Screen lock no longer asking for password

[Adam Mercer]

Hi

I've noticed that a couple of days ago my screen has stopped locking,
i.e. before then the screen would blank I'd need to reenter my
password to resume using the machine but now it is just unlocked. In
the settings the screen is set to blank after 5 minutes and lock
immediately but I am never prompted for a password. Any ideas what
could be going on here?

Could there be another process blanking the screen that is bypassing
the screen lock?

Cheers

Adam

[Jonathan Billings]

On May 8, 2021, at 12:35, Adam Mercer  wrote:
> Hi
>
> I've noticed that a couple of days ago my screen has stopped locking,
> i.e. before then the screen would blank I'd need to reenter my
> password to resume using the machine but now it is just unlocked. In
> the settings the screen is set to blank after 5 minutes and lock
> immediately but I am never prompted for a password. Any ideas what
> could be going on here?
>
> Could there be another process blanking the screen that is bypassing
> the screen lock?

Have you recently switched from using GDM to some other login manager?  I believe that GDM manages the Lock Screen on GNOME sessions.

—
Jonathan Billings

[Adam Mercer]

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 4:43 PM Jonathan Billings  wrote:
> Have you recently switched from using GDM to some other login manager?  I believe that GDM manages the Lock Screen on GNOME sessions.

Still using GDM, I can't recall making any configuration changes
either... just regular F33 updates.

Cheers

Adam

[Ed Greshko]

On 09/05/2021 10:28, Adam Mercer wrote:
> On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 4:43 PM Jonathan Billings  wrote:
> > Have you recently switched from using GDM to some other login manager?  I believe that GDM manages the Lock Screen on GNOME sessions.
>
> Still using GDM, I can't recall making any configuration changes
> either... just regular F33 updates.

Try this.

In settings, go to Privacy-->Screen Lock.

Choose a Blank Screen Delay.
Turn on "Automatic Screen Lock"
Set "Automatic Screen Lock Delay" to "Screen Turns Off

See if that works after the chosen time.

[Adam Mercer]

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 8:20 PM Ed Greshko  wrote:
> In settings, go to Privacy-->Screen Lock.
>
> Choose a Blank Screen Delay.
> Turn on "Automatic Screen Lock"
> Set "Automatic Screen Lock Delay" to "Screen Turns Off
>
> See if that works after the chosen time.

That;s what I first checked, and I already had those settings.
Changing the time just changes at what point the screen blanks. I
leave it a while and then hit a key or move the mouse the the screen
flicks back on and there is no password prompt.

Cheers

Adam

[Adam Mercer]

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 9:32 AM Adam Mercer  wrote:
> Could there be another process blanking the screen that is bypassing
> the screen lock?

After a lot of reading through logs and trying to manually trigger the
screensaver using:

$ dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.gnome.ScreenSaver
/org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock

I found the following in the log:

gnome-shell[2762]: Screen lock is locked down, not locking

Searching for that error resulted in me finding this:

https://askbot.fedoraproject.org/en/question/122030/screen-lock-is-locked-do...

and indeed it seems that somehow screen lock had become disabled:

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.lockdown disable-lock-screen
true
$

Running:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.lockdown disable-lock-screen false

Got things working again! No idea how the screen lock became
disabled... but it's working now.

Cheers

Adam

[Ed Greshko]

On 09/05/2021 12:47, Adam Mercer wrote:
> On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 8:20 PM Ed Greshko  wrote:
> > In settings, go to Privacy-->Screen Lock.
> >
> > Choose a Blank Screen Delay.
> > Turn on "Automatic Screen Lock"
> > Set "Automatic Screen Lock Delay" to "Screen Turns Off
> >
> > See if that works after the chosen time.
>
> That;s what I first checked, and I already had those settings.
> Changing the time just changes at what point the screen blanks. I
> leave it a while and then hit a key or move the mouse the the screen
> flicks back on and there is no password prompt.

Well, it works for me.

It blanks after the time specified and if the "lock delay" hasn't expired it won't ask
for a password.  So, if one is set to 3 and the other 3 then it takes 6 minutes to
request a password.