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3

How can I lock my desktop screen from the command line?

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3 Answers

up vote 24 down vote accepted

You can lock the computer by running gnome-screensaver-command with the -l flag like so:

gnome-screensaver-command -l

However this will only work if you have Gnome Screensaver running for your session (should be - unless you've disabled it) you can start that from the commandline with:

gnome-screensaver

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up vote 14 down vote 
gnome-screensaver-command -l

If you're in a different (desktop) session (e.g. virtual console, switched to another login, SSH), specify the display explicitly (:0 is the default display):

DISPLAY=:0 gnome-screensaver-command -l

To unlock, use the -d (--deactivate) option.

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can you clarify me the DISPALY=:0 option? – Renjith G Oct 16 '10 at 19:29
1  
Sorry for my English... DISPLAY is a variable and define in which display an X Window System program renders to (it can be another monitor). In TTY this variable is empty. By default, first display is ":0.0". So use DISPLAY=:x before your command, indicates in which display run the command. And use DISPLAY=:0 or DISPLAY=:0.0 indicates: run the program in the first display. – Snip Oct 16 '10 at 20:46
@RenjithG this is quite clear if you think about it, also please do not be rude to the author of the previous comment. – ObsessiveSSOℲ May 2 '12 at 18:02
up vote 11 down vote

gnome-screensaver-command --lock will do it.

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