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# XScreenSaver

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Related articles

- Display Power Management Signaling#Xorg
- Xresources
- Session lock
- List of applications/Security#Screen lockers

XScreenSaver is a screen saver and screen locker with graphical effects. The X Window System has functional screen-saving (in the power management sense) by default.

## Installation

Install the xscreensaver package.

For an Arch Linux branded experience, install the xscreensaver-arch-logoAUR package.

## Configuration

Most options are configured on a user-by-user basis by running xscreensaver-settings. xscreensaver-settings writes the chosen configuration to `~/.xscreensaver`, discarding any manual modifications to the file. Global options are defined in `/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver`.

Since at least XScreenSaver 5.22, there is another way to edit XScreenSaver's user configuration, using X resources.

### Theming

Starting from version 6.0, XScreenSaver comes with several pre-installed themes. You can select a theme using xscreensaver-settings or by changing the `dialogTheme` option (`dialogTheme: themename` in `~/.xscreensaver` or using X resources: `xscreensaver-auth.dialogTheme: themename`).

You can customize themes using X resources. The example below demonstrates changing some colors and fonts. If you are using a non-default theme, replace `default` with the name of your chosen theme in lower case, or use question mark (`?`) to affect all themes:

    ~/.Xresources

    ! Font for regular texts.
    ! Font names are case-insensitive.
    ! You can use a comma-separated list of fonts to set a fallback font.
    xscreensaver-auth.default.Dialog.bodyFont: times new roman 12, dejavu serif 12

    ! Window background color. You can use color names.
    xscreensaver-auth.default.Dialog.background: black

    ! Main text color. You can also use HEX color codes.
    xscreensaver-auth.default.Dialog.foreground: #ffffff

You can view a list of the available X resources in `/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver`.

Do not forget to reload the resource file after changes.

### DPMS and blanking settings

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements. See Help:Style for reference.

Reason: "overrides DPMS" is vague—xscreensaver does the equivalent of `xset s 0 0`, uses its own timer for the various animations, but sets the DPMS timeout to the values in Display Power Management. (Discuss in Talk:XScreenSaver)

XScreenSaver manages screen blanking and display energy saving (DPMS) independently of X itself and overrides it. To configure the timings for blanking, standby, display poweroff and such, use xscreensaver-demo or edit the configuration file manually, e.g. `~/.xscreensaver`:

    timeout:	1:00:00
    cycle:		0:05:00
    lock:		False
    lockTimeout:	0:00:00
    passwdTimeout:	0:00:30
    fade:		True
    unfade:		False
    fadeSeconds:	0:00:03
    dpmsEnabled:	True
    dpmsStandby:	2:00:00
    dpmsSuspend:	2:00:00
    dpmsOff:	4:00:00

DPMS and screen blanking can be disabled by starting xscreensaver-demo and, for the Mode setting, choosing Disable Screen Saver.

Note If Lock Screen After in xscreensaver-demo is ticked and set to 0 minutes, the screen will be locked immediately upon blanking. If Power Manager Enabled is unticked, DPMS is disabled; it does not mean that XScreenSaver will relinquish control of DPMS settings.

## Usage

Tip To start XScreenSaver without the splash screen, use the `--no-splash` switch. See xscreensaver(1) for a full list of options.

In the LXDE and LXQt environments, XScreenSaver is autostarted automatically if it is available - no further action is required.

For other environments, see Autostarting.

In KDE Plasma, screen saver and locker features are handled by ksmserver, which conflicts with XScreenSaver. To disable it, edit the `plasma-ksmserver.service` user unit:

    ~/.config/systemd/user/plasma-ksmserver.service.d/override.conf

    [Service]
    ExecStart=
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/ksmserver --no-lockscreen

Also open KDE System Settings and disable Power Management > Turn off screen.

Then logout and login again, and XScreenSaver should work properly now. See xscreensaver(1) § INSTALLING XSCREENSAVER ON KDE for more information.

To immediately trigger xscreensaver, if it is running, and lock the screen, execute the following command:

    $ xscreensaver-command -lock

### Lock on suspend

XScreenSaver ships with a small utility named xscreensaver-systemd, which handles signals from systemd using D-Bus and automatically locks the screen on suspend and hibernate. It is started automatically with xscreensaver, no further action required. See xscreensaver-systemd(6) for more information.

### User switching from the lock screen

Warning When switching users using a display manager, some display managers such as LXDM do not send the lock signal, so XScreenSaver will not lock the original session — it can be accessed without a password simply by switching TTYs to the session in question. If this is the case for your display manager, run `xscreensaver-command -lock` or `loginctl lock-session` manually or use a different screen locking program altogether — see List of applications/Security#Screen lockers.

