Lock your KDE screen from the command line
Did you know you can lock your current KDE screen by using the command line? For the 3.x series use
dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface lock
and for KDE 4.x try
qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver Lock
With the help of these you should be able to craft a simple shell script that will lock your screen at given actions. For example, you can leave your screen unlocked and make the PC activate the commands above when it detects mouse movement or when a certain application is launched.
The command for KDE 4 does not work.
qdbus org.kde.krunner /ScreenSaver Lock
Service ‘org.kde.krunner’ does not exist.
it is work for me on kde 4 thanks
BeteNoire, try:
qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver Lock
xset dpms force off
I’ve put this in a script in $HOME/bin, created a shortcut in the menu, and set “Win+L” as a shortcut. Thanks, T4L!
If you wish to launch the kde4 screen saver without the password prompt to exit, use this command:
qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver.SetActive True
The command may not work from within “screen”. If you are running screen and it doesn’t work, try the command in a new konsole window.
Is there a way to do this remotely. I ssh into the box and try to lock it remotely but get this error:
Could not connect to D-Bus server: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: /bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally with the following error: Autolaunch error: X11 initialization failed.
Tom, you have to set the DISPLAY environment variable.
export DISPLAY=:0
qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver Lock
As the command is a bit long, you can set an alias in your .bashrc
alias lockme=”qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver Lock”
how to unlock the kde window?