Qubes 4.0.3 using fedora-30 in dom0. I have set every possible screensaver and power setting, that I find in the gui menu system to suit my power and screensaver needs. However I am still finding the screensaver locked at times. As my Qubes installation is on my desktop computer and nobody else has physical access to the system, I would like the locking feature disabled. I assume this will need to be done from the dom0 Terminal. Is there a command to accomplish this? Thanks.
I donāt know the answer, but since XScreenSaver is not Qubes-specific, you might be able to find a general XScreenSaver solution that also works on Qubes.
xfce menu -> System Tools -> Screensaver
- Mode: Disable Screen Saver
or - Disable āLock Screen After x minutesā
Another method for this is to check the āpresentation modeā option in
the power management applet.
Thanks for the suggestions friends.
Andrew: Following your suggestion, I did a websearch and found an XScreenSaver page, which led me to the dom0 .xscreensaver config file, which I opened with vim. All settings looked fine to me.
Johnboy: I had previously disabled the Screen saver in the xfce menu --> System Tools --> Screensaver
Jarrah: I had also checked the xfce Power Manager option in the Qubes menu system and in the System subsection had made sure the Lock option was unchecked. However I do not see any āpresentation modeā option there. Maybe Iām missing it, but it doesnāt seem to be present in my system.
I am still finding the XScreenSaver wanting my user password to open the screen after the screen blanks out. Donāt see why this is, considering the settings made.
Jarrah: I had also checked the xfce Power Manager option in the Qubes menu system and in the System subsection had made sure the Lock option was unchecked. However I do not see any āpresentation modeā option there. Maybe Iām missing it, but it doesnāt seem to be present in my system.
Iām on I3, not XFCE, so I canāt comment on exactly where it will be, but
Iām talking about the battery/power icon in the tray/task bar. I donāt
believe it comes from i3.
Ah, I see I think Jarrah. But Iām on a desktop box and donāt have the battery/power button in my tray. Might a removal of the XScreenSaver program in dom0 and then reinstallation of it cure the problem? Or might that break the system, when removed?
xset s off in a dom0 terminal should do it for the current session.
See [1] (xset applies for all X server platforms).
[1] https://askubuntu.com/questions/67355/how-do-i-completely-turn-off-screensaver-and-power-management
Thanks for the suggestion tripleh. I opened the Packages program from the Qubes menu and searched for xscreensaver. That listed the screensaver program as xscreensaver-base-1:5.43-1.fc25 (64bit) . I clicked on Remove to get the critter out of there. A reboot and so far all seems good. I usually manually turn the screen off, when I leave the room anyway. If anyone has any suggestions on a persistent fix, Iāll reinstall xscreensaver to try it out. Otherwise Iāll continue like this for about a week and then probably reinstall xscreensaver, to see if the same behaviour occurs over time. cheers
I donāt know if it helps, but I have the same problem. I am currently trying a new workaround, and it seems to do the trick :
Go to the ScreenSaver GUI (System Tools > Screensaver).
Then, go to File > āKill Daemonā.
Plus, go to the System Tools > Session and Startup and untick āScreensaver (Launch screensaver and locker program)ā
And I also did the same trick as you did in the Power Manager (untick the Lock option in the Security tab). I am considering also changing the timeouts (blank screen and so on), if the previous measures donāt work.
Anyway, I hope it helps, and am currently not sure if itās working for me, but so far, so good on my computer.
Cheers !
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Thanks fdd. Itās been about a week now with the default installationās screensaver program completely uninstalled and the system has been trouble free. I had been worried, that the XScreensaver program might have somehow been linked to the system Power settings and that removing it might break the system. But that seems not to be the case. As the Qubes installation is on my main desktop computer and nobody else has physical access, turning off the monitor hasnāt been a great inconvenience, when the system wonāt be used for some time. I will reinstall the screensaver program, as I had intended after a week without it and see if the prior misbehaviour reoccurs. If it does, then I will try to reproduce your fix. Either way I shall report back with the results in a few days. Cheers
Hi again,
Looking forward to reading your feedback, then 
Lately, Iāve found that if I just want to watch a movie or something without the screen locking or turning off, it works to make these two changes:
- XScreenSaver Settings -> Display Modes -> Mode -> Disable Screen Saver
- XScreenSaver Settings -> Advanced -> (uncheck) Power Management Enabled
I usually leave the XScreenSaver Settings window open in the background so that I donāt forget to change the settings back afterward.
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adw: Thanks. However I had been using those settings, when I had the default xscreensaver still installed. I expect there was a glitch, maybe (?) from an update and my particular hardware, as the screensaver seemed to be acting up after a week or two of the new Qubes installation.
I am presently trying to reinstall xscreensaver and am having no success. I found this webpage, which has instructions for fedora 30 (my dom0 version):
However in Xfce Terminal the āsudo dnf install xscreensaverā command listed results in the error message, āFailed to synchronize cache for repo āqubes-dom0-cachedā , disablingā.
Iām at a loss, as to how to resolve the cache problem and reinstall the xscreensaver.
Since youāre trying to install it in dom0, youād have to do sudo qubes-dom0-update xscreensaver instead. See:
Thanks so much Andrew. I had missed that dom0 installation method. I now have xscreensaver reinstalled successfully and have set the screen to blank after 60 minutes, recycling in 10 with the āLock screen afterā feature disabled. The Xfce Power Manager is still set to not lock the screen when going to sleep. Will report back in a week if there are no further hiccups. Cheers
This is a solution which works for me (ie. the Presentation Mode check box in power manager stops xscreensaver from activating):
Use System Tools > Settings Editor to add a new setting:
Property: /xfce4-power-manager/heartbeat-command
Type: String
Value: xscreensaver-command -deactivate
I assume you could also use xfconf-query to add the setting, but I havenāt tried that myself.
See this bug report for details. The heartbeat-command setting doesnāt seem to be well documented.
Edited to correct command to xscreensaver-command -deactivate not -disable.
Thanks Rooftop. I used adwās advice again yesterday for xscreensaver with the sudo qubes-dom0-update xscreensaver command. Then I used your suggestions. So far all seems good. No demand for the password to unlock. Iāll give it a week, then report back on the results then. cheers
Another user (rustybird@github) has also suggested running the following command so that presentation mode is automatically disabled if you manually lock your desktop:
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /general/LockCommand -n -t string -s 'eval xfconf-query -c xfce4-power-manager -p /xfce4-power-manager/presentation-mode -s false & xscreensaver-command -lock'
They also provided this command to set the heartbeat-command setting from the command line instead of using the Settings Editor:
xfconf-query -c xfce4-power-manager -p /xfce4-power-manager/heartbeat-command -n -t string -s 'xscreensaver-command -deactivate'