BGinfo is the best tool to display computer information on the desktop wallpaper but customizing it for the actual need is pretty hard unless you know the windows functions in deep level. BGInfo has custom keys defined for common use but sometimes we will need to dig some deeper for a fine tuned result.
We will be looking at how to display the IP Address from the active network adaptors because sometime we may have virtual network adaptors on clients. (If you have Cisco VPN clients you will have such adaptors) In such instances you will see some network card information on the BGInfo without IP Address. It will look odd on your desktop wallpaper!
This will happen if we use the default IP Address field on the BGInfo. So Instead of that we will be creating a custom IP Address field which will only display the IP Address from currently active on the computer.
If you follow the below method you can create a custom field for it.
1) Open the BGInfo and Click on the Custom Button.
2) Then Click on New. It will pop up the box for defining a custom field.
3) Now set the Identifier name something like below and Select WMI Query. After that copy the below command and paste in the Path field. Then click OK
SELECT IPAddress FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration WHERE IPEnabled=True
4) Once the custom field is applied you will see the custom field is displaying on the BGInfo main window. That’s it you can now add that field and create new customization file.
This customization is most widely required in BGInfo usage. You can explore more such custom fields if you click on the Browse button in the Custom field creation Window.
it works!! many many many thanks
It work , but it display also the network card adress,
can I cut it
Yes you can remove the “IP Address_1” line
I think by “cut it” he meant that the result shows the IP address followed by the MAC address, and he wonders how to truncate the result so that the MAC address is not shown; I.e., how can one display only the IP address?
It will show the IPv6 address if it’s enabled on that network adapter.
hi,
the second part that shows is the IPv6 Address..
this .vbs script shows only the IPv4 address
strComputer = “.”
On Error Resume Next
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:” & “{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2”)
Set IPSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery (“SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled = ‘True'”)
For Each objIPv4 in IPSettings
For i=LBound(objIPv4.IPAddress) to UBound(objIPv4.IPAddress)
If InStr(objIPv4.IPAddress(i),”:”) = 0 Then Echo objIPv4.IPAddress(i)
NEXT
NEXT
Works as expected. Thanks for the info.
You can also use IPSubnet to show the subnet mask
I have n’t really tested that Rob. Anyways thanks for the info.
Thank you for the WMI Query, works great, But, still shows the “0 b/s” for the wireless NIC that is not currently enabled on my system. Is there a way to remove the ‘0 b/s’ ?
Hi Stephen, Did you perform a computer restart after disabling the Wifi? If you have configured the BGinfo to run on system startup it will give you only the active adaptor’s details. If that is not the case post a screenshot?
Hi,
I done the same configuration and it works for IP,but subnetmask is coming including none also.
what has to be done for subnetmask
Hi Akhil,
Do you have multiple Ethernet adapters active?
Can you post the picture please?
Thanks SOOOO much for posting this – is there a way to do this for the default gateway and the dns ?
Sorry found DNS and gateway
SELECT DefaultIPGateway FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration WHERE IPEnabled=True
SELECT DNSServerSearchOrder FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration WHERE IPEnabled=True
What I’m now looking for is a way to only show the active network card and their speed next to each other.
LOL – sorry – I think I’ve gone as far as I can – I got the active cards listed but what I want is the active card and the active cards speed right next to each other. I got just the active cards but can’t get the speed listed next to it.
SELECT NetConnectionID FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter WHERE NetConnectionStatus = 2 (even this is not correct – it shows me active cards – I think I’d like to show cards that have IP addresses.
If I use the generic speed field already as a choice – it shows 4 Gb/s instead of 10Gb/s and it only lists those for all cards below the other info – I want it next to the card so I know which his which.
Super bummed that I am unable to find a way to parse out the IPv6 info that comes after the IP address. I’ve tried many things and found ways to do it in PowerShell but none in the BGInfo query selection screen. Having that info will only confuse our users when reading their IP and not sure if turning IPv6 off company-wide is a solution right now.
Thank you!
Hi there,I check your new stuff named “How to Set BGInfo to Display Only The Active Network Card’s IP Address | Renjith Menon” daily.Your humoristic style is awesome, keep doing what you’re doing! And you can look our website about proxy list.
This is very helpful. Is there a way to show the network card name and the ip and the connection speed – line by line
e.g.
Host Nic – 10.10.89.10 1gb/s
Virtual Switch – 10.10.89.20 10gb/s
Network card should give an output if you add “Network Card” switch the same way you have added others.
I am not certain about what you meant by the Virtual switch? Can you be more specific?
For those of you who want to display IP address only…
create a vbs file, and in “custom”, link to it
use this as a general template
===cut==
strComputer = “.”
On Error Resume Next
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:” & “{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2”)
Set IPSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery (“SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled = ‘True'”)
For Each objIPv4 in IPSettings
For i=LBound(objIPv4.IPAddress) to UBound(objIPv4.IPAddress)
If InStr(objIPv4.IPAddress(i),”:”) = 0 Then Echo objIPv4.IPAddress(i)
NEXT
NEXT
Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks It’s working
Genio, gracias!!!
Quotation marks and comment marks must be changed to standard (“) not open/close (“/”) if you are going to copy/paste the above code…
For Gateway, DHCP, and DNS replace each instance of:
objIPv4.IPAddress
with:
objIPv4.DefaultIPGateway
objIPv4.DHCPServer
objIPv4.DNSServerSearchOrder
respectively
I want Last Logon only 2 entry, but it is adding every time
Thank you for all this information does anyone know how to also get only the “active” connections for the fields of Subnet Mask, DHCP Server, and DNS Servers?
HI,
Someone find how we can remove the MAc address displays with IP? how can one display only the IP address? With BGinfo
On the back of everyone’s research so far and my own adaptions here is how I got active network card IP address (without IPv6), Subnet, DNS, Mac Address, and Speed (speed is in bytes, if someone could explain ho to get it in GB format it would be great.
For Active Mac Address use the WMI method with this line:
SELECT MACAddress FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter Where netconnectionstatus=2
For Network Speed use the WMI method with this line:
SELECT Speed FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter Where netconnectionstatus=2
For Active IP via vbs (ty Martin Merriman) NB commas and inverted commas have to be in standard form;
===cut====
strComputer = “.”
On Error Resume Next
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:” & “{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2”)
Set IPSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery (“SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled = ‘True'”)
For Each objIPv4 in IPSettings
For i=LBound(objIPv4.IPAddress) to UBound(objIPv4.IPAddress)
If InStr(objIPv4.IPAddress(i),”:”) = 0 Then Echo objIPv4.IPAddress(i)
NEXT
NEXT
===cut===
Save this into a .vbs file and in BG info select custom > new > identifier > vb script file > browse to .vbs file > ok. Then add as a new variable.
For Gateway, DHCP, and DNS replace each instance of: (ty Brian Griswold)
objIPv4.IPAddress
with:
objIPv4.DefaultIPGateway
objIPv4.DHCPServer
objIPv4.DNSServerSearchOrder
For Subnet :
objIPv4.IPSubnet
Save a separate .vbs file and set the new variable by pointing to the new file.
I would like to know how to format the speed correctly. I feel like vbs could do it as you can do simple math with it.
e.g. If InStr(objIPv4.Speed(i),”:”) = 0 Then Echo objIPv4.Speed(i)/1000000 & “Mb/s” but I cannot figure it out.