User guide

82 Chapter 3 Administering Computers
Locking a Computer Screen
Apple Remote Desktop can lock a computer screen. When you lock a computer screen,
no one can see the desktop or use the mouse and keyboard on that computer. By
default, ARD displays a picture of a padlock on locked screens, but you can display a
custom picture.
You can continue to work with computers using Remote Desktop after you’ve locked
their screens. However, the screen becomes unlocked if you use the Observe, Control,
or Share commands.
To lock a computer screen:
1 Select a computer list.
2 Select one or more computers in the Remote Desktop window.
3 Choose Interact > Lock Screen.
4 Enter a message to be displayed on the locked screen, if desired.
5 Click Lock Screen.
The screen goes black, except for the administrator’s name and any message text.
Displaying a Custom Picture on a Locked Screen
You can display a picture of your choice on the client screen while it is locked by Apple
Remote Desktop. When creating images, make sure the image size will fit on the client
computer’s screen. For example, if you have clients with 800 x 600 screens, a picture
that is 1024 x 768 will be scaled down to fit the screen.
To create a custom locked screen picture:
1 Create a picture using a graphics program, such as AppleWorks.
2 Save the picture in PICT, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, or any other QuickTime-compatible static image
format.
QuickTime-compatible movies or QuickTime VR objects cannot be used.
3 Name the picture “Lock Screen Picture”.
4 Copy the “Lock Screen Picture” file to /Library/Preferences/ on the client computer.
Unlocking a Computer Screen
You must use Apple Remote Desktop to unlock any computer screen locked by ARD.
When you unlock a computer screen, you restore the desktop and use of the mouse
and keyboard on that computer.
To unlock a computer screen:
1 Select a computer list.
2 Select one or more computers in the Remote Desktop window.