Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10  

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    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10

    How to Enable or Disable the Lock Screen in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Customization
    11 Sep 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Enable or Disable the Lock Screen in Windows 10


    The lock screen is the screen you see when you lock your PC (or when it locks automatically after you haven't been using it for a while). The lock screen will also show at startup, and when you are signed out and idle for one minute. You will need to dismiss the lock screen to be able to see the sign in screen and sign in to Windows. Users can dismiss the lock screen using touch, the keyboard, or by dragging it up with the mouse.

    This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the lock screen to show before the sign in screen for all users in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to enable or disable the lock screen.

    If you have secure sign-in enabled for users to require them to press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys on the lock screen before signing in, then the lock screen cannot be disabled.



    Contents

    • Option One: To Enable or Disable Lock Screen using Group Policy
    • Option Two: To Enable or Disable Lock Screen using a REG file
    • Option Three: To Disable Lock Screen using a Task
    • Option Four: To Disable Lock Screen using Security Policy Rule



    EXAMPLE: Lock and sign in screen in Windows 10
    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-lock_screens.jpg
    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-sign_in_screen.jpg






    OPTION ONE

    To Enable or Disable Lock Screen using Group Policy


    The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

    All editions can use Option Two below to set this same policy.


    1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

    2 Navigate to the location below in the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)

    Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_group_policy-1.png

    3 In the right pane of Personalization in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Do not display the lock screen policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

    4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


     5. To Enable the Lock Screen

    A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

    Not Configured is the default setting.


     6. To Disable the Lock Screen

    A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_group_policy-2.png

    7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.

    8 You can press the Win + L keys to lock the computer to verify.






    OPTION TWO

    To Enable or Disable Lock Screen using a REG file


    The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD values in the registry keys below.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\SessionData

    AllowLockScreen DWORD

    0 = Disable
    1 = Enable

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization

    NoLockScreen DWORD

    0 or delete = enable
    1 = disable


    1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


     2. To Enable the Lock Screen

    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_Lock_Screen.reg

    Download


     3. To Disable the Lock Screen

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

    Disable_Lock_Screen.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 If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.

    8 You can press the Win + L keys to lock the computer to verify.






    OPTION THREE

    To Disable Lock Screen using a Task


    This option will not disable the lock screen at startup. It will disable the lock screen when a user locks the computer, signs out, and resume from sleep.


    1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type taskschd.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Task Scheduler.

    2 Click/tap on Task Scheduler Library in the left pane of Task Scheduler, and click/tap on Create Task in the right Actions pane. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-1.png

    3 In the General tab, type a name (ex: "Disable Lock Screen") you want for this task, and type an optional description of the task. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-2.png

    4 In the General tab, check the Run with highest privileges box. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-3.png

    5 In the General tab, select Windows 10 in the Configure for drop down menu. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-4.png

    6 Click/tap on the Triggers tab, and click/tap on the New button. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-5.png

    7 Select At log on in the Begin the task drop down menu, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-6.png

    8 Click/tap on the New button in the Triggers tab. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-7.png

    9 Select On workstation unlock in the Begin the task drop down menu, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-8.png

    10 Click/tap on the Actions tab, and click/tap on the New button. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-9.png

    11 Type reg in the Program/script field. Type the command below into the Add arguments field, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    By default, the AllowLockScreen DWORD is reset to 1 at log on to always have the lock screen enabled.

    This command for the task will keep the AllowLockScreen DWORD set to 0 instead to disable the lock screen.

    add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\SessionData /t REG_DWORD /v AllowLockScreen /d 0 /f

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-10.png

    12 You will now see this new action listed. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-11.png

    13 Click/tap on the Conditions tab, uncheck the Start the task only if the computer is on AC power box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-12.png

    14 You will now see this new task (ex: "Disable Lock Screen") listed in the Task Scheduler Library. You can now close Task Scheduler if you like. (see screenshot below)

    To undo this task and enable the lock screen again, you would just need to delete this new task (ex: "Disable Lock Screen").

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-disable_lock_screen_task-13.png

    15 Sign out and sign in to apply the task. The task will automatically be applied to all other users on the PC the next time they sign in.






    OPTION FOUR

    To Disable Lock Screen using Security Policy Rule


    This option will not disable the lock screen at startup. It will disable the lock screen when a user locks the computer, signs out, and resume from sleep.

    The Local Security Policy is only available in the Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise editions.


    1 Open Local Security Policy (secpol.msc).

    2 Expand open Software Restriction Policies and open Additional Rules in the left pane. (see screenshot below)

    If you do not have Additional Rules under Software Restriction Policies, then right click on Software Restriction Policies and click on New Software Restriction Policies.

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-secpol-1.jpg

    3 Do step 4 (disable) or step 5 (enable) below for what you want to do.


     4. To Disable Lock Screen

    A) Right click on Additional Rules in the left pane, and click on New Path Rule. (see screenshot below step 2)

    B) Copy and paste C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.LockApp_cw5n1h2txyewy under Path, set Security level to Disallowed, click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-secpol-2.png


     5. To Enable Lock Screen

    This is the default setting.

    A) Right click on the policy rule in the right pane of Additional Rules, and click on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)

    B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Lock Screen in Windows 10-secpol-3.png

    6 You can now close the Local Security Policy window if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 575
    Windows 11 Pro
       #1

    Shawn
    The group policy edit has not worked for me for several builds. I think that ever since the Lock Screen went to XAML type the group policy edit is being ignored.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Hey tracit,

    Yeah, I had some policies I found that don't do anything right now as well.

    This one still works though. At least for me it does in build 10130. :)
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 1
    Windows 10 Professional
       #3

    tracit99 said:
    Shawn
    The group policy edit has not worked for me for several builds. I think that ever since the Lock Screen went to XAML type the group policy edit is being ignored.
    Have you tried running the gpupdate.exe /force command after modifying the policy?
    Sometimes Windows doesn't react to GP changes automatically.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 148
    Windows 10 1607
       #4

    I used the Group Policy on my 64-bit desktop Windows 10, and it works fine.But on my 32-bit tablet with Windows 10 Home, the registry key does not work. This is after doing gpupdate.exe /force.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hello Mark, :)

    Did you also test to see if restarting Windows on the tablet may help?
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 172
    Windows 10
       #6

    I found that the registry edit works well, so I avoided changing the policy altogether.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    satchmo said:
    I found that the registry edit works well, so I avoided changing the policy altogether.
    Hello Satchmo, :)

    I'm glad to hear it's working well for you.

    I hate to be the one that breaks the bad news to you, but the registry edit is the same thing that group policy sets. I just like having different options for doing the same thing in the tutorials in case one option (ex: group policy) is not an available option in say Windows 10 Home.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 148
    Windows 10 1607
       #8

    Brink said:
    Hello Mark, :)

    Did you also test to see if restarting Windows on the tablet may help?
    I did, and it didn't!

    However, what I then did was download the same .reg file as you have here, but from another source, and import that. For some reason that did it.
    Nothing changed - I had already created the correct key and DWORD. But it didn't take effect until I imported that .reg file.
    Weird!
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Mark,

    Odd. Are the contents of that .reg file the same as this one?

    If so, then I suppose that it may just not have successfully fully merged last time.
      My Computers


 

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