Lock Screen Stand By Fix?

Hello. I enjoy using GNOME 3 a lot. But, there is one feature that is really annoying me. Whenever I lock the screen (from either logo key + L or top right menu click lock screen) the computer instantly goes into some sort of either ‘sleep’ or ‘stand by’ mode.

I don’t like this behavior at all. So, I use Lock Screen as a way to keep what I’m doing private for however long I need to when I am away from my computer without wanting to shut my computer down. This is usually anywhere from five minutes or so to an hour or two or so.

I live with other people and my computer stores personal information. So, I don’t really want them to be able to just walk up and have access to my computer.

However, the ‘stand by’ or whatever mode it slips into stops the output of a video signal to my TV and thus my TV is going to auto-power down because of this. This means that I have to then switch my video input off of my computer and to something else to keep the TV on. I don’t like turning the TV on and off all the time just because I walk away from my computer for a few minutes. That might very well blow the TV. I think that might have blown past televisions. So, I only like to turn my TV off if I anticipate that I will be away from it for at least an hour. If people want to talk with me for just a few minutes; then I’m not going to be away for that long. So, the computer should just sit at the lock screen.

I have tried to research this on my own before and it looked like the topic stalled out a long time ago. Apparently, if that information from the past is correct, this is built like this on purpose to save electrical power. If so, this is very disappointing. It really should be an option in either the lock screen or power menu that is in my control. Not a ‘feature’ that is forced on me against my will. As, frankly, it makes using GNOME 3 very annoying because I have to do this little lock, input dance many, many times a day. Other graphic desktops don’t force this on me and GNOME shouldn’t either.

Am I missing something? I keep looking for an option to turn this feature off and I’m not sure where to find it. Thank you.

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In the “Power” panel of Settings, there’s the “Blank screen” option that when put to a duration, will put the screen dark and you’ll need to type again your password to enter again. But it won’t put the computer into “deep sleep”, so it is still running. You might want to try it.

Tried that and it didn’t work at all. The screen went dark, the screen did not lock, and the TV instantly went to “no signal” the exact opposite of what I want it to do.

So, what I’m asking for is for GNOME lock screen to act like it’s supposed to. To act like every other lock screen on every other graphic desktop does.

When I lock on KDE, LXDE, and Windows 10 the screen just locks. The username stays displayed and the system waits for the password to enter. The screen just stays on, like it’s supposed to, given I turn off all over “power saving” options that I hate. The screen just freezes at the login prompt and waits for a login without shutting off display to the monitor for no good reason.

Yet, GNOME does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to here. I turn off all the unnecessary and annoying “power saving” settings. I lock the screen. And, for some unknown reason, the lock screen (I guess technically GDM because GDM manages this) decides to instantly go night night even thought I turned off all the “power savings” settings in the desktop. Then my TV reads “no signal” and will automatically turns off in a few minutes. I can move the mouse or tap a key to make it come back to looking like it’s supposed to. But, left alone for a bit, it goes right back to sleep again for no good reason at all.

I just want GNOME lock screen to behave like it is supposed to, exactly like KDE, LXDE, and Windows 10 does. Just lock. Period. Don’t go to sleep. Instead of creating this go to sleep problem for me for no reason that the other desktop lock screens don’t create for me.

I ask this because I prefer GNOME in other aspects. It’s easier to use and quicker. But, I’m at the point of almost switching to LXDE or KDE to get away from this problem. It’s such a simple thing and yet GNOME is fighting me on it. Just lock the screen and wait for a password like everyone else does. Don’t go night night for no reason.

Is there some secret setting somewhere to tell GDM (lock screen) to never go to sleep? It seems that turning off all the “power savings” settings on the desktop only effects the “desktop” itself and doesn’t effect GDM. And GDM is apparently set to go to sleep as quickly and as often as possible when in lock mode for no reason.

How do I force GDM (lock screen) to behave normal instead of trying to save power at the cost of my use case?

Update: It looks like the more I look into this the more I’m realizing that this basic functionality does not exist in GNOME natively anymore and instead might require either an extension like unblank to be installed (and hope they bother to keep updating for compatibility) or maybe just muck around with a lot of settings behind the scenes. Apparently this used to exist but was removed for no good reason.

"This is not possible anymore in Gnome 3. You would have to execute gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power idle-dim-time [seconds] (possibly as lightdm as this is the user who runs the lockscreen) however this key doesn’t exist anymore.

A possible workaround Khurshid mentioned is to install XScreenSaver (and set the timeout from there):"

“This extension, “unblank”, appears to work, I have only had it working for a minute now but my test shows that it keeps the display from turning off after pressing super + L.”

I have the same problem here, but I don’t want it to shut down after 30 minutes. I want it to never shut down. This is so annoying and I’m trying very hard not to curse. Maybe I do need to just learn KDE instead.

Why is this not just a simple setting in either the desktop settings or GNOME Tweaks like it should be? Why make the default functionality the most borked possible configuration like some kind of eco-nazi?

Because we care about hardware and energy saving, and the only efficient way to achieve that is to tell the hardware to go into power management mode. Some displays have a fairly aggressive notion of “power management”, especially if they consume a lot of power by default, but that’s not something that GNOME can control. Incidentally, if a display has different levels of power management, they should be exposed by the underlying OS and drivers.

No, we won’t add “an option” to keep your screen on when locked, as it is incompatible with the concept of “leaving your machine for an arbitrary amount of time” while at the same time preserving the hardware and not killing polar bears. Additionally, any such option might contravene strict energy saving laws in various countries.

Please, refrain from making this kind of statements, and remember that Discourse operates under the constraints of the GNOME code of conduct. No matter how dissatisfied or aggravated you are, you must conduct yourself in a civil manner; if you can’t do that, then you have no place on GNOME shared spaces.

Thanks for making my point.

The “point” of free software is to let the user have access to the code, modify it, and publish the modifications with no restrictions. There’s no obligation outside of that.

The user is free to do whatever it wants, as long as it does it himself. Free software isn’t about users giving orders to those free software developers. You’re free to modify the underlying software, given the four freedom that free software gives you, but developers have no obligations to you.

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