We can change screen saver on a computer by changing the settings in display properties. We also have a registry hack to change screen saver settings.

These screen saver settings are stored under the following registry key. HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop Registry values that control screen saver behavior: • ScreenSaveActive • SCRNSAVE.EXE • ScreenSaveTimeOut • ScreenSaverIsSecure To disable or enable screen saver using registry key Set the value of the registry value ScreenSaveActive to 0. From command line you can run the below command for doing this. Reg add 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop' /v ScreenSaveActive /t REG_SZ /d 0 /f To enable screen saver. Reg add 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop' /v ScreenSaveActive /t REG_SZ /d 1 /f To change timeout for activating the screen saver Set the data in the registry value ScreenSaveTimeOut to the timeout limit in seconds. For example if you want to set the time out to 20 minutes you need to change the value of this registry key to 1200. From command line you can run the below command to change screen saver timeout limit.

Reg add 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop' /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /t REG_SZ /d 0 /f To enable or disable password protection when the session is resumed You can password protection by setting the data in ScreenSaverIsSecure to 1. If you set this to 0, you will not be asked to provide password when you interrupt the screen saver to resume the user session. From windows command line you can run the below command to enable password for the screen saver. Reg add 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop' /v ScreenSaverIsSecure /t REG_SZ /d 1 /f To disable password protection: Reg add 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop' /v ScreenSaverIsSecure /t REG_SZ /d 0 /f To change screen saver using registry key Read the post The above registry keys apply to Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista and Windows 7.

I'm working on HIPAA compliance auditing and resolutions for my organization. We've deployed over 150 windows 7 computers in an Active Directory environment. An unknown number of these machines are failing to activate the screensaver. Our active directory settings are: Force specific screen saver - Enabled, scrnsave.scr Password Protect the screen saver - Enabled Prevent changing screen saver - Enabled Screen saver timeout - 900 seconds If I right click on the desktop and go to personalize, the screen saver on the bottom right is greyed out, and says none. Screen saver will never go on.

If I turn the third policy, Prevent changing screen saver to disabled, I can see the settings the screen saver is using. The settings it has are correct, but the screensaver never starts. It still always says screen saver - none, where it should say screensaver - blank. If I take away the policy above completely, then manually change the screen saver to blank instead of none that windows 7 has as default. Then if I reapply the policy the pc will lock as expected with the correct timeout and password requirements. And when you go to personalize from the desktop the screen saver says blank. Additionally, if I navigate to the screen saver location c: windows system32 scrnsave.scr and launch it, or execute cmd: c: windows system32/'rundll32.exe' desk.cpl,InstallScreenSaver c: windows system32 scrnsave.scr then I get the Screen Saver Settings window popping up and the screen saver starts working normally, even if I haven't adjusted the screen saver policy settings.

Windows 7, 8, Vista, XP Video. Now you can easily prevent screensaver activation or disable it temporarily or permanently and prevent it. Prevent Screensaver. Jul 20, 2013 however when it is in the screen saver and you want to use the system it comes back to the start screen you hit. Lock Screen - Enable or Disable in Windows 8. Software Convert Pdf To Word Yang Bagus Place Resort.

Any guidance on what element needs to be engaged by a group policy setting, particularly a setting that may be adjusted by the screen saver installation that was overlooked by the group policy itself, or a silent run of the screen saver installation that will prevent the screen saver settings screen from opening so that I can just batch patch the computers with a command line script, would be greatly appreciated. Hi, First of all, please check whether GPO is applied successfully and the related registry is modified or not. If yes, so policy seems to be deployed; but it isn't applied for some reasons, in this case, I would suggest you check if there are any third party programs blocking the screensaver, or if the problematic windows 7 machines are fully patched. You could compare the working windows 7 and a problematic one to see any difference. Best regards, Wendy Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

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User Configuration Administrative Templates Control Panel Display Description Enables desktop screen savers. If you disable this policy, screen savers cannot run. This policy also disables the Screen Saver section of the Screen Saver tab in Display in Control Panel. As a result, users cannot change their screen saver options. If you do not configure this policy, it has no effect on the system.

If you enable this policy, a screen saver will run if the following two condtions are true: First, a valid screensaver on the client is specified via the policy setting or through Control Panel on the client computer. Second, the screensaver timeout is set to a nonzero value via the policy setting or through Control Panel. Related Policies.