Score:0

Ubuntu

How do I get Xubuntu to stop blanking and locking the screen -- and sometimes rebooting -- all while unattended

ForDummies

3/25/24, 12:11 AM

I have 7 machines all running Xubuntu, and a couple of them keep exhibiting this behavior despite my attempts (outlined below) to quash it. I want these machines on 24/7, and I want to see their screens to reassure me all is right. Since some are on a KVM switch, I have to click to see those, and it annoys me when it turns out the machine rebooted.

What I've done so far is all in the whisker menu's "Settings" applets:

In LightDM GTK and Greeter, misc tab, slide "blank screen" to never
in Power Manager, disable the whole thing
in ScreenSaver screensaver tab, disable
in ScreenSaver Lock Screen tab, disable

How can I keep my screens and sessions alive? Note that searching online, I get lots of answers involving SSH -- but SSH is not invovled, just the login and LightDM session on the main monitor(s).

0 + 11

xubuntu

screensaver

power-management

lightdm

guiverc

3/25/24, 12:47 AM

You haven't provided release detail; as at least two of your settings have varied on release thus your *settings* may not be identical if your systems are running different releases of Xubuntu.

ForDummies

3/25/24, 12:53 AM

Thanks guiverc. They are mostly running 20.04.4. I'll pay attention as time goes on and correct this if indicated. And let me know if I can expect the problem to disappear in 22.04 -- in that case I'll just switch.

guiverc

3/25/24, 12:55 AM

Please be precise; are all running 20.04 as its different releases I was specifically asking about; ie. if all are running 20.04 then your settings should mean they'll operate the same, however if they're not all running 20.04 (esp. if some are older) your settings are **not** the same due to release differences.. Also I suggest upgraded your systems, a 20.04 system should report as 20.04.6 (see https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2023/03/23/ubuntu-20-04-6-lts-released/ for ISO release date but installed systems upgraded a week+ before that date)

ForDummies

3/25/24, 12:59 AM

I've been working for a month on a different problem, and I'm reluctant to spend time updating them all and worrying about how that may impact my other work. For now I just want to focus on the ones that are misbehaving. In any event, none are other than 20.04.x.

ForDummies

3/25/24, 1:13 AM

Update and correction: one of the laptops just rebooted itself. It is 20.04.4. The correction is that since it's a laptop, I do have the power manger running, but its "plugged in" settings for blank, sleep and switch-off are "never". It is almost always plugged in, since I no longer work, or take it anywhere often.

guiverc

3/25/24, 1:16 AM

Xubuntu uses `xfce4-screensaver` for modern releases, but if your systems were installed earlier (say 18.04) and then upgraded to 20.04 for example you may find their screensaver are still using the prior tool used by Xubuntu.. A quick look at the changelog (https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/universe/x/xfce4-screensaver/xfce4-screensaver_4.16.0-1/changelog) and you'll not that tool didn't exist in 2018 thus 18.04 etc.. If you have older installs installed prior to 20.04, I'd check they are using the `xfce4-screensaver` firstly to ensure all your systems are using the settings.

ForDummies

3/25/24, 1:20 AM

Hmm. "dpkg --get-selections" shows that xfce4-screensaver is installed.

guiverc

3/25/24, 1:20 AM

When you *release-upgrade*, your system tends to keep the settings as they were previously as it respects your prior choices... The consequence of this is you'll have older systems that may react differently to newer installs of that release; which is why Release Notes tend to highlight these changes (so users are aware of the changes). Xfce/Xubuntu is pretty good at this (~monthly updates!) though most users don't read the changes/documents. I don't know your issue, but your details highlight screensaver which differs on release, with the ISO at install setting the defaults used.

guiverc

3/25/24, 1:21 AM

Being installed does **not** mean it's being used... Upgraded systems may still be using `xscreensaver` as the *release-upgrade* will have installed the newer (replacement) tool, but not the configs that cause it to be used... (thus honoring your installation media choice/settings of the users they had on their initial install, not the changed features/options). I'm suggesting where i'd look, you've not said what install ISO you used (for all; same or varied on your installs?) so this may or may not be your issue...

ForDummies

3/25/24, 1:24 AM

I looked using "dpkg --get-selections | grep screen" and only saw xfce4-screensaver and xfce4-screenshooter. Does this rule out the earlier one?

ForDummies

3/25/24, 1:27 AM

As for installs, I used a variety of media -- I forget all the details because I've had some of these machines since 2002 (with some upgrades) though I was using gentoo at the time. Mostly it's ISO files installed on a stick with ventoy running them as a CDROM. I have an old instance of 14.04 on one of them, for instance, though I seldom boot it.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: How do I get Xubuntu to stop blanking and locking the screen -- and sometimes rebooting -- all while unattended

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.