Wallpaper Not Updating

If a campaign is Active but the wallpaper isn’t changing on endpoints, work through these steps.

Step 1: Confirm Campaign Status

In Command Center → Campaigns, check that the campaign shows Active (not Draft, Scheduled, or Completed). If Scheduled, the wallpaper won’t apply until the start time.

Also confirm:

• The campaign targets the affected device’s user or device group.
• The campaign priority is highest among competing campaigns (lower number = higher priority).

Step 2: Check Delivery Status

Open the campaign → Analytics. Find the affected device:

• Delivered: The agent received the wallpaper. The issue is a local display problem (see Step 4).
• Pending: The agent hasn’t received it yet — usually the device is offline or syncing.
• Not listed: The device may not be in the targeted group.

Step 3: Verify Agent Is Online

Check Insights → Endpoint Intelligence and find the device. If “Last Seen” is more than 2 minutes ago, the agent is offline. See Agent Showing Offline.

Step 4: Wallpaper Applied but Not Displaying

Windows can override wallpaper settings via Group Policy or third-party desktop management tools.

Check for GPO override:

gpresult /r | Select-String "Wallpaper"
# If a GPO is enforcing a wallpaper, it will override Ambient

Coordinate with your IT admin to exclude Ambient-managed machines from wallpaper GPO, or use the Ambient GPO integration (Enterprise only).

Windows: Force wallpaper refresh

RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True

Windows: Check permissions on wallpaper file

The agent writes wallpapers to:

C:\ProgramData\Ambient\wallpapers\current.jpg

Ensure BUILTIN\Users has Read access to this directory.

Step 5: Re-trigger Delivery

From Command Center → Campaigns → [Campaign] → Actions → Force Re-delivery to push the wallpaper to all targeted devices immediately.

Still Not Working?

Check the agent log for wallpaper-related errors:

C:\ProgramData\Ambient\logs\agent.log

Search for wallpaper — error lines show the exact failure reason (permission denied, file write error, API error).

If the issue persists, submit a support ticket from Help & Support → Submit Ticket with the agent log attached.