Screen Saver not executing

[Dave]

I have a GPO that applies a screen saver to all of our systems except
one. This one particular system doesn't seem to want to execute the
screen saver and the user refuses to lock their station manually so I
need to enforce it for security reasons.

I have checked to make sure that the computer is properly added to the
Active Directory domain and it is. It is also able to execute login
scripts specified in the GPO so I know it is at least able to read it.
Also, I checked the registry keys manually in the user's profile and
they are set correctly
(HKLM\SID\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop). I
also checked the mouse to make sure it wasn't twitching or moving
resulting in the screen saver to not execute. I did find a TechNet
article on this (Article ID: 305357), but it says that the fix won't be
available until the next service pack.

Does anyone have any suggestions that I might try?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Steven L Umbach]

If you have specified a particular screen saver, make sure that is exists on
the user's computer in the default folder. Otherwise you should be able to
specify that the computer locks after a period of idle time regardless of
the screen saver that the user has selected. If still a no go I would try to
configure it via Local Group Policy [gpedit.msc] on that computer to see
what happens or try to manually configure it on that computer and use Group
Policy to hide the screen saver tab in display properties. The support tool
gpresult and netdiag should be run on that computer to see what user
configuration Group Policies are applied to the computer and it's network
connectivity, name resolution, and secure channel to the domain. It sounds
like you have a very uncooperative user and he/she may have screwed around
with the computer settings and files. --- Steve