How to lock screen with keyboard on Linux Mint (LXDE)

Question

I'm trying out Linux Mint 11 with LXDE. I'm used to being able to lock the screen with a keyboard combination (for example, Win+L on Windows) rather than tracking down a menu or clicking an icon.

Web search returned Ctrl+Alt+L as a default combination to lock the screen, but this did nothing for me.

Is there a way to do this in LXDE?

Update:

The link to http://wiki.lxde.org in the answer has the required steps, except that in Mint 11 the file is called mintlxde-rc.xml.

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 17:01

8

In Linux Mint 18.3 (Sylvia) GUI, go to Menu -> Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts.

Expand the System tab and you should see a Lock Screen shortcut setting.

The default shortcut to lock the screen is Ctrl+Alt+L.

answered Jan 06 '18 at 17:01

alex

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1
6

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '13 at 14:26

Add the following to the <keyboard> section of ~/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml :

keybind key="C-A-l">
  <action name="Execute">
    <command>xscreensaver-command -lock</command>
  </action>
</keybind>

Then run this command:

openbox --reconfigure

Now Ctrl-Alt-l should lock the screen.

mic84 · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-15T01:29:18.863

6

I use mint10 where you go to menu-> preferences -> keyboard shortcuts.
I have not been able to find any gui lxde and do not have away of testing these methods.
LXDE:Questions,
Search to Index 3. mouse/keyboard,for mint 11 the file is mintlxde-rc.xml.
From Stray notes,
From Sourceforge,
From openbox/org,
I hope something helps.

edited Oct 15 '11 at 01:29

answered Oct 14 '11 at 16:31

mic84

2,363
2
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Thanks @mic84. The steps in your first link (wiki.lxde.org) worked. The file was named slightly differently for me, so I'll update the question with the exact steps. – Ash Oct 14 '11 at 21:01

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 14 '11 at 17:46

1

I'm being lazy and just type xlock in a terminal, which I always have opened even if it's a GUI session. It works everywhere and is not tied to a particular hotkey combination that may be unavailable somewhere.

answered Oct 14 '11 at 17:46

vtest

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2
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vtest: Thanks for the tip. I must be lazier than you though...I'm trying to avoid all those characters in 'xlock'... ;) – Ash Oct 14 '11 at 21:07
@Ash: you can always have some unique alias to make it shorter. For example, use **ss** as alias for calling your favorite screen locker (I recently learned about slock thanks to this question and will certainly try it). – vtest Oct 16 '11 at 02:52

How to lock screen with keyboard on Linux Mint (LXDE)

4 Answers4