---
title: Enable GNOME3 Screensaver Lock After Idle Period
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > OOTB Rules > Enable GNOME3 Screensaver Lock After
  Idle Period
---

# Enable GNOME3 Screensaver Lock After Idle Period
 
## Description{% #description %}

To activate locking of the screensaver in the GNOME3 desktop when it is activated, add or set `lock-enabled` to `true` in `/etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-security-settings`. For example:

```
[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver]
lock-enabled=true
```

Once the settings have been added, add a lock to `/etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/00-security-settings-lock` to prevent user modification. For example:

```
/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enabled
```

After the settings have been set, run `dconf update`.

## Rationale{% #rationale %}

A session lock is a temporary action taken when a user stops work and moves away from the immediate physical vicinity of the information system but does not want to logout because of the temporary nature of the absense.

## Remediation{% #remediation %}

### Shell script{% #shell-script %}

The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.

```bash
#!/bin/bash

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}' 'gdm3' 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^installed$'; then

mkdir -p /etc/dconf/profile
dconf_profile_path=/etc/dconf/profile/user

[[ -s "${dconf_profile_path}" ]] || echo > "${dconf_profile_path}"

if ! grep -Pzq "(?s)^\s*user-db:user.*\n\s*system-db:local" "${dconf_profile_path}"; then
    sed -i --follow-symlinks "1s/^/user-db:user\nsystem-db:local\n/" "${dconf_profile_path}"
fi

# Make sure the corresponding directories exist
mkdir -p /etc/dconf/db/local.d

# Make sure permissions allow regular users to read dconf settings.
# Also define the umask to avoid `dconf update` changing permissions.
chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX /etc/dconf/profile
(umask 0022 && dconf update)
mkdir -p /etc/dconf/profile
dconf_profile_path=/etc/dconf/profile/gdm

[[ -s "${dconf_profile_path}" ]] || echo > "${dconf_profile_path}"

if ! grep -Pzq "(?s)^\s*user-db:user.*\n\s*system-db:gdm" "${dconf_profile_path}"; then
    sed -i --follow-symlinks "1s/^/user-db:user\nsystem-db:gdm\n/" "${dconf_profile_path}"
fi

# Make sure the corresponding directories exist
mkdir -p /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d

# Make sure permissions allow regular users to read dconf settings.
# Also define the umask to avoid `dconf update` changing permissions.
chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX /etc/dconf/profile
(umask 0022 && dconf update)



# Check for setting in any of the DConf db directories
# If files contain ibus or distro, ignore them.
# The assignment assumes that individual filenames don't contain :
readarray -t SETTINGSFILES < <(grep -r "\\[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver\\]" "/etc/dconf/db/" \
                                | grep -v 'distro\|ibus\|local.d' | cut -d":" -f1)
DCONFFILE="/etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-security-settings"
DBDIR="/etc/dconf/db/local.d"

mkdir -p "${DBDIR}"

# Comment out the configurations in databases different from the target one
if [ "${#SETTINGSFILES[@]}" -ne 0 ]
then
    if grep -q "^\\s*lock-enabled\\s*=" "${SETTINGSFILES[@]}"
    then
        
        sed -Ei "s/(^\s*)lock-enabled(\s*=)/#\1lock-enabled\2/g" "${SETTINGSFILES[@]}"
    fi
fi

[ ! -z "${DCONFFILE}" ] && echo "" >> "${DCONFFILE}"
if ! grep -q "\\[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver\\]" "${DCONFFILE}"
then
    printf '%s\n' "[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver]" >> ${DCONFFILE}
fi

escaped_value="$(sed -e 's/\\/\\\\/g' <<< "true")"
if grep -q "^\\s*lock-enabled\\s*=" "${DCONFFILE}"
then
        sed -i "s/\\s*lock-enabled\\s*=\\s*.*/lock-enabled=${escaped_value}/g" "${DCONFFILE}"
    else
        sed -i "\\|\\[org/gnome/desktop/screensaver\\]|a\\lock-enabled=${escaped_value}" "${DCONFFILE}"
fi
# Make sure permissions allow regular users to read dconf settings.
# Also define the umask to avoid `dconf update` changing permissions.
chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX /etc/dconf/db
(umask 0022 && dconf update)
# Check for setting in any of the DConf db directories
LOCKFILES=$(grep -r "^/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enabled$" "/etc/dconf/db/" \
            | grep -v 'distro\|ibus\|local.d' | grep ":" | cut -d":" -f1)
LOCKSFOLDER="/etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks"

mkdir -p "${LOCKSFOLDER}"

# Comment out the configurations in databases different from the target one
if [[ ! -z "${LOCKFILES}" ]]
then
    sed -i -E "s|^/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enabled$|#&|" "${LOCKFILES[@]}"
fi

if ! grep -qr "^/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enabled$" /etc/dconf/db/local.d/
then
    echo "/org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/lock-enabled" >> "/etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/00-security-settings-lock"
fi
# Make sure permissions allow regular users to read dconf settings.
# Also define the umask to avoid `dconf update` changing permissions.
chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX /etc/dconf/db
(umask 0022 && dconf update)

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi
```