How to lock screen, but not go to sleep on iMac (10.15 Catalina)

Question

How to lock screen, but not go to sleep on iMac (10.15 Catalina)

Hi,

I'd like to lock the screen (and also switch if off, if possible), but still have macOS and applications running. For some reason - whatever I try - the system goes to sleep.

I've tried using Terminal and power management settings (pmset), but no luck.

System-wide power settings:

SleepDisabled 1

Currently in use:

standby 1

Sleep On Power Button 1

womp 1

halfdim 1

hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage

proximitywake 1

powernap 1

gpuswitch 2

networkoversleep 0

autorestart 0

standbydelayhigh 86400

sleep 0 (sleep prevented by coreaudiod, coreaudiod, coreaudiod)

hibernatemode 3

disksleep 0

ttyskeepawake 1

displaysleep 3

tcpkeepalive 1

highstandbythreshold 50

standbydelaylow 86400

So the system and disk should never go to sleep, whilst the display should sleep after 3 minutes, but no luck.

The display does go off after 3 minutes, but then the system follows regardless of the pmset values and Energy Saver settings, where the option "Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off" is also selected.

Thanks.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 15, 2021 10:13 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

RelativelyAnonymous Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 16, 2021 5:18 PM in response to kamote0628

Hi kamote0628,

Thank you, that is interesting indeed, however I did manage to off the screen and also lock it, whilst the applications kept running.

So in addition to having done everything described above regarding pmset in terminal,

I changed "Turn display off after:" to "Never" in Energy Saver settings, cause it seems the 3min setting kept triggering system sleep, and

I also went to "Desktop & Screen Saver" settings and then to "Hot Corners" (bottom right), which brought up a smaller window with select menus for all corners allowing me to optionally press and hold one or a combination of buttons + select the desired action for a particular corner. The buttons in question are shift, control, option, command.

Now - when I hold down control + command + move the mouse pointer to the bottom left corner - the screen immediately turns off / goes to sleep, whereas the system gets locked maybe a minute afterwards. Nevertheless the system stays awake and applications keep on running.

When I want the screen turned on I need press a button (either keyboard or mouse will do) and enter credentials. Had the machine running for many hours at a time and everything works like a charm.

Hope this helps others, as I've seen people looking for this in a lot of places.

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Answer 2

kamote0628

Community Specialist

Aug 16, 2021 7:49 AM in response to RelativelyAnonymous

Hi RelativelyAnonymous, We appreciate you reaching out to us. We understand that you are looking to keep your applications running while your screen is locked, but the system goes to sleep.

While this setting is not available, we'd like to hear about how we can improve macOS.

We strive to bring the best personal computing experience to customers around the world through our innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

We welcome your feedback on our products here: Product Feedback - Apple

Take care!

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Answer 3

lkrupp

Level 6

16,971 points

Aug 18, 2021 8:18 AM in response to RelativelyAnonymous

Such a simple action does not require terminal commands. For Catalina 10.15 simply click on the black at the top left of your screen and select Lock Screen from the menu. Hot corners works too. Are you new to the Mac?

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How to lock screen, but not go to sleep on iMac (10.15 Catalina)

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