Lock screen from command line

Question

How to lock screen and at the time of unlock should ask password? How to do it from command prompt?

I have tried:

  gnome-screensaver-command -l

But not asking password at the unlock time.

Have you tried running gnome-screensaver with --debug while applying commands to it with gnome-screensaver-command? Have you searched RedHat knowledgebase for known bugs against gnome-screensaver? — , Jan 28 '14 at 08:57
Which Desktop Environment are you using? Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXDE,Mate,Cinnamon,...? — MariusMatutiae, Jan 28 '14 at 08:59

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 29 '18 at 22:09

4

It depends on your environment, but in any case physlock (look it up) will lock your screen in whichever environment (X, Wayland, VT, or other).

No fancy colors or graphics with that one, though.

answered Mar 29 '18 at 22:09

Rolf

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physlock works smoothly! thx – Fusho Mar 30 '18 at 14:30
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that's a nice tool although I've expected screensaver to pop up :) – holms Aug 01 '18 at 16:28

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

4

gnome-screensaver-command -l

gnome-screensaver-command -a

refer here https://askubuntu.com/questions/184728/how-do-i-lock-the-screen-from-a-terminal

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered Jan 28 '14 at 09:11

Miqdad Ali

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Hi when I logged as a ordinary user then Ctrl + Alt + L locks the screen and also at the time of unlock asks for a password, but when I logged in as a root it locked the screen but didn't asked for a password. Many thanks! – user3134198 Jan 28 '14 at 10:33
No one asked for gnome, i use DWM, so I need a proper command for terminal – holms Aug 01 '18 at 16:27

Rolf · Answer 3 · 2017-05-30T14:43:10.720

2

I believe it depends on your display manager. I have lightdm so it's dm-tool lock

Lock the current seat. This will switch to a greeter with a hint that the screen is locked. You can return to this session by authenticating in the greeter.

EDIT: It looks and acts like a screen lock, but I have noticed that I can "skirt around it" by switching to a text terminal and back to the X terminal (on my machine Ctrl-Alt-F2 then Ctrl-Alt-F6 does that). dm-lock would then just exit.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong here. But I am leaving these here as a pointer, I think it would still be useful information for someone.

The gnome command that other mentioned did not work for me, by the way. I do not really use Gnome on my desktop.

edited May 30 '17 at 14:43

answered May 30 '17 at 11:30

Rolf

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - [From Review](/review/low-quality-posts/659625) – Burgi May 30 '17 at 11:59
@Burgi I do not think that you provided a clear explanation as to why my answer is not valid, but I did find issues with my answer. Thank you for your comment and edit. I appreciate. Please check my updated answer. Thanks. – Rolf May 30 '17 at 14:45
without gnome and having lightdm this is the right way. However, I noticed what you say, did you find a solution for this strange "bug"? is it a bug? – Fusho Mar 29 '18 at 19:04
3

@oxuf Hi, I am relying on `physlock` now, it locks the screen and works for X, wayland or VTs. Linux software can be very rich in bugs, so I would not be surprized if it's one. Also I don't use any DM anymore, I just log into a VT and launch startx, weston, or whatever I fancy from there. It's easy to switch between WMs with a simple `.xinitrc` script. – Rolf Mar 29 '18 at 22:02

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 20 '20 at 00:05

1

A solution that is more likely to be independent from the desktop environment in use:

xdg-screensaver lock

answered Sep 20 '20 at 00:05

atomsymbol

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MariusMatutiae · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-28T09:10:57.710

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No need of a command line: Ctrl+Alt+L will do that immediately for you.

Edit:

That has nothing to do with the command. You have to go to your System Settings, and check that password is required to disable screensaver. In Gnome, open 'system settings' and click 'brighness and lock' and toggle the lock to ON.

edited Jan 28 '14 at 09:10

answered Jan 28 '14 at 09:03

MariusMatutiae

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It is locking but again at the time of unlock it is NOT asking password. Does it asks for password at the time of unlock in other Linux flavors? – user3134198 Jan 28 '14 at 09:05
@user3134198 See my edit – MariusMatutiae Jan 28 '14 at 09:11
System -> Preferences -> Screensaver does not provide provision to check password is enabled or sated, Please could you guide for that? – user3134198 Jan 28 '14 at 09:14
@user3134198 Not what I said: System settings -> Brightness and Lock -> Lock -> On. – MariusMatutiae Jan 28 '14 at 09:19
ON RHEL 6 Gnome, I am not able to find "System Settings" there is only "System -> Preferences" and in that there is no where "Brightness and Lock" – user3134198 Jan 28 '14 at 09:34
@user3134198 Sorry, I do not have a RHEL available, the recipe I gave you is the standard one, works in Ubuntu. All I can say is you will have to look around. try Monitor, or Display, or Power settings. – MariusMatutiae Jan 28 '14 at 09:44
Hi MariusMatutiate, when I logged as a ordinary user then Ctrl + Alt + L locks the screen and also at the time of unlock asks for a password, but when I logged in as a root it locked the screen but didn't asked for a password. Many thanks! – user3134198 Jan 28 '14 at 10:26
-1 What if I'm not logged in on a local X console? – Mark E. Haase Aug 22 '14 at 12:52
@mehaase Not what the OP asked. – MariusMatutiae Aug 22 '14 at 13:41
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"How to do it from **command prompt?**" Emphasis added. I don't consider comments by the OP to be part of the question. – Mark E. Haase Aug 23 '14 at 19:41
@mehaase That's too bad for you. – MariusMatutiae Aug 24 '14 at 08:44
@MariusMatutiae sorry not everyone using resource wasting WM's like you. in DWM this doesn't work therefore doesn't answer a question of the OP – holms Aug 01 '18 at 16:27

Lock screen from command line

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