GPO to Lock workstations

Jason

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2003
1,026
0
19,280
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (More info?)

Is there a GPO out to there to just lock a computer after a certain amount of
minutes of inactivity? I know there is one to logoff the account, I could
not find one for just locking the workstation. Thanks in advance.

Jason
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (More info?)

You need to configure the screensaver to secure (lock) the workstation.
This can be done with group policy. However, it's a user policy, not a
computer policy. If you want to do this for a set of computers, configure a
GPO on the OU containing the machines and use a loopback processing to
configure user settings.

Unfortunately, what group policy doesn't allow you to do is to ensure the
user has a sensible timeout set on the screensaver.

The timeout is stored in the "ScreenSaveTimeOut" value in the following
registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

The unit is seconds. You should be able to script this either by exporting
the registry key to a text file and removing the unnecessary lines. Then
run it using "regedit.exe /s myfile.reg".

Ideally, you want to be able to specify a maximum value, so that if the user
opts for a shorter timeout than the one you specify, they can, but if they
specify a longer timeout, it'll be reset each time they log in. Ask in one
of the scripting groups if you need a hand with this.

Regards

Oli



"Jason" <Jason@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5FF65E0E-14BF-4102-91BB-EA4D8974F791@microsoft.com...
> Is there a GPO out to there to just lock a computer after a certain amount
> of
> minutes of inactivity? I know there is one to logoff the account, I could
> not find one for just locking the workstation. Thanks in advance.
>
> Jason
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (More info?)

Are you saying that the setting (in a GPO):

Administrative Templates
Control Panel
Display
Screen Saver timeout: xx seconds

doesn't do what it says it will do?

The combination of this one plus
Hide Screen Saver tab: Enabled
Screen Saver: Enabled
Screen Saver Executable name: Enabled - scrnsave.scr
Password protect the screen saver: Enabled

seems to be forcing the computer to lock after xx seconds and require the
user to re-authenticate for us.

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.


"Oli Restorick [MVP]" <oli@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:%23Y97ItOjEHA.140@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> You need to configure the screensaver to secure (lock) the workstation.
> This can be done with group policy. However, it's a user policy, not a
> computer policy. If you want to do this for a set of computers, configure
> a GPO on the OU containing the machines and use a loopback processing to
> configure user settings.
>
> Unfortunately, what group policy doesn't allow you to do is to ensure the
> user has a sensible timeout set on the screensaver.
>
> The timeout is stored in the "ScreenSaveTimeOut" value in the following
> registry key:
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
>
> The unit is seconds. You should be able to script this either by
> exporting the registry key to a text file and removing the unnecessary
> lines. Then run it using "regedit.exe /s myfile.reg".
>
> Ideally, you want to be able to specify a maximum value, so that if the
> user opts for a shorter timeout than the one you specify, they can, but if
> they specify a longer timeout, it'll be reset each time they log in. Ask
> in one of the scripting groups if you need a hand with this.
>
> Regards
>
> Oli
>
>
>
> "Jason" <Jason@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:5FF65E0E-14BF-4102-91BB-EA4D8974F791@microsoft.com...
>> Is there a GPO out to there to just lock a computer after a certain
>> amount of
>> minutes of inactivity? I know there is one to logoff the account, I
>> could
>> not find one for just locking the workstation. Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Jason
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (More info?)

I don't know how I missed that one.

Thanks!

