Computer says it's locked. - Anyone know....

[Joe Tonich]

what to do??? When I go on it after it's been idle for a while, a window pops up and says:

This computer is in use and has been locked.
Only Frontroom/Owner or an Administrator can unlock this computer.

Owner (in box)
Password (in box)

but if I shut it off and re-start it it doesn't show up.

When I started this new comp. up it only asked to name the comp. and comp. description, no password. If I just click on OK it still lets me use it but I had to log in to my ISP and to get in the CREEK. I have NO idea on what happened or how to fix/unlock it or if I even need to. :confused: Everything (I think) is still working on it. It's running Windows XP.

Thanks,

Joe

[Ed Falis]

Although I have XP on one of my machines, I haven't used it much yet. But NT and Win 2000 both had this feature. What it does is lock the computer when it hasn't been used awhile to prevent someone else getting at it because you forgot to logout.

Then the person who was using it (in this case "owner") or someone with administrative privileges can reopen the computer.

There are a couple of things you can do:

1. In the control panel, look for the power settings; disable system standby and hibernate support. I think the hibernate support probably the one, but it doesn'y hurt to disable both, being the computer is plugged into a wall.

2. You should set up an a real account for yourself with a password, and give at least one account administrative rights. Normally, you set up one account for daily use without the rights, and another with for maintenance jobs. This protects you from yourself. But I've noticed that on Win 2000 (from which XP is derived) you sometimes can't install software without going into the admin account - it's inconvenient. Your choice. Select the Users icon in the Control Panel (under Settings) to set up accounts.

- Ed

[Ed Falis]

Oh yeah, there shouldn't be any problems from what you did, though it's not the most convenient way to deal with the problem.

[Brad Schafer]

what to do??? When I go on it after it's been idle for a while, a window pops up and says:

This computer is in use and has been locked.
Only Frontroom/Owner or an Administrator can unlock this computer.

<snip>


Joe -

Ed is partly right - the computer is locking itself after being idle for a period of time (I think the default is 10 or 15 minutes). It's a security feature. But this isn't due to hibernate, standby, or any other power setting.

I'm not an XP wonk, but in other versions of Winders, you just right click on the screen background somewhere, and a dialog box pops up. Select Properties and the Screen Saver tab. Look for a "Password Protected" check box or a "Settings" button.

If you've never entered a password and this happens again, you might be able to simply click on "OK" at the "Username/Password" box.

BTW - Standby and Hibernate have nothing to do with this. Standby is a feature of some machines to go into low power consumption after not being used for a while. Hibernate actually dumps the current state of the machine (memory, registers, etc.) to a container file on the hard drive and then powers down completely. The advantage of Hibernate is that restoring context (on power up) is often faster than a cold reboot.

So, the bottom line: disable password protection on your screen saver and your should be all set.

b

[Ed Falis]

I stand corrected. Thanks, Brad. I was guessing as I don't use Windows all that much these days.

- Ed

[Ken Salisbury]

******************

Here is the key Joe ----:D

[Joe Tonich]

Thanks to all!!

I went to my screen saver thing in Display and Password Protect was checked. I don't know how it got that way as I NEVER check something that I don't have a clue of what it does. :eek: I'll let you know if that was what it was.

Thanks again,

Joe

It was it! :D Window is gone. Thanks!

Ken,

I tried the http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1662&stc=1but it didn't work.:(

Joe

OK, how did you make the dam* keys show up???

[Brad Schafer]

Ed> ... I don't use Windows much these days ...

you may be the smartest one of all of us. :p

Joe> OK, how did you make the dam* keys show up???

easy ... he didn't let the wife "put them away" ... :D


b