Wallie-Pwsh

Wallie-Pwsh can update your desktop wallpaper on Windows 10 🖥️

Prerequisites

1. Register an application with the Unsplash API.

2. Copy the Access Key.

3. Launch a PowerShell terminal as administrator.

4. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/dbrennand/Wallie-Pwsh.git; cd Wallie-Pwsh

5. Create an AccessKey.txt file containing your Unsplash access key in encrypted format:

   # Run the command below to stop the Unsplash access key being logged in PSReadline history
   # Set-PSReadlineOption -HistorySaveStyle SaveNothing
   $UnsplashAccessKeySecureString = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "<Unsplash access key>" -AsPlainText -Force
   $Cred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList "Wallie-Pwsh",$UnsplashAccessKeySecureString
   $Cred.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File -FilePath "$(pwd)\AccessKey.txt" -Force

Usage

Wallie-Pwsh has an optional parameter to supply topics using -Topics. When supplied, a topic will be chosen at random and used in the query to the Unsplash API.

Example usage of the -Topics parameter:

.\Wallie-Pwsh.ps1 -Topics "Fish","Space","Trains","Jets" -AccessKeyFile ".\AccessKey.txt" -Verbose

If the -Topics parameter is not provided, Wallie-Pwsh will query the /photos/random API endpoint for random images.

Updating the Desktop Wallpaper at Log In

A use case for Wallie-Pwsh is to run it using Windows Task Scheduler at log in.

Note

Make sure you enter the correct absolute paths to the Wallie-Pwsh.ps1 script and Unsplash access key file (using the -AccessKeyFile parameter).

To get the absolute paths, run the following command in the Wallie-Pwsh directory:

(Get-ChildItem | Where-Object -FilterScript { $_.Name -match "AccessKey|Wallie" }).FullName

Configure Windows Task Scheduler to execute Wallie-Pwsh at log in:

Note

Replace the values of the -Topics parameter in the command below or remove it.

$Task = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "PowerShell.exe" -Argument '-NoProfile -WindowStyle "Hidden" -ExecutionPolicy "Bypass" -Command absolute\path\to\Wallie-Pwsh.ps1 -Topics "Mountain","Space","Trains" -AccessKeyFile "absolute\path\to\AccessKey.txt" -Verbose'
$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtLogOn
Register-ScheduledTask -RunLevel "Highest" -Action $Task -Trigger $Trigger -TaskName "Wallie-Pwsh" -Description "Updates the desktop wallpaper at log in."

Authors -- Contributors

• dbrennand - Author - dbrennand

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE for details.