GPO for screensaver 3

[tvbruwae]

Hi

We would like to have a GPO that configures the screensaver for desktops in the domain. The GPO should only allow one screensaver (.scr file) to be used.

Most other screensaver settings should not be configured. I.e. users should be able to change the time-out, password protection or even the activation of a screensaver.

We tried to implement this but haven't found what we need yet. In our policy we only configured the "screen saver executable name". Other screensaver-related settings were left unconfigured.

However on the clients, all screen saver settings are grayed out. So the user can not change the parameters anymore..

Is there a way to implement what we need with the default GPO templates?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[ncotton]

Just been looking at this. And like I said, the default also works for me as you WANT it to. But I don't understand why you are getting different results. Is it possible that you have this set in a different GPO that is possible higher that is being propigated down your AD? I really dont know.

Try, setitng "Enable Screen Saver" to Enabled, and where you specify the Screensaver file, try a standard screensaver. C:\windows\system32\ssmarquee.scr, see if that makes any difference. Also, can you clarify that your client machines are all XPsp1 and above?

both with my ADM and the standard one, I can lock down the screensaver file so that there is no options, it is completely greyed out, with my specified one in the dropdown (which now doesn't drop down).

What I will do, it test this manually, on a non domain machine. If changing the one registry value doesn't disable the other settings, then I must assume that the disable other settings is coming from somewhere else.

Please test this
----------------
Create a new GPO, remove all admin templates. Add just mine. Set the screensaver as a standard windows one as mentioned above

c:\windows\system32\ssmarque.scr or c:\windows\system32\logon.scr

link it. Apply a filter to it for one test user, then try it.

If this works, then go back, and change it for your screensaver.exe, see if that makes any difference.

Let us know how you get on. I'll post back with any findings too.

God Speed!

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[tvbruwae]

Currently I'm testing the GPO on an XP-SP2 computer. The domain account that I'm using has been moved to an "isolated" OU that has policy inheritance disabled and only enforces the screensaver policy. This particular policy only has one setting defined, i.e. the executable name. So any conflict seems out of the question..

With your latest test there was again no difference. As soon as I select a standard Windows screensaver like logon.scr or sspipes.scr, the policy works as expected. If I copy such a default screensaver to another location (like %appdata%) and set the policy to use %appdata%\sspipes.scr, it also works fine. However as soon as I select our customized screensaver (no matter in what location) the GUI shows to have none enabled. And still the screensaver should work fine. It's also listed in the drop-down when I disable the entire policy.

I tried to copy our sc.scr over an existing Windows screensaver to see if anything has to do with the name. But something is directly overwriting the sspipes.scr file with the original value (and I already deleted the scr file from the DLLCACHE folder)..

 

[ncotton]

when you say when you select a standard screen saver it "works as expected", do you mean that the scr is defined in the policy and all the other settings are left to be configured by the user?

If you DISABLE the "Enable Screen Saver" policy you should have no clicking ability inside the screensaver tab (well, maybe on the powersaving scheme). But with it disabled, you shouldn't be able to look at contents of the drop down box. It should be empty if disabled.

Can anyone else test out this issue, looks like one of us is having unusual behaviour.

Im running a single Win sever 2003 R2 server and a single XP sp2 adv client.

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[tvbruwae]

It looks like I've isolated the problem, using some information that you did not have.. Our screensaver is not really called "sc.scr", but <companyname>.scr. The name of the company is 9 characters, and somehow that seems to be the problem.

As soon as I enter a name that is more than 8 characters in the policy and rename the .scr file, the clients allow no options to be configured and the selected screensaver shows to be "none". If I shorten the name in both the policy and file name, the list is correctly disabled and set to the selected screensaver while all other options remain configurable.

So it looks like we were looking at the wrong thing. Although I don't know if there is really an 8 character limit for names of screen savers or if this just messes things up on our servers?

 

[ncotton]

All Windows scrs are 8 or less.
SSMARQUE 8
SSPIPES 7
LOGON 5
SSTEXT3D 8
SSMYST 6

Looks like it is a standard, cause they could never be bothered changing from the 3.11 naming standard


Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[tvbruwae]

Great.. It's nice to see that we have the Windows 2003 and XP features and still have to stick to 8-character screensavers

The policy works like a charm now, so for me the problem is solved. For Microsoft however there's still work to do..

Thank you all for the helpful posts and comments!

 

[ncotton]

For Microsoft however there's still work to do

Diiiirrrr! LOL

Hello we're Microsoft and our only competitor are up and coming Linux GUIs....Lets make a new OS called "Vista", make all the icons look just like SuSE Linux, make them big, put clumbsy interfaces on them, and release it 3 years late.


"Vista was initially meant for release for the RTM with Licence Plates for the Christmas 2003 PC ISO market"

"Vista launch to public is set for Dec 2005"

"Vista is set to be released for public purcahse in Summer 2006"

"The new Microsoft Vista Operating System release has been re-scheduled for December 2006"

"The launch of Vista has been pushed back to the last week in January 2007"

and this week

"Unforeseen issues have meant that the release of Vista will be made towards the end of February 2007"

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[markdmac]

If you can make a better system faster then do it and make your billions.

If MS releases the product before it is ready then everyone complains how MS has poor quality.

If the company does the right thing and pushes back a release date to make the product work as it should then they catch flack for that too.

Let's not turn this into a MS bashing forum.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[ncotton]

I dont like bashing MS, and I dont in general...just 3 years late....who designed the roadmap for that

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[markdmac]

I can't argue about that. The roadmaps are often too optimistic.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[beel1956]

I believe that Symantec are suing M/S for using code from Veritas in Vista. It seems M/S had an agreement with veritas but when Symantec bought it they didn't want M/S to use the code. They are suing for the code removal as well as money for miuse and this will slow Vista even further.