Sync Desktop and Lock-screen Wallpaper?

Mine synced every once in a while but it's very random,

plus the fact that Screen Saver duration settings are only Slow, Medium and Fast, whereas Desktop Background has more incremental options.

Old thread but here is a PowerShell script that achieves this. Add it as a scheduled task running under your user account (which must be an administrator), tick "run with highest privileges", with the trigger "At Logon" and/or "At Workstation Unlock"

The script takes ownership and sets read permissions on the files used for the lock screen and determines the correct lock screen image based on the screen resolution height of your primary monitor and the last modified file.

I haven't tested this extensively (at all), but it works in my environment, modify to your requirements.

Code:

# Set desktop background to lock screen.


# Set-WallPaper Function from https://www.joseespitia.com/2017/09/15/set-wallpaper-powershell-function/
Function Set-WallPaper {
 
<#
 
    .SYNOPSIS
    Applies a specified wallpaper to the current user's desktop
    
    .PARAMETER Image
    Provide the exact path to the image
 
    .PARAMETER Style
    Provide wallpaper style (Example: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span)
  
    .EXAMPLE
    Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Default.jpg"
    Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Background.jpg" -Style Fit
  
#>
 
param (
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
    # Provide path to image
    [string]$Image,
    # Provide wallpaper style that you would like applied
    [parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
    [ValidateSet('Fill', 'Fit', 'Stretch', 'Tile', 'Center', 'Span')]
    [string]$Style
)
 
$WallpaperStyle = Switch ($Style) {
  
    "Fill" {"10"}
    "Fit" {"6"}
    "Stretch" {"2"}
    "Tile" {"0"}
    "Center" {"0"}
    "Span" {"22"}
  
}
 
If($Style -eq "Tile") {
 
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 1 -Force
 
}
Else {
 
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 0 -Force
 
}
 
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @" 
using System; 
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
  
public class Params
{ 
    [DllImport("User32.dll",CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] 
    public static extern int SystemParametersInfo (Int32 uAction, 
                                                   Int32 uParam, 
                                                   String lpvParam, 
                                                   Int32 fuWinIni);
}
"@ 
  
    $SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 0x0014
    $UpdateIniFile = 0x01
    $SendChangeEvent = 0x02
  
    $fWinIni = $UpdateIniFile -bor $SendChangeEvent
  
    $ret = [Params]::SystemParametersInfo($SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, $Image, $fWinIni)
}
 





# Variables
$Resolution = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_DesktopMonitor | select-object -ExpandProperty ScreenHeight


# Set permissions
$lockScreenPath = "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\"

$folders = Get-ChildItem -path $lockScreenPath -recurse -Depth 4

foreach ($folder in $folders){

	write-host "Setting permissions on" $folder
	$acl = Get-Acl $folder.FullName
	
	if ($acl) { 
	
		$acl = Get-Acl $folder.FullName
		$person = [System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]$env:UserName          
		$access = [System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights]"ReadAndExecute"
		$inheritance = [System.Security.AccessControl.InheritanceFlags]"ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit"
		$propagation = [System.Security.AccessControl.PropagationFlags]"None"
		$type = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]"Allow"
		
		if ($folder.PsIsContainer) {		
		
			takeown /f $Folder.FullName /r
			$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($person,$access,$inheritance,$propagation,$type)
		
		} else {
		
			$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($person,$access,$type)
		
		}
		
		$acl.AddAccessRule($rule)
		$acl | Set-Acl	
		
	}
	
}

# Finds the correct file (hopefully!).
$LockScreenImage = Get-ChildItem $folders.FullName -File | where {$_.FullName -like "*$Resolution*"} | sort LastWriteTime | select -last 1
Copy-item $LockScreenImage.FullName -Destination "c:\programdata\background.jpg"

# Setting the WallPaper
Set-WallPaper -Image "c:\programdata\background.jpg" -Style Fit

- - - Updated - - -

updated.

Code:

# Set desktop background to lockscreen.


# Set WallPaper Function from https://www.joseespitia.com/2017/09/15/set-wallpaper-powershell-function/
Function Set-WallPaper {
 
<#
 
    .SYNOPSIS
    Applies a specified wallpaper to the current user's desktop
    
    .PARAMETER Image
    Provide the exact path to the image
 
    .PARAMETER Style
    Provide wallpaper style (Example: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span)
  
    .EXAMPLE
    Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Default.jpg"
    Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Background.jpg" -Style Fit
  
#>
 
param (
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
    # Provide path to image
    [string]$Image,
    # Provide wallpaper style that you would like applied
    [parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
    [ValidateSet('Fill', 'Fit', 'Stretch', 'Tile', 'Center', 'Span')]
    [string]$Style
)
 
$WallpaperStyle = Switch ($Style) {
  
    "Fill" {"10"}
    "Fit" {"6"}
    "Stretch" {"2"}
    "Tile" {"0"}
    "Center" {"0"}
    "Span" {"22"}
  
}
 
If($Style -eq "Tile") {
 
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 1 -Force
 
}
Else {
 
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 0 -Force
 
}
 
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @" 
using System; 
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
  
public class Params
{ 
    [DllImport("User32.dll",CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] 
    public static extern int SystemParametersInfo (Int32 uAction, 
                                                   Int32 uParam, 
                                                   String lpvParam, 
                                                   Int32 fuWinIni);
}
"@ 
  
    $SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 0x0014
    $UpdateIniFile = 0x01
    $SendChangeEvent = 0x02
  
    $fWinIni = $UpdateIniFile -bor $SendChangeEvent
  
    $ret = [Params]::SystemParametersInfo($SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, $Image, $fWinIni)
}
 





# Variables
$Resolution = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_DesktopMonitor | select-object -ExpandProperty ScreenHeight


# Set permissions
$lockScreenPath = "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\"

takeown /f $lockScreenPath /r /D Y

$folders = Get-ChildItem -path $lockScreenPath -recurse -Depth 4

foreach ($folder in $folders){

	write-host "Setting permissions on" $folder
	$acl = Get-Acl $folder.FullName
	
	if ($acl) { 
	
		$acl = Get-Acl $folder.FullName
		$person = [System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]$env:UserName          
		$access = [System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights]"ReadAndExecute"
		$inheritance = [System.Security.AccessControl.InheritanceFlags]"ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit"
		$propagation = [System.Security.AccessControl.PropagationFlags]"None"
		$type = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]"Allow"
		
		if ($folder.PsIsContainer) {		
		
			takeown /f $Folder.FullName /r
			$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($person,$access,$inheritance,$propagation,$type)
		
		} else {
		
			$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($person,$access,$type)
		
		}
		
		$acl.AddAccessRule($rule)
		$acl | Set-Acl	
		
	}
	
}

# Finds the correct file (hopefully!).
$LockScreenImage = Get-ChildItem $folders.FullName -File | where {$_.FullName -like "*$Resolution*"} | sort LastWriteTime | select -last 1
Copy-item $LockScreenImage.FullName -Destination "c:\programdata\background.jpg"

# Setting the WallPaper
Set-WallPaper -Image "c:\programdata\background.jpg" -Style Fit

Hi Nickb167,
Im using WinDynamicDesktop to change my desktop wallpaper through the day and I also wanted to sync with my lock screen image. How should I change your script to work in this case?