

Then sign out of your session or restart your PC for the settings to go into effect. Now create a new 32-bit DWORD Value called InactivityTimeoutSecs and give it a value between 0 or 599940 – again, that is the number of seconds of inactivity you want to pass before locking your system. Then head to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System To get started, hit Windows Key + R and type: regedit and click OK or hit Enter to launch the Registry. Before making any tweaks to the Registry, make sure to back it up first, create a System Restore Point and have a full backup image ready if you need to recover your system. Changing the wrong thing can take down your whole computer. Important: Remember that tweaking settings in the Registry isn’t for inexperienced users. If you’re on Windows 10 Home, you might want to use the Screen Saver trick. But this is a method only experienced users can try. However, you can do the same thing by hacking the Registry. If you are running Windows 10 Home, you don’t have access to the Local Security Policy tool. For example, 10 minutes would be 600 seconds.Įnable Windows 10 Auto Lock Using the Registry When it comes to figuring out the number of seconds to use, here, it’s good to use some time unit conversions with your favorite search engine.

When you’re finished, you need to sign out of your session or restart your PC for the changes to take place. Keep in mind that the max is 166 hours, and you won’t want the number of seconds too low as it would get annoying to have your PC lock all the time. When the Limit Properties window opens, you can type in an inactivity limit between one to 599940 seconds. Open Local Policies > Security Options and then scroll down and double-click “Interactive Logon: Machine inactivity limit” from the list.Įnter the amount of time you want Windows 10 to shut down after no activity on the machine.

Hit Windows Key + R and type: secpol.msc and click OK or hit Enter to launch it. If you’re running the Pro version of Windows, you can use the Local Security Policy feature. Make Windows 10 Lock Automatically Using SecPol After the period of inactivity that you set up, your screen saver will come up and require you to enter your PIN or password to unlock it. But the important thing to do is make sure to check the “On resume, display logon screen” box and set the “Wait” time to however many minutes you want, and click OK. Set your screen saver to something from the dropdown list. Next, the Screen Saver Setting windows will come up. Open Start and type: change screen saver and click on the “Best Match” result. This is probably the simplest method and an old trick. Lock Windows 10 Automatically Using Your Screen Saver
