Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows NT
    - Registry Tips
      - Miscellaneous
        Activate screen saver when no one is logged on

Section(s): Miscellaneous
Published on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified by Wayne Maples.
Rated 3.7 out of 5 based on 3 votes.

Cut and paste the following script into scrsaveauto.reg and run it.

REGEDIT4
BLANK LINE GOES HERE
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ScreenSaveActive"="1"
"Scrnsave.exe"="c:\winnt\system32\ssmaze.scr"
"ScreenSaveTimeOut"="600"
BLANK LINE GOES HERE

ScreenSaveActive turns screensaver funtionality on/off; scrnsave.exe runs the screen saver of choice, in this case, ssmaze.scr; and ScreenSaveTimeOut sets time to wait before starting screen saver. If you implement this on a server, use the blank screen saver (scrnsaver.scr) or you will have potential problems with memory leaks and you will certainly have unnecessary cycles going to the screen saver.

Do not implement screen saver passwords since it is not supported.

See .REG files for background information on .REG files.