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The Issue: Group policies don;t allow me to change the lock screen to slideshow or spotlight but i am local admin on the pc and by replacing C:\Windows\Web\Screen\Screen.jpg i can change the lock screen picture.

Solution: create a batch/CMD/PS script that runs every xx minutes and copies a random picture from a source folder to replace C:\Windows\Web\Screen\Screen.jpg

i found a possible script in this article that could work but how do i modify it for my purpose and if i schedule it in task scheduler to run every 30 minutes would a Batch file run in the background without interference or would a CMD script or Powershell script be a better solutions?

see code below:

@echo off & setlocal
set "workDir=C:\source\folder"
::Read the %random%, two times is'nt a mistake! Why? Ask Bill.
::In fact at the first time %random% is nearly the same.
@set /a "rdm=%random%"
set /a "rdm=%random%"
::Push to your path.
pushd "%workDir%"
::Count all files in your path. (dir with /b shows only the filenames)
set /a "counter=0"
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b ^|find "."') do call :sub1
::This function gives a value from 1 to upper bound of files
set /a "rdNum=(%rdm%*%counter%/32767)+1"
::Start a random file
set /a "counter=0"
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b ^|find "."') do set "fileName=%%i" &call :sub2
::Pop back from your path.
popd "%workDir%"
goto :eof
:: end of main
:: start of sub1
:sub1
::For each found file set counter + 1.
set /a "counter+=1"
goto :eof
:: end of sub1
:: start of sub2
:sub2
::1st: count again,
::2nd: if counted number equals random number then start the file.
set /a "counter+=1"
if %counter%==%rdNum% (
:: OUTPUT ALERT BOX with FILENAME
MSG * "%fileName%"
)
goto :eof
:: end of sub2
ZietZa
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    Just remember - your company has specifically chosen to not let you change these settings for a reason. Possibly company branding guidelines or even legality (does the company have license/permission to display the picture(s) you want). I would be careful as circumventing the group policy settings might be a disciplinary matter. – henrycarteruk Jun 08 '18 at 10:52

1 Answers1

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IMO PowerShell is by far superior to batch in this case 

dir C:\source\folder\*.jpg |Get-Random|Copy -Dest C:\Windows\Web\Screen\Screen.jpg -Force

You might wrap it in a batch/cmd line

powershell -Nop -C "dir C:\source\folder\*.jpg |Get-Random|Copy -Dest C:\Windows\Web\Screen\Screen.jpg -Force"