Oli



"Bruce Sanderson" <bsanders@junk.junk> wrote in message
news:eCOLhTWjEHA.3536@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Are you saying that the setting (in a GPO):
>
> Administrative Templates
> Control Panel
> Display
> Screen Saver timeout: xx seconds
>
> doesn't do what it says it will do?
>
> The combination of this one plus
> Hide Screen Saver tab: Enabled
> Screen Saver: Enabled
> Screen Saver Executable name: Enabled - scrnsave.scr
> Password protect the screen saver: Enabled
>
> seems to be forcing the computer to lock after xx seconds and require the
> user to re-authenticate for us.
>
> --
> Bruce Sanderson MVP
>
> It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
>
>
> "Oli Restorick [MVP]" <oli@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:%23Y97ItOjEHA.140@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> You need to configure the screensaver to secure (lock) the workstation.
>> This can be done with group policy. However, it's a user policy, not a
>> computer policy. If you want to do this for a set of computers,
>> configure a GPO on the OU containing the machines and use a loopback
>> processing to configure user settings.
>>
>> Unfortunately, what group policy doesn't allow you to do is to ensure the
>> user has a sensible timeout set on the screensaver.
>>
>> The timeout is stored in the "ScreenSaveTimeOut" value in the following
>> registry key:
>> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
>>
>> The unit is seconds. You should be able to script this either by
>> exporting the registry key to a text file and removing the unnecessary
>> lines. Then run it using "regedit.exe /s myfile.reg".
>>
>> Ideally, you want to be able to specify a maximum value, so that if the
>> user opts for a shorter timeout than the one you specify, they can, but
>> if they specify a longer timeout, it'll be reset each time they log in.
>> Ask in one of the scripting groups if you need a hand with this.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Oli
>>
>>
>>
>> "Jason" <Jason@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:5FF65E0E-14BF-4102-91BB-EA4D8974F791@microsoft.com...
>>> Is there a GPO out to there to just lock a computer after a certain
>>> amount of
>>> minutes of inactivity? I know there is one to logoff the account, I
>>> could
>>> not find one for just locking the workstation. Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>> Jason
>>
>>
>
>
 

Jason

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2003
1,026
0
19,280
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (More info?)

Thanks.

"Oli Restorick [MVP]" wrote:

> I don't know how I missed that one.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Oli
>
>
>
> "Bruce Sanderson" <bsanders@junk.junk> wrote in message
> news:eCOLhTWjEHA.3536@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Are you saying that the setting (in a GPO):
> >
> > Administrative Templates
> > Control Panel
> > Display
> > Screen Saver timeout: xx seconds
> >
> > doesn't do what it says it will do?
> >
> > The combination of this one plus
> > Hide Screen Saver tab: Enabled
> > Screen Saver: Enabled
> > Screen Saver Executable name: Enabled - scrnsave.scr
> > Password protect the screen saver: Enabled
> >
> > seems to be forcing the computer to lock after xx seconds and require the
> > user to re-authenticate for us.
> >
> > --
> > Bruce Sanderson MVP
> >
> > It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
> >
> >
> > "Oli Restorick [MVP]" <oli@mvps.org> wrote in message
> > news:%23Y97ItOjEHA.140@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >> You need to configure the screensaver to secure (lock) the workstation.
> >> This can be done with group policy. However, it's a user policy, not a
> >> computer policy. If you want to do this for a set of computers,
> >> configure a GPO on the OU containing the machines and use a loopback
> >> processing to configure user settings.
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, what group policy doesn't allow you to do is to ensure the
> >> user has a sensible timeout set on the screensaver.
> >>
> >> The timeout is stored in the "ScreenSaveTimeOut" value in the following
> >> registry key:
> >> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
> >>
> >> The unit is seconds. You should be able to script this either by
> >> exporting the registry key to a text file and removing the unnecessary
> >> lines. Then run it using "regedit.exe /s myfile.reg".
> >>
> >> Ideally, you want to be able to specify a maximum value, so that if the
> >> user opts for a shorter timeout than the one you specify, they can, but
> >> if they specify a longer timeout, it'll be reset each time they log in.
> >> Ask in one of the scripting groups if you need a hand with this.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >>
> >> Oli
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Jason" <Jason@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:5FF65E0E-14BF-4102-91BB-EA4D8974F791@microsoft.com...
> >>> Is there a GPO out to there to just lock a computer after a certain
> >>> amount of
> >>> minutes of inactivity? I know there is one to logoff the account, I
> >>> could
> >>> not find one for just locking the workstation. Thanks in advance.
> >>>
> >>> Jason
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
 

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