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For windows server 2008, is there an easy way to put the server name in the background wallpaper?

I'd like it to display SERVER-A, SERVER-B etc...

I'd prefer not to buy anything or generate images.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
9

Yeah, BGInfo is probably the best way to go.

You can also have it display useful information like IP, MAC, domain, etc. You can set it up to update automatically at login with the sweet new task scheduler just set it to "At logon" for the trigger and "C:\Bginfo.exe bginfo.bgi /timer:0" for the action, where "C:\BGinfo.exe" is the path to where you have BGInfo.exe and "bginfo.bgi" is the full path to where you have your saved .bgi.

You can get bginfo by just googling, or by clicking here.

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12

You have an easy option: suck it up and create a simple wallpaper with that server's name on it only. Another choice is sysinternal's bginfo. Both are free.

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  • bginfo works well.
    – Clay Kimber
    Aug 25, 2009 at 16:23
  • +1 - Yay BGINFO. I run a logon script on some server computers (applied w/ loopback GPO processing) to regenerate the background on each logon, and populate it with various fun items.
    – Evan Anderson
    Aug 25, 2009 at 16:25
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To be perfectly honest (and simple) I always rename the My Computer icon on the desktop to the server name.

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  • 1
    I frequently do the same. Especially for dev / office servers that I'm on a lot.
    – Chris_K
    Aug 26, 2009 at 2:59
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BGInfo is the answer I'm afraid! I use a funky bit of vbscript which allows you to select the right wallpaper resolution and then runs BGInfo using a config file to put the information in the right place. The script is below and you can modify it to your requirements:

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * From Win32_DisplayConfiguration")

Const OverwriteExisting = TRUE

' Determine the size of the desktop
For Each objItem in colItems
    X = objItem.PelsWidth
    Y = objItem.PelsHeight
Next

WScript.Echo "X:" & X
WScript.Echo "Y:" & Y

StrPath = "c:\bginfo\"
strRightSizeBMP = StrPath & "wallpaper" & X & "x" & Y & ".bmp"

WScript.Echo strRightSizeBMP

' Location and Name of Wallpaper
WinPath = "c:\bginfo\wallpaper.bmp"

' Copy Wallpaper for correct Screen Resolution to correct location
objFSO.CopyFile strRightSizeBMP, "c:\bginfo\wallpaper.bmp", OverwriteExisting

' Check for a temp file.  If it exists, this script has run before on this PC, therefore we quit.
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
Set colFiles = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM CIM_DataFile WHERE Path = '\\bginfo\\' AND Drive = 'C:' AND FileName = 'wallpaper' AND Extension = 'bmp'")
If colFiles.Count =1 Then WScript.Echo "c:\bginfo\wallpaper.bmp exists"

If colFiles.Count < 0 Then
    objFSO.CopyFile strRightSizeBMP, "c:\bginfo\wallpaper.bmp", OverwriteExisting
End If

Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
objShell.Run("c:\comet\bginfo.exe c:\bginfo\bginfo-cfg.bgi /TIMER:0 /SILENT /NOLICPROMPT"), 1, TRUE

You should save the script into c:\bginfo\ and also dump the following files into this directory:

bginfo.exe bginfo-cfg.bgi (created using bginfo with your specific configuration) wallpaperYYYYxZZZZ.bmp (where Y and Z are the resolutions - e.g wallpaper800x600.bmp)

You'll need to create one wallpaperYYYYxZZZZ.bmp for each resolution you want to support.

Finally, just add the full path to the script into the logon script or RUN registry key.

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