Still cannot get lock screen to stay off...please help!

[Jeremy Bicha]

On 17 August 2012 18:56, David Trask <dtrask at vcsvikings.org> wrote:
> Still cannot get lock screen to stay off...please help!  This is
> particularly troublesome with machines that auto-login
>
> I'm rolling out my new installation for the whole school (70+ terminals) and
> the only hurdle left (that I know of) is disabling screen locking.  I'd also
> like to set screen blanking for some ridiculously high number like 3 hours.
> We're an elementary school with a lot of autologin machines and young
> kids...we also do online testing.  I can't have screen locking kicking in
> all the time...it would really screw things up.  It used to be easy to
> disable it, but in 12.04 (precise), I can't seem to get anything to
> stick....short of doing it in the GUI and that would be another nightmare.
> I need a command line/script way of disabling screen locking and setting the
> screen blanking very high...for ALL users.  So far all the stuff I've found
> online doesn't stick.  I've tried gconf-editor (which won't allow me to
> access the screen locking key)...I've tried dconf-editor...(which does, but
> doesn't seem to do anything for anyone other than root)....etc.  I really
> need help  (on my knees and begging)  ;-)

Hi, I was at the Open Help Conference & GNOME Docs hackfest this week.
We spent a day working on an updated version of the GNOME Sysadmin
Guide. Since the guide isn't posted online yet (except in our git
repository), here's a copy and paste of it. The original guide was how
for how to set a default wallpaper so I changed the example to better
match what you were looking for.


1. Create a directory named /etc/dconf/profile/
2. From within the profile directory, create and edit a file named user :

user-db:user
system-db:local

3. Navigate to the /etc/dconf/db/local.d/ directory. If this directory
doesn't exist, you will need to create it.
4. In the local.d directory, create and edit a key file named
00_default-screenlock :

#this portion of the key file identifies the dconf group
[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver]
#these are the individual key-value pairs that are relevant to the key
file group
ubuntu-lock-on-suspend=false
lock-enabled=false

[org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power]
sleep-display-ac=0

5. Run sudo update dconf.
6. The first time you create a dconf user profile, you'll need to log
out and log in to apply the new profile.


If you want to go another step further and prevent this setting from
being changed:

7. Create a directory named /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/
8. Edit /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/00_default-screenlock

# prevent changes to the screenlock settings
/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/ubuntu-lock-on-suspend
/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enable
/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power/sleep-display-ac

9. Run sudo dconf update

Don't run dconf-editor as root; that will only set dconf settings for
the root user which isn't what you want.

Also if you want to see what dconf settings are set to non-default
values, you can run dconf dump /

Let me know if these instructions aren't clear enough or if it doesn't work.

Jeremy