How to Enable or Disable Screen Saver in Windows
A screen saver is a moving picture or pattern that displays on the screen(s) of your PC after you have not been active on the PC for specified period of time to wait. Screen savers were originally used to save older, monochromatic monitors from damage, but now they are mainly a way to personalize your PC or enhance its security by offering password protection.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable screen saver for specific or all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable screen saver.
Contents
- Option One: Enable or Disable Screen Saver in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Two: Enable or Disable Screen Saver for All Users using a REG file
EXAMPLE: Screen saver enabled and disabled
In Windows 7, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 8, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 10, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Two.
1 Open the all users, specific users or groups, or all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.
2 In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Control Panel, and Personalization. (see screenshot below)
3 In the right pane of Personalization, double click/tap on the Enable screen saver policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) either Not Configured or Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting.
7 When finished, you can close Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry keys below.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop
ScreenSaveActive DWORD
(delete) = Enable
0 = Disable
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Enable_screen_saver_for_all_users.reg
Download
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Disable_screen_saver_for_all_users.reg
Download
4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.
5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.
7 You could now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn
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Enable or Disable Screen Saver in Windows
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New #1
Still can't disable screen saver
We have Toughbook CF-20's with Windows 10 Pro in our fleet and there is 1 computer that I cannot diable the screen saver. No matter what I do, after 1 minute the screen saver kicks in and you must enter a PIN to work. I tried the gpedit fix above and that didn't work
I also tried the reg key fix and that didn't work either.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
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New #2
Hello @koshea, and welcome to Ten Forums.
Just to verify, are you sure it's the screensaver, and not the computer automatically locking instead?
Automatically Lock Computer when Idle for Specified Time in Windows 10
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New #3
Still not working
At this point I'm not sure what is going on. I just tried both of the suggested fixes and they didn't work either.
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New #4
If able, try to get a screenshot (phone camera) of what you're seeing and post it here to see if it may help ID the issue.
How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums
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New #5
Not too much to show
After 1 minute it goes to the lock screen...
and after I hit the enter screen it goes to the sign-in screen. I was unable to get a screenshot of the sign-in screen.
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New #6
@Brink,
The member kreemoweet has posted useful info about a change in screensaver behaviour that you might want to include in the intro to this tutorial.
- When any screensaver starts, it now blanks the screen.
- I can see this behaviour in my computer as well but have no idea which Windows Version introduced this change.
All the best,
Denis
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Enable or Disable Screen Saver in Windows
How to Enable or Disable Screen Saver in WindowsPublished by Shawn BrinkCategory: Customization
06 Apr 2021
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