Disable screensaver group policy

Many computers have mechanisms in place to start the screensaver after certain amount if idle time. One of these mechanisms is to use a screensaver group policy. A screen save group policy could be used to make sure that a windows based workstations, for a group of users, locks after some amount of idle time. This type of  screensaver group policy could avoid anyone from accessing another users workstation while they are away. If you want to disable screensaver group policy then you may try different mechanisms. Depending on your user privileges you might be able to temporarily or permanently  disable screensaver group policy.

Disable screensaver group policy using group policy editor

1. Go to Start and then click Run.
2. Type gpedit.msc in the Run dialog box and hit enter.
3. This opens a Group Policy Editor and lists all policies.
4. Navigate to the interested policy and modify it.

Note: The Group Policy Editor requires Administrative privileges to disable screensaver group policy. If your user does not have admin privileges then you will have to use alternate method using registry.

Disable screensaver group policy manually using registry editor

1. Go to Start and then click Run.
2. Type regedit in the Run dialog box and hit enter.
3. This opens registry editor and lists all registries.
4. Navigate to the screensaver policies which can be found atHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop
5. Modify the screensaver entries to following valuesSet “ScreenSaverIsSecure” to zeroSet “ScreenSaveActive” to zero

   Set “SCRNSAVE.EXE” to blank

   Set “ScreenSaveTimeOut” blank

   These values should disable screensaver group policy and set value to never turn on the screensaver.

Note: If your user does not have Administrative privileges then the group policy would be turned on again after a reboot. In such a scenario it becomes quite tedious to modify these settings manually. User can create a script that can automatically update these settings. See next section on how to create such a script.

Disable screensaver group policy automatically using registry editor script

In order to disable screensaver group policy via click of a button perform following steps:

1. Open notepad (Start->Run and type “notepad”)
2. Copy the code below into the file.
3. Save the file as disable_screensaver_group_policy.reg

Now when ever you want to override the group policy just double click this file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ScreenSaverIsSecure"="0"
"ScreenSaveActive"="0"
"SCRNSAVE.EXE"=""
"ScreenSaveTimeOut"=""