Lock or unlock a screen

You can lock a client computer’s screen, and then unlock it again.

You can continue to perform certain administrative functions with computers using Remote Desktop after you’ve locked their screens.

When locked, a computer doesn’t accept keyboard or mouse input. By default, Remote Desktop displays a picture of a padlock on locked screens, but you can display a custom picture.

Lock a screen

When you lock a computer screen, no local keyboard or mouse input is accepted, but you can continue to administer the computer using Remote Desktop.

In the Remote Desktop window, select a computer list. Then select one or more computers.
Choose Interact > Lock Screen.
Enter a message to be displayed on the locked screen.
Click Lock Screen.
The client screen goes black, except for the administrator’s name, the lock screen, and any message text.

Unlock a screen

You must use Remote Desktop in order to unlock any computer screen locked by Remote Desktop.

When you unlock a computer screen, the desktop reappears, and the computer accepts keyboard and mouse input again.

In the Remote Desktop window, select a computer list. Then select one or more computers with a Locked Screen status.
Choose Interact > Unlock Screen.
Click Unlock Screen.

Display a custom lock picture

You can display a picture on the locked client screen. Make sure the image size fits on the client computer’s screen. If you have clients with 1024 x 768 screens, a picture that is 1440 x 900 is automatically scaled down to fit the screen.

Create a picture, and save the picture in PICT, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, or any other QuickTime-compatible static image format.
QuickTime-compatible movies or QuickTime VR objects can’t be used.
Name the picture “Lock Screen Picture.”
Copy the file to /Library/Preferences/ on the client computer.