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Is it possible, if I take a screen shot of a Windows 10 desktop session with everything minimized and set that as the desktop background, to:

  • make all real desktop icons disappear,
  • hide taskbar so it stays hidden,

this would make it appear as if the mouse works but everything else does not respond on the desktop view when clicked?

Why?

I have a technical need to set up random desktop workstations in this manner for a special "top secret" project at work to see how certain employees respond and report incidents and issues for compliance adherence to a new company policy when malfunctioning systems occur.

Details

The computers are regular desktop computers with Windows 10 joined to a domian in an AD environment and I have full domain admin access to everything from login scripts, to GPO's, and on and on. I will accept and test all methods (scripts, Group Policy settings, manual steps on the desktop session doing this, and on and on) suggested to pick the best method for my need. Since I have a deadline months out for the first real run, I figured I'd ask some experts or regular people for some suggestions on this task.

Undo Optional

If you have a method to undo this for the method you advise that would be great but it's not required and I'll figure that part out but the easier for me the better for setting it up and undoing it for all methods I'll test.

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    Why don't you just unplug their network cable? If you think they'll figure that out on their own, which they won't, disable the network adapter. I can't imagine everyone will enjoy their desktop being messed with.
    – user58446
    Jul 30, 2016 at 2:56
  • Why do you believe that a surprise "pop quiz" is the only way to accomplish this goal? Is management requiring this? Is there reason to believe that employees will purposely evade enforcement and comply with the new regulation only if it is apparent that you are monitoring them?
    – bwDraco
    Jul 30, 2016 at 3:10
  • "hide taskbar so it stays hidden," you can't do that. Mouse to the edge of the screen will display it even if it is set to "auto-hide:.
    – DavidPostill
    Jul 30, 2016 at 12:17
  • Change the desktop background and then right-click desktop > Hide Desktop Icons. If you don't want a visible start menu, perhaps add another monitor and turn off the primary monitor with the task bar.
    – Peter
    Jul 31, 2016 at 2:21

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