Windows 10 Desktop Lock

[ChrisLoudon]

Hi guys,

 

I have a number of PCs used for business use across a couple of sites and I would like to stop the users from being able to save files (or anything for that matter) to the desktop.

 

Does anyone know if / how this can be done?

 

I use OneDrive to manage all of my business related files and it is so frustrating to go hunting for something only to find either the file is stored locally on someone's desktop or they have copied the file to their desktop leaving an out-of-date version on OneDrive.

 

Cheers

[Oshino Shinobu]

GPO/Local Group Policy:

 

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Hide and Disable All Items on the Desktop

 

EDIT: To be clear, this doesn't outright prevent them from saving to their desktop, but it does stop them from dragging things to it outside of the desktop folder in file explorer. To stop them outright, you'd need to edit the permissions to make it so they don't have write or modify access to %userprofile%\desktop

 

You can configure the permissions through a computer policy: Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > File System and set the permissions for %userprofile%\desktop

[ChrisLoudon]

24 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

GPO/Local Group Policy:

 

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Hide and Disable All Items on the Desktop

Thanks but is there a way to keep the 'default' icons like recycle bin, this PC and the user folder?

 

I just want to stop the user from using the desktop as a 'save location' for anything.

 

Cheers

[Oshino Shinobu]

2 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Thanks but is there a way to keep the 'default' icons like recycle bin, this PC and the user folder?

 

I just want to stop the user from using the desktop as a 'save location' for anything.

 

Cheers

You'd need to restrict user permissions to the desktop to read only. 

 

You can configure the permissions through a computer policy: Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > File System and set the permissions for %userprofile%\desktop

[ChrisLoudon]

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You'd need to restrict user permissions to the desktop to read only. 

 

You can configure the permissions through a computer policy: Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > File System and set the permissions for %userprofile%\desktop

Nice one, thanks.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Windows