Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Unlock screensaver with any admin password?

I work in a college and we run Mac OS X of all ages, this year we will be upgrading to Yosemite.


In previous versions we could edit a few files, Link below, that allowed us to change a setting to allow us, as administrators, to unlock a computer from a screensaver of another admin user.


http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120116131248157


This file seems to not exsist in Yosemite!!


Anyone have any knowledge on this?

Posted on Jun 17, 2015 3:03 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jun 17, 2015 6:10 AM

The file /etc/pam.d/screensaver does exist on my copy of Yosemite 10.10.3 and I did make a similar change to it to do the same thing. So yes it is still possible.


Try the following command -


sudo vi /etc/pam.d/screensaver


If it opens a blank file then it has not found it, if it opens a file with some lines in it, it obviously has found it.


Oops, update yes the /etc/pam.d/screensaver files exists but the /etc/authorization file does not. However this did not prevent me doing the same desired thing. My line in /etc/pam.d/screensaver now looks like this


account required pam_group.so no_warn group=admin,wheel fail_safe


The removal of the word deny is all that is required.


Apple's official method is to delete the entire line. See OS X Lion: Unlocking a screen saver as an administrator - Apple Support

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jun 17, 2015 6:10 AM in response to pfml07

The file /etc/pam.d/screensaver does exist on my copy of Yosemite 10.10.3 and I did make a similar change to it to do the same thing. So yes it is still possible.


Try the following command -


sudo vi /etc/pam.d/screensaver


If it opens a blank file then it has not found it, if it opens a file with some lines in it, it obviously has found it.


Oops, update yes the /etc/pam.d/screensaver files exists but the /etc/authorization file does not. However this did not prevent me doing the same desired thing. My line in /etc/pam.d/screensaver now looks like this


account required pam_group.so no_warn group=admin,wheel fail_safe


The removal of the word deny is all that is required.


Apple's official method is to delete the entire line. See OS X Lion: Unlocking a screen saver as an administrator - Apple Support

Unlock screensaver with any admin password?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.