Forced screensaver
SW/BP
I'd like to force everyone to have a three-minute delayed,
password-protected screensaver in NT4.0 Workstation without asking them
to set it up and without my having to be there the first time they log
on. Can you point me in the right direction (profiles? logon scripts?)?
Thanks
S White
prow...@telplus.net
Anthony Berkow
I use policies to achieve this with a custom policy template for the
purpose.
First you need to install the policy editor on you PC (poledit.exe).
This can be found on the NT Server CD, NT Resource Kit, Office 97
Resource Kit, Technet as well as SP3. Due to an error in the SP3 setup
script, the new poledit is not automatically installed on running SP3.
To solve this run SP3's setup with the /x parameter to extract the
entire SP3 contents to a folder.
Then run poledit and add this template (ScrSav.adm):
<cut
here>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; v1.21
; Author: Anthony Berkow
CLASS USER
CATEGORY !!Custom
CATEGORY !!Desktop
KEYNAME "Control Panel\Desktop"
POLICY !!ScreenSaver
PART !!ScrSavSecure CHECKBOX DEFCHECKED
VALUENAME "ScreenSaverIsSecure"
VALUEON "1" VALUEOFF "0"
END PART
PART !!ScrSavTimeOut NUMERIC REQUIRED TXTCONVERT
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveTimeOut"
MIN 60 MAX 3600 DEFAULT !!ScrSav_TimeDefault SPIN 60
END PART
PART !!ScrSavName DROPDOWNLIST NOSORT
VALUENAME "SCRNSAVE.EXE" REQUIRED
ITEMLIST
NAME !!ScrSavNone VALUE DELETE
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOff
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavSyfrets VALUE !!ScrSavSyfretsPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
KEYNAME "Control Panel\Screen Saver.3DFlyingObj"
VALUENAME "Options" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfOpt
VALUENAME "Size" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfSize
VALUENAME "Tesselation" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfTess
VALUENAME "Texture" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfBmp
VALUENAME "TextureFileOffset" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfOff
VALUENAME "Type" VALUE !!ScrSavSyfType
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavMarq VALUE !!ScrSavMarqPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
KEYNAME "Control Panel\Screen Saver.Marquee"
VALUENAME "CharSet" VALUE !!ScrSavMarqChar
VALUENAME "Mode" VALUE !!ScrSavMarqMode
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavLogon VALUE !!ScrSavLogonPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavDef VALUE !!ScrSavDefPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavStars VALUE !!ScrSavStarsPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavMyst VALUE !!ScrSavMystPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
END ACTIONLIST
NAME !!ScrSavBez VALUE !!ScrSavBezPath
ACTIONLIST
VALUENAME "ScreenSaveActive" VALUE !!ScrSavOn
END ACTIONLIST
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY
POLICY !!ScrSavMarq
KEYNAME "Control Panel\Screen Saver.Marquee"
PART "Text" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
VALUENAME "Text"
DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqText MAXLEN 255
END PART
PART "Text Colour" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
VALUENAME "TextColor"
DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqTxtC MAXLEN 12
END PART
PART "Background Colour" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
VALUENAME "BackgroundColor"
DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqBack MAXLEN 12
END PART
PART "Font" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
VALUENAME "Font"
DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqFont MAXLEN 128
END PART
PART "Font Size" NUMERIC REQUIRED TXTCONVERT
VALUENAME "Size"
MIN 8 MAX 72 DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqSize SPIN 0
END PART
PART "Speed" NUMERIC REQUIRED TXTCONVERT
VALUENAME "Speed"
MIN 1 MAX 30 DEFAULT !!ScrSavMarqSpd SPIN 1
END PART
PART "Position" DROPDOWNLIST NOSORT
VALUENAME "Attributes" REQUIRED
ITEMLIST
NAME "Random" VALUE "00010"
NAME "Centered" VALUE "00000"
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY
END CATEGORY ; Desktop
END CATEGORY ; Custom
[strings]
Custom="Custom Policies"
Desktop="NT Desktop"
ScreenSaver="Screen Saver"
ScrSavSecure="Password Protected"
ScrSavTimeOut="Wait Time in Seconds"
ScrSavName="Screen Saver"
ScrSavOn="1"
ScrSavOff="0"
ScrSavNone="None"
ScrSavStars="Starfield Simulation"
ScrSavStarsPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\ssstars.scr"
ScrSavMyst="Mystify"
ScrSavMystPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\ssmyst.scr"
ScrSavMarq="Marquee Display"
ScrSavMarqPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\ssmarque.scr"
ScrSavMarqBack="0 0 0"
ScrSavMarqChar="0"
ScrSavMarqFont="Comic Sans MS"
ScrSavMarqMode="1"
ScrSavMarqSize="48"
ScrSavMarqSpd="7"
ScrSavMarqText="Welcome to our custom screen saver!"
ScrSavMarqTxtC="255 255 0"
ScrSavBez="Beziers"
ScrSavBezPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\ssbezier.scr"
ScrSavLogon="Logon Screen Saver"
ScrSavLogonPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\logon.scr"
ScrSavDef="Default Screen Saver"
ScrSavDefPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\scrnsave.scr"
ScrSavSyfrets="Syfrets 3D Screen Saver (OpenGL)"
ScrSavSyfretsPath="%SystemRoot%\System32\ss3dfo.scr"
ScrSavSyfOpt="1"
ScrSavSyfSize="72"
ScrSavSyfTess="200"
ScrSavSyfBmp="c:\temp\custom.bmp"
ScrSavSyfOff="0"
ScrSavSyfType="6"
ScrSav_TimeDefault="900"
<cut
here>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then set the policy for the default user or add groups if you like with
different screen savers for each group.
Save the policy as ntconfig.pol. Then copy this to your PDC to
\\servername\c$\WINNT\system32\Repl\Export\Scripts to be replicated to
NETLOGON on all DC's (assuming you've already setup directory
replication).
(If you use a custom bitmap for the flying flag saver then use a login
script to copy this to the users' HDU.)
It's not wise to use 3D (OpenGL) screen savers on your servers so don't
let these run on servers - either create a special group for
administrators that login to servers directly to have the "default" or
"logon" screen saver, or make sure they logout when they're done!
Hope this helps.
Anthony
Anthony