Carbon screen lock management issue

JasonMehmel · 2026-08-25 17:26:52

I'm having a hard time finding a way to manage this.

I don't want the screen to lock at all. Right now, it's still locking after a few minutes. (I haven't timed it yet.)

In the Power Management Preferences, I've got display power management turned on, but 'put to sleep after' is set to 'never.'

Brightness Reduction is also set to 'never.'

In the Screensaver Preferences, The screensaver is not enabled, and neither is the Lock Screen.

Is there somewhere else this would be controlled?

(I work from home most of the time, so I don't need to have my machine lock if I'm away from it. I would turn these features on when working elsewhere, or when on battery.)

johnraff · Yesterday 05:49:20

I don't know what's happening here. I'm running Carbon on a desktop and it never locks however long it's left, just turns off the screen. (Of course it does lock when going into suspend.) That's how I want it, and it sounds like what you want too...

But my settings seem to be the same as yours. Maybe quicker to post screenshots of my power manager and screensaver settings:

See anything different?

JasonMehmel · Yesterday 23:50:49

I didn't have the screensaver enabled, so I turned that on. Other than that, I have the same settings currently. I also turned on the lock screen option in the secondary screensaver menu.

Will report back!

It seems like it's connected to some period of inactivity, but all of the settings should prevent it! I wonder if this could also be connected to the BIOS, basically something imposing behaviour at a level the OS can't control? I did work with the BIOS when I was rebooting and dealing with some hiccups in the Boron -> Cabron transition.

One other thing I did note: you mentioned it never locks, but does turn off the screen. That is also something I'd like to prevent. From what I see in your settings, even that shouldn't happen!

johnraff · Today 05:04:53

JasonMehmel wrote:

One other thing I did note: you mentioned it never locks, but does turn off the screen. That is also something I'd like to prevent. From what I see in your settings, even that shouldn't happen!

Indeed. I'm now not sure if it was something that happened in the past, or still sometimes happens.

But, checkout that screensaver setting "Activate screensaver when computer idle" and maybe turn it off?

Maybe also have a look at ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-power-manager.xml
Here's mine:

<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<channel name="xfce4-power-manager" version="1.0">
  <property name="xfce4-power-manager" type="empty">
    <property name="power-button-action" type="empty"/>
    <property name="lid-action-on-ac" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="lid-action-on-battery" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="critical-power-action" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="show-tray-icon" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="general-notification" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="show-panel-label" type="int" value="1"/>
    <property name="show-presentation-indicator" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="blank-on-ac" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="dpms-on-ac-sleep" type="uint" value="0"/>
    <property name="dpms-on-ac-off" type="uint" value="0"/>
    <property name="lock-screen-suspend-hibernate" type="bool" value="true"/>
  </property>
</channel>

And here's what I had on Boron:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<channel name="xfce4-power-manager" version="1.0">
  <property name="xfce4-power-manager" type="empty">
    <property name="power-button-action" type="empty"/>
    <property name="lid-action-on-ac" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="lid-action-on-battery" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="critical-power-action" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="show-tray-icon" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="general-notification" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="show-panel-label" type="int" value="1"/>
    <property name="show-presentation-indicator" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="sleep-button-action" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="hibernate-button-action" type="uint" value="1"/>
    <property name="blank-on-ac" type="int" value="15"/>
    <property name="dpms-on-ac-sleep" type="uint" value="0"/>
    <property name="dpms-on-ac-off" type="uint" value="0"/>
    <property name="lock-screen-suspend-hibernate" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="logind-handle-lid-switch" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="inactivity-on-ac" type="uint" value="14"/>
    <property name="dpms-enabled" type="bool" value="true"/>
  </property>
</channel>

You might want to see what difference adding that "dpms-enabled" line makes? Or explicitly setting it to "false"?
Dpms is connected with turning off the display anyway - try searching "xfce4-power-manager dpms" or the like.

#1 2026-08-25 17:26:52

Carbon screen lock management issue

#2 Yesterday 05:49:20

Re: Carbon screen lock management issue

#3 Yesterday 23:50:49

Re: Carbon screen lock management issue

#4 Today 05:04:53

Re: Carbon screen lock management issue

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