How to set screen saver idle time in Terminal

Question

Level 1

35 points

How to set screen saver idle time in Terminal

Hi

I would like to set the Mac OS screen saver time to 45 min = 2700 second and the system settings don't have that option, only 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 min and 1 hour. I need 45 min if possible.

So i'm trying to figure out how to do it in Terminal. Anyone who knows how to do that ?

I tried this:

user$ defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver idleTime 2700

But it didn't work. It just changed it to standard 20 min and not 45 min = 2700 seconds.

Thanks

Posted on May 13, 2020 12:10 PM

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Answer 1

sjogren Author

Level 1

35 points

May 13, 2020 5:32 PM in response to sjogren

This

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver idleTime 420

Docent work sadly so i guess you can't set it via terminal. It will just go back to default when you chance something there.

I had hoped it would stick, but no luck.

Thanks for your help anyway.

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Answer 2

sjogren Author

Level 1

35 points

May 13, 2020 5:23 PM in response to Barney-15E

ah yea. good idea. I will try 420 seconds = 7 min. Something not there already.

Thx. Let's see what happen.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,076 points

May 13, 2020 1:38 PM in response to sjogren

How did you determine it was set to 20 min?

If you looked at the System Preferences, it will default that value as it doesn't have an ability to display 45 minutes.

Or, did it activate after 20 minutes instead of 45?

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Answer 4

sjogren Author

Level 1

35 points

May 13, 2020 4:47 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hi

Yes. After i had set the 2700 second = 45 min in,

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver idleTime 2700

It went back to 20 min. I want 45 min.

I open system settings and it was back to 20 min.

Why wont it stay at 45 min when i use terminal ?

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,076 points

May 13, 2020 4:53 PM in response to sjogren

When you open System Preferences, it must set it back to 20 because it cannot display 45 minutes in the menu.

Set it in defaults and don't open ScreenSaver System Prefs. See if it activates in 45 minutes.

Any time you open the ScreenSaver System Prefs, it will get reset since it cannot display the 45 minute value.

If it actually sets it to 45 minutes with the defaults, then any time you have to make changes in the ScreenSaver System Prefs, you'll have to run the defaults command, again after closing the prefs.

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Answer 6

sjogren Author

Level 1

35 points

May 13, 2020 5:13 PM in response to Barney-15E

Ah i see.

So what you'r saying is.

Do the terminal,

user$ defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver idleTime 2700

and then just use the Mac without opening the system Preferences and see if it sticks ?

I will try that. It makes sense 👍

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,076 points

May 13, 2020 5:18 PM in response to sjogren

You can open the System Preferences, just not the ScreenSaver pane.

And, I don't know if it will respect that time. You'll just have to wait and see. Maybe set it to something very short so you don't have to wait to verify the 45 minutes.

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,076 points

May 13, 2020 5:54 PM in response to sjogren

Before giving up, set the IdleTime, then log out and log back in. That will force it to re-read the setting from the defaults. Maybe it just didn't register in the screen saver.

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