Group Policy to Run Logon Script After Desktop Is Ready

If you configure your logon scripts in User Configuration » Policies » Windows Settings » Scripts, you might have noticed that they are launched at about the same time as explorer.exe. That means sometimes the desktop is not fully ready when your script runs.

There is a policy Run logon scripts synchronously, which does the opposite of what the title of this article says: it defers the start of explorer.exe until your logon scripts have finished running.

To make sure your script runs only after the desktop is ready, add it to User Configuration or Computer Configuration » Policies » Administrative Templates » System » Logon » Run these programs at logon.

This policy expects executable programs, so make sure to include powershell.exe at the beginning. For example:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -WindowStyle Hidden -File script.ps1