Monday, July 28, 2014

How to use Group Policy to allow the users to chose any screensaver except (None)

I just found one of the most beautiful Group Policies that I've ever come across:

How to use Group Policy to allow the users to chose any screensaver except (None)

This post is from Group Policy Central, and is 4 years old, but I've verified that it works properly with Windows 7 and 8, and is just a beautifully done Group Policy. Thanks Kevin for creating it and thank Alan for sharing.

The below is excerpts from the posting:

Step 1. Edit a Group Policy Object (GPO) that is targeted to the users accounts you wan to apply this policy
Step 2. Navigate to User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry then from the menu click on Action > New > Registry Item

Step 3. Select “Update” from the Action then type “Control Panel\Desktop” in the Key Path: text field then type “SCRNSAVE.EXE”  in the Value Name text field and “C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr” in the Value data: text field.

Step 4. Click on the Common tab and then tick “Item-level targeting” and then click the “Targeting…” button.

Now we will target the screen saver to apply only when the “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\SCRNSAVE.EXE” registry key does NOT exist as this means the screen saver has been configured to “(None)”.
Step 5. Click on “New Item” then the “Registry Match” option.

Step 6. Select the “Value exists” Match type” then type “Control Panel\Desktop” in the key path field and then type “SCRNSAVE.EXE” in the value name field

Step 7. Click back on the targeting setting in the top pane and press “F8” which changes the option to “does not exist” then click OK and OK.

This policy will now apply the blank screen saver on the next group policy refresh to all targeted users whenever they select the “(None)”.


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