Unlock Unity lockscreen from command line

Question

How do I unlock the lock screen in Unity from command line?

gnome-screensaver-command -l locks the screen, but gnome-screensaver-command -d doesn't unlock the lockscreen.

Is there another way to unlock the lock screen from the command line? Not via ssh, via script, for example:

gnome-screensaver-command -l && sleep 5 && <command to unlock>

gnome-screensaver-command -d doesn't unlock it because it's not meant to. It only deactivates the screensaver, but it won't log in as any user, that's why it doesn't work. — M. Becerra, Mar 06 '17 at 11:36
@M.Becerra is there an easy way to do it, if no with this command? i saw that post, but i could find a satisfying answer — Gugi, Mar 06 '17 at 11:40
Depends on what you want to do exactly. Do you want to lock (so that you would have to log in again) or just show the screensaver? — M. Becerra, Mar 06 '17 at 11:43
If you read the man gnome-screensaver-command , it says for -d "unblank the screen". So it is not meant to be unlocking if your session is locked. Only turning on the display if it has been blanked out/turned off. — Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, Mar 06 '17 at 11:52
i want to lock so that i have to log in again and a script which is able to unlock (after a certain amount of time, or when executed via ssh for example) — Gugi, Mar 06 '17 at 12:27

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 15 '17 at 13:26

4

For Ubuntu 16.04 and later:

loginctl unlock-sessions

No need for root, but needs session permission obviously.

Note:
By default gnome-screensaver-command -d doesn't work anymore in Unity but with this workaround (enable on-screen keyboard) it does. Works for both 14.04 and 16.04.

answered Jun 15 '17 at 13:26

lemonsqueeze

1,634

This also works in Ubuntu 14.04.5. – Ryan Lewis Aug 03 '17 at 18:51

Unlock Unity lockscreen from command line

1 Answers1