By default, XScreenSaver's New Login button in the lock screen will call `gdmflexiserver -ls` to switch users. Display managers other than GDM that support user switching require a different command.

Tip Adding `xscreensaver-auth.default.*.newLoginCommand:` to `~/.Xresources` whilst leaving the argument blank will make the New Login button disappear.

As modifications in `~/.xscreensaver` are discarded by xscreensaver-settings, `~/.Xresources` is used in this section.

#### LXDM

To use LXDM's switching mode:

    xscreensaver-auth.default.*.newLoginCommand: lxdm -c USER_SWITCH

#### LightDM

To use LightDM's switching mode:

    xscreensaver-auth.default.*.newLoginCommand: dm-tool switch-to-greeter

Note If you use this to switch to an already-logged-in user, you might have to enter the password twice (once for LightDM, and once for the XScreenSaver dialog of the user you logged in to).

#### SDDM

SDDM does not support user switching. [1] You can try to call the `SwitchToGreeter` method using dbus-send, but it may not work properly.

## Tips and tricks

### Disable during media playback

Starting from version 5.45, the xscreensaver-systemd utility implements the D-Bus ScreenSaver interface. It is started automatically with xscreensaver, so most applications should properly disable the screensaver without additional configuration. However, some applications do not support D-Bus or use another interfaces.

#### mpv

By default mpv uses the X11 Screen Saver extension (XSS). It turns off the screensaver at startup and turns it on again on exit. The screensaver is always re-enabled when the player is paused. The option can be controlled in mpv's configuration file located in `~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf`:

    stop-screensaver = "yes"

This is not supported on all video outputs or platforms. If you face some issues you might use a Lua script to manually disable the screensaver. Create a file at `~/.config/mpv/scripts/xscreensaver.lua` with the following contents:

    local utils = require 'mp.utils'
    mp.add_periodic_timer(30, function()
        utils.subprocess({args={"xscreensaver-command", "-deactivate"}})
    end)

The above script will call `xscreensaver-command -deactivate` every 30 seconds.

#### mplayer

Add the following to `~/.mplayer/config`:

    heartbeat-cmd="xscreensaver-command -deactivate >&- 2>&- &"

#### Kodi

Kodi has no native support to disable XScreenSaver (it uses its own screensaver). Install the kodi-prevent-xscreensaverAUR package as a workaround or try Kodi extension from https://sourceforge.net/projects/osscreensavermanager/.

#### Browser HTML5 video

Most browsers (Chromium and Chromium-based spin-offs, Firefox, GNOME Web, Otter Browser etc.) support the D-Bus ScreenSaver interface and should disable the screensaver during HTML5 video playback.

#### Other applications

If you are using applications that do not disable the screensaver, you can try a script named lightsonplus, which disables the screensaver when a fullscreen video is detected. Some applications (such as totem, Steam and others) are supported out of the box, you just need to enable their detection in the `lightson+` script. If your application is unsupported but has a permanent window name, you can set it in the `window_name` variable.

### Animated wallpaper

One can run `xscreensaver` in the background, just like a wallpaper. First, kill any process that is controlling the background (the root window).

Then, locate the desired XScreenSaver executable (typically in `/usr/lib/xscreensaver/`) and run it with the `-root` flag, for example:

    $ /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glslideshow -root &

Note If xcompmgr or picom causes problems, install the shantz-xwinwrap-bzrAUR package, and run:

    $ xwinwrap -b -fs -sp -nf -ov -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glslideshow -root -window-id WID &

## Troubleshooting

To log verbose debugging information, start xscreensaver with the `--verbose` command line option. You can also add `verbose: True` to the `~/.xscreensaver` file to make it persistent.

To save the log to a file, you can set the path using the `--log` option. Using this option also implies verbose output. (There is no equivalent option in `~/.xscreensaver` or X resources).

### "Authentication failed" when unlocking the screen

XScreenSaver relies on PAM for authentication when unlocking the screen. XScreenSaver might fail to authenticate when its PAM drop-in is misconfigured. As a potential fix, create `/etc/pam.d/xscreensaver` if it does not exist and replace the file content with the following:

    /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver

    auth      include system-auth
    account   include system-auth

or possible, if you have faillock configured. compare to /etc/pam.d/login

    /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver

    #%PAM-1.0
    auth       requisite pam_nologin.so
    auth       include   system-local-login
    account    include   system-local-login
    password   include   system-local-login
    session    include   system-local-login

Kill and restart the `xscreensaver` daemon for the changes to take effect.

## See also

- Homepage for XScreenSaver

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- X server

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