UserLock Documentation
UserLock Documentation
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Set an automatic logoff of idle sessions

UserLock can automatically logoff sessions after a specific idle time.

This example will give you a step-by-step guide on how to define a rule which closes every open session by any member of a group after an idle period of 20 minutes.

  1. The screen saver has to be protected by password through the option 'On resume, display logon screen' and must be enforced for users. You can easily define these settings for all users through Microsoft Group Policies.

  2. In the UserLock Windows console, display the Agent distribution view and click on 'Properties' in the 'Quick access' panel.

  3. Enable the option 'Consider screen saver time as locked time' in the 'Agent configuration' section (unchecked by default) and click on 'OK'.

  4. Restart the "UserLock Agent Service" ("ULAgentService") service on target computers (or restart the machine if the OS is Windows XP or Windows Server 2003).

    Note: Changes are not effective if the above steps are not carried out, therefore at screen saver startup, a Lock event will be registered in UserLock although the session is not locked yet (the user can prevent from locking during the 5 seconds grace period).

  5. Click on 'Protected accounts' in the menu tree. Open the desired group protected account if it already exists by double-clicking on its corresponding line. Otherwise, you can create a protected account for the target group (procedure available here).

  6. Display the 'Hour restrictions' section.

  7. Switch the 'Maximum locked time' setting to 'Limited to' and enter the chosen value in minutes.

Every session opened by a user of this protected account will be closed after a total period of idle time equal to the period required to trigger the screen saver plus the value defined in the parameter 'Maximum locked time'.

Example:

  • The screen saver is defined to start after 10 minutes of idle time and is set to display the logon screen on resume.

  • The 'Maximum locked time is set to 10 minutes.

  • Result: Every session will be closed after 20 minutes of inactivity for all members of this protected account.

A logoff dialog box appears in the end-user's session with a logoff notification timeout. By default, the logoff notification timeout is 1 minute. As a result, the dialog box appears 1 minute before logoff. If you have changed the timeout of the logoff notification, such as 5 minutes, the dialog box appears 5 minutes before logoff. To learn more about these options, see the 'Protected account Hour restrictions' help section.