For network related fields, Sysinternals BgInfo prints information for all network interfaces to the desktop. This printout can be overwhelming, and even limit or prevent desktop space for other fields. Therefore, if you need to display network interface(s), you may need to create a custom field.
Here, I use a powershell script to write active interface info to a file at boot up. Then, BgInfo uses the file content as a custom field.
- Download and extract BGInfo.zip
- Place Bginfo64.exe into c:\users\<username>, or a preferred directory*
- Open Bginfo64.exe
- Click the Time remaining box to prevent the app from closing
- Format the layout within the editor
- Download bginfo_custominfo.ps1 and place into c:\users\<username>, or a preferred directory**
- Open Windows Explorer and type into the location bar:
shell:startup
(user) orshell:common startup
(system) - Download bginfo_custominfo.bat and place into the startup folder from above
- Edit bginfo_custominfo.ps1 and enter MAC address strings into
$nic_macs
array to allow printing (interfaces must be up) - Edit bginfo_custominfo.bat and enter correct paths
- Run bginfo_custominfo.bat by double clicking it
- Open Bginfo64.exe
- Click the Time remaining box to prevent the app from closing
- Click Custom > Click New > Enter Identifier > Select Contents of a file > Click Browse
- Browse to: c:\users\<username>\bginfo_custom_info.txt and Click OK
- Select Identifier from within Fields pane and Click <-Add
- Click Apply > Click OK
- Verify BgInfo displays the information properly
- Network info will overwrite on reboots
*used this file location to bypass permission issues
**ensure Powersehell Execution Policy is set to allow running scripts