script:
    takeown /F C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData /grant:r "Administrators:F"
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData /grant:r "SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F"
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData /setowner Administrators
    takeown /F C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /R /D Y
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /grant:r "Administrators:(OI)(CI)F"
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /grant:r "SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F"
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\* /inheritance:e /T
    icacls C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18 /setowner Administrators /T
    rmdir /Q /S C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18

  • Kinda bold to set the status to solved. It is a promise Microsoft will (try to) fix it in the next cumulative update. First I need to have actual proof of this fix, before claiming a issue to be solved.

    • That is the fact. The problem is solved. Quit working on trying to get around it, and just wait for the patch. :)

      • I agree with Erik, especially since the patch was not released on the promised date, and today that link provided above is not working.

        I am now looking for more info on this.

        • I have it working with that patch KB4020102. That patch is a cumulative patch and has already been replaced with KB4022725 which will be replaced again this month.

          Remember that, in addition to the patch, you MUST be running Windows 10 ENTERPRISE or EDUCATION and you MUST set BOTH:

          “Force a specific default lock screen and logon image” and
          “Prevent changing lock screen and logon image”

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Published by
Ian Matthews
Tags: GPOlock and home screenlock screenlock screen graphic
8 years ago

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