[CentOS] Gnome Desktop Screensaver Security Lock Override?

Mon Sep 18 14:59:21 UTC 2006
Steve Huff <shuff at vecna.org>

On Sep 18, 2006, at 10:47 AM, James B. Byrne wrote:

> We deployed our first CentOS-4 based workstation this past spring  
> to see
> if we can conveniently replace all, or at least most, of our MS-Win  
> based
> user systems with Linux boxes instead.  Generally this trial unit has
> proved a success but there is one lingering problem that I cannot  
> seem to
> find a straight-forward answer to: Is there an administrator  
> override to a
> user's password protected screensaver terminal lock?  So far the  
> solution
> seems to have been brute force system resets and I am not happy  
> with this
> caviler approach to what should be a simple, and safe, administrative
> procedure.
>
> So, is there an equivalent function to MS-Win's administrator login to
> force entry into a locked terminal and make it available for others?

1. ssh in
2. become root
3. pkill -u <username of user who locked the screen> -f -x  
"^xscreensaver -nosplash$"

i think that'll do it for you; try it on a noncritical system first :)

-steve

--
If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an  
improbable fiction. - Fabian, Twelfth Night, III,v