Screensaver tuns on while using MacBook

PvdHeuvel wrote:

I am going to try a other screensaver to see if that is the problem

That's a good idea. Alsolog into another vanilla admin user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac,  and see if the problem persists. (This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).

If it doesn't log back into your account and then boot into Safe Mode by booting with the Shift key held down and check there to see if the problem persists.  Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Report back with the results.

From what I've seen, this is a problem with multi-user systems where multiple people are logged into the machine at the same time, and the fast user switching feature has been used.

You can either work around it by only ever having one logged in user at a time, or follow the instructions in the third paragraph:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252083925?answerId=254205721022#254205721022

It worked for me.

I am reporting same issue on Mac OS Big Sur 11.1 on a brand new Mac Mini M1 with new setup, nothing carried over or migrated from any previous setup. After I sign in or log in to my account, the Screen Saver starts without being invoked, I have even indicated the setting for it to start after Never. Sometimes I can't find the login prompt leaving me with the only option to restart the computer.

I have several accounts for my family, three users, and a Guest user. The only thing that has helped me, a workaround, is to set Hot Corners under Screen Saver where I set one of the corners to Put Display to Sleep for it to go dark and when I trigger a wake up with either a keypress or mouse click it will prompt me for my password to log in.

It seems that the System Preferences options have to be activated and deactivated a couple of times in order to work. My computer, Mac Mini M1, came running with FileVault on, and since there are a few issues with speed and hiccups of encryption, I chose to deactivate FileVault, not sure if this is also part of the messy issue.

I'm also experiencing infrequently experiencing the issue on my M1 based Air. I have no screen saver enabled, and hot corners are turned off.

When in this state the screen saver continues to run, the mouse pointer moves ontop of it. Only way to dismiss the screen saver is to close and open the lid, it's immediately responsive.

I have the same issue with my M1 based MacBook Air. Closing / reopening is the only way I've been able to turn the screen saver off. I'm going to setup hot corners with "Disable Screen Saver" and "Put Display to Sleep" in hopes that one of those two will work.

Same stuff overhere. M1 turns screensaver in the middle of typing.

I can only get rid of it by going to all-users-account-screen (go to other account), select my own account and type in password

It doesn't work with touch-id because you can get into account but with screensaver still running...

I have the same issue from day one and it is extremely annoying. I was hoping with the latest update it would be fixed, but it still happens. Out of no where, the screen saver takes full control, and nothing can stop it. At first i was really struggling to take back control, but now i found a trick that works all the time even though it is ridiculous.

Completely close the lid, then lift it back up. This should get you going again until then next surprise attack by the screen saver.

I really hope Apple fixes this, for some reason it seems far away from their radar!

I tried that. You will be surprised, it won't work. The only thing that seems to work is when it happens you should close the lid and open it back up again. but nothing is stopping that rogue screen saver from its attack and taking over.

Agree this is very annoying... I have set screen savers to Never in both accounts but it persists . State of the art processor in my new Mac Air M1 is fantastic, but To have to Hack the screen saver by opening and closed the lid is so PC... not happy about this

This happened to me as well with my M1 Mac Mini. I even disabled screensavers and it still happened, and it is close to impossible to get out of the screensaver. The only thing that worked for me is to lock your screen (using a hotkey on keyboard), switch user, and then come back.

The "Put Display to Sleep" hot corner works well. - it's more convenient than disconnecting the external monitor / closing / reopening the laptop / reconnecting the display.

The "Disable Screen Saver" will prompt for your password, however it does not disable the screen saver.

Damon

Thanks @RealMonter

We do have multiple users on the system, however all other accounts are logged out. I am still running into the problem. I tried disabling the screen saver on the login window, hopefully that will do the trick.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.screensaver loginWindowIdleTime 0​

I've experienced this issue too. Here's the work-around I found: I have two accounts on the MB Pro M1, so I turned off fast user switching. Apple Menu > System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Fast User Switching (scroll down to see 'other modules' on the left) > uncheck both options.

theSufiany wrote:

I really hope Apple fixes this, for some reason it seems far away from their radar!

Have you told Apple directly about this issue via Feedback - macOS - Apple?

Hi, I do have the same issue, with the same MacBook. HAve you been able to resolve it yet?