Danny Moran

BgInfo Setup and Deployment Guide

Published March 12, 2022 by Danny Moran

Table of Contents
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Introduction

BgInfo is a small and simple utility that displays system information on the windows desktop backgroud. I’ll walk you through the process of obtaining the software, creating a template, and quickly deploying this application to all servers using Group Policy.

BGInfo Setup and Deployment Guide Video

BGInfo Setup and Deployment Guide

  1. Download BgInfo from Sysinternals/Microsoft Docs website.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/bginfo

  2. Extract the download to a folder called bginfo

  3. Run Bginfo.exe and configure the options you require.

  4. Press File then Save as and save the template to the same directory. Name the file template.bgi

  5. Copy the directory to a shared location that all servers and users can access.

    I recommend using the Active Directory SYSVOL share. Browse to: \\LOCALDOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\LOCALDOMAINNAME\scripts and copy the bginfo folder.

  6. Create a file called bginfo-deploy.bat in the same directory and give it the following script (replace LOCALDOMAIN with the domain name of your local active directory domain):

    \\LOCALDOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\LOCALDOMAINNAME\scripts\bginfo\Bginfo.exe \\LOCALDOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\LOCALDOMAINNAME\scripts\bginfo\template.bgi /silent /nolicprompt /timer:0

  7. Open Group Policy on a domain controller by searching for Group Policy Management or running gpmc.msc

  8. Drill down to find Group Policy Objects (GPO) under your domain, right-click it and press New.

  9. Name the GPO bginfo and press OK

  10. Right-click the new bginfo GPO and press Edit..

  11. Navigate to User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Files

  12. Right-click in the Files window and press New > File

  13. In the New File Properties window, configure the following under the General tab:

    • Action: Update
    • Source file: \\LOCALDOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\LOCALDOMAINNAME\scripts\bginfo\bginfo-deploy.bat
    • Destination file: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\bginfo-deploy.bat

    (Replace LOCALDOMAINNAME with the name of your local active directory domain)

  14. Under the Common tab, tick Item-level targeting and press Targeting…

  15. Press New Item and then Organizational Unit

  16. Press the three dots in the box to the right of page.

  17. Select the Organizational Unit that contains your servers and then press OK

  18. Select the option for Computer in OU, then press OK, then press Apply, then press OK, and then close the Group Policy Management Editor.

  19. In the Group Policy Management Console, right-click your domain name and press Link existing GPO…

  20. Select bginfo and then press OK

  21. Under the domain name, right -click the greyed out bginfo GPO and then press Enforced

The group policy is now active. When people start logging into the servers that are part of the OU(s) specified in Step 17, the script will be downloaded from the file share and then saved to the local startup folder of the server. From the second time someone logs into the server, the script will be run automatically and update the server desktop backgroup with the template you created. Every time someone logs into the server, the script will be re-run and update the desktop background with the latest information.

BgInfo deployment script used within the video

\\ad.dannymoran.com\SYSVOL\ad.dannymoran.com\scripts\bginfo\Bginfo.exe \\ad.dannymoran.com\SYSVOL\ad.dannymoran.com\scripts\bginfo\std-bginfo.bgi /silent /nolicprompt /timer:0

Download BgInfo

Download BgInfo from Sysinternals/Microsoft Docs website.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/bginfo