Locking Desktop after 15mins of Inactivity

[Guest]

We have XP client machines in a 2003 domain.
We have set a GPO to lock machines after 15mins of inactivity.
Problem is this also works when machines are not logged onto the network.
We need to make sure when giving presentations, computers do not lock after
15mins.

Anybody come across this or have a solution?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

That is user configuration part of Group Policy. What you could do is add
those computers to an OU and apply "loopback processing" on a GPO linked to
that OU and disable locking of the computer for that GPO. Then when users
logon to those computers the lockout settings will not apply. If you do such
the computers will need to be connected to the domain long enough to refresh
their Group Policy settings or through a VPN connection to the domain. ---
Steve

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231287 --- Loopback processing of Group
Policy

 

[Guest]

Steven - I'm not sure if this will help. The specific problem is with laptop
users.
They logon to the domain 95% of the time - and a GPO is set to lock machines
after 15mins of inactivity.

How can I avoid this happening when they are off the network at a clients
office for instance?

Thanks again. .

 

[Steven Umbach]

You can't as long as they are logging on with domain cached credentials because
the last effective Group Policy will still apply to the domain user. You would
have to disable the screen lock for those users that are being impacted by
exempting their user accounts from that Group Policy setting or training them to
periodically hit a keyboard key or move the mouse. Another possibility is
creating a local user account for them to logon to for such times. Local user
accounts would not be subject to domain level user configuration Group
Policy.---- Steve

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steven - I think the local user account will have to be the way forward.
This may or may not be related - but IE Proxy settings remain enabled even
when our users are off the network - and even though the automatically detect
settings is checked.

This of course causes issues when users are off the network trying to access
the internet. Their only option often is to manually remove the proxy
settings checkbox.

We'd like to remove the ability of users changing these settings - but
because the automatic detection is not reliable, we currently can't explore
that option.

Any advise on this one?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

What exactly is happening with proxy settings? You say they are configured
to be automatic but then they are not automatic when a domain controller is
not detected?? If you enforce proxy settings via Group Policy for users
then yes you could have problems when the user logs on with cached
credentials though they should be able to change them if these settings are
allowed. Again that Group Policy for proxy should not apply to local user
accounts. What may help to is configure enforcement of IE maintenance
settings so that when they are back on your network the Group Policy proxy
settings should change back per the link below. If you are using ISA there
are other options for configuring proxy settings other than Group
olicy. --- Steve

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316702

 

[Guest]

Steven - that is exactly the problem.
When users login off the network the cached credentials mean that have the
proxy settings enabled.

Is there a registry key or other setting that if configured would remove the
proxy settings when users are not connected to the network - (but are logged
in with cached credentials...

 

[Steven L Umbach]

I don't know of any such setting which would work similar to the Windows
Firewall domain/standard profile setting. You may also want to post in the
server.networking newsgroup to see if anyone there knows a workaround. ---
Steve

 

[Guest]

Cheers Steve - will do

I don't know of any such setting which would work similar to the Windows
Firewall domain/standard profile setting. You may also want to post in the
server.networking newsgroup to see if anyone there knows a workaround. ---
Steve