I just installed Ubuntu Linux on a file and print server at the office and people have been stopping some monitoring programs and breaking things. Can I set a wake-from-sleep password so that they can’t access the system?
If you’re running a computer as a Linux server, why can’t you just log out and let it run without the screen / monitor being logged in? Seems like that would be the easiest solution. Then again, some facilities like to run a monitoring program so people can see their jobs in the queue or so an admin can check system status and load, perhaps that’s your configuration?
Fortunately, Ubuntu Linux has you covered with security features and capabilities, not the least of which is simply to ensure that you have a good password (that isn’t written on a post-it stuck to the screen!) and good facility security. There’s a lot of tweaking you can do regarding the sleep settings too, so let’s just go straight there and fine tune what you have set up so that it meets your needs and stops those pesky employees from stopping your system jobs and changing things on you.
To start, go to System Settings > Security & Privacy. It’s the one with the groovy yellow circular arrow:
Once you launch the settings window, you’ll see that there are four tabs: Security; Files & Applications; Search; and Diagnostics. You want the first one, and the settings are pretty self-explanatory:
You’ll want to ensure that both checkboxes are checked so that the system basically asks for a password any time there’s a wake event of any sort. Notice you can also specify how long the system has to be in sleep mode before a password is required; 0 seconds is the default, but that can be frustrating if you’re working on the computer and being interrupted, so you might consider one of the other options:
I suggest at least 1 minute to help you retain your sanity (based on my own experience with overly aggressive sleep security settings, at least).
While we’re here it’s a good time to reset the password to something new and hard to guess. That’s easily done with the “Password settings” shortcut on the Security & Privacy settings window. Click on it and boom! you’re in the account management window for the current user account:
It’s not obvious but a click on the password asterisk sequence will actually open up a window that lets you change or update your account password. I strongly suggest a mix of upper and lowercase letters, digits and punctuation, at least 8-10 characters long. If you have access to a password generator, those can be a real win, though difficult to enter if you’re going to be typing it in every time you access the system.
In any case, I hope that helps you get that system locked down and stops other people in the facility from changing the settings on you!
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