Make your desktop background follow you!

This is building on the previous post about redirecting your files to a network share. I have implemented this on my network with 2 computers.
1. Grab a copy of the excellent Flexrefresh (go here). This program refreshes the wallpaper amongst other things - I haven't found a better way to refresh the wallpaper - if you do please leave a comment!

2. Place it in a convenient folder on all client computers.

3. We're going to create a batch file so open up notepad. We are going to have the image copied to the local computer from the server (computer with user's files on). In notepad, enter:
xcopy /y "\\server-name-here\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\wallpaper1.bmp" "%userprofile%\local settings\application data\microsoft\wallpaper1.bmp"
You will have to change the server-name-here to the network name of your server computer. (see previous post if you have no idea what I'm on about!)

4. Make sure flexrefresh.exe is in the same folder as the batch file you are creating and enter this in the batch file underneath the previous text:
start flexrefresh.exe
This will run flexrefresh.exe straight after copying the wallpaper image from the server.

5. Save this batch file in the same place as you saved flexrefresh.exe (remember to save it with a .bat extension) and place a shortcut to it in the startup folder (C:\Documents and Settings\username\start menu\startup) of each networked user on each client computer.

This will synchronise the users' wallpaper but if it is changed on any other computer than the server, the change will be lost next time the user logs in - to fix this, after changing the wallpaper the user will need to run a batch file - open up notepad again and enter this:
xcopy /y "%userprofile%\local settings\application data\microsoft\wallpaper1.bmp" "\\server-name-here\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\wallpaper1.bmp"
Again, replace server-name-here with the network name of your server computer. Save this as a .bat file (e.g. Update Wallpaper Image.bat) and place it in a convenient location so it can be run each time the wallpaper is changed.

This is by no means perfect but I have found this works on my setup - leave a comment with your experiences or suggestions!