screensaver password

[Ice9]

I am having problems enabling a screensaver password in XP. When I select the option under display settings, it has no effect.

I think the reason it doesn't work is because I have XP set up for a single user, so I don't need a password to log in to windows. Right clicking on the password option in display settings and choosing "what's this?" tells you that it uses the login password as the screensaver password.

All I could find was the typical Microsoft story: it's not a bug! it's a FEATURE!.

I certainly don't want to be bothered with a useless login password just to enable a screensaver password. Anyone know a way around this?

[Steve R Jones]

If you manually activate the screen saver, the password function doesn't work. If you wait X number of minutes for the saver to kick in, it should work then.

[Ice9]

Originally posted by Steve R Jones
If you manually activate the screen saver, the password function doesn't work. If you wait X number of minutes for the saver to kick in, it should work then.

Should..... but doesn't.

edit: I have done a little more playing around and discovered that you have to let the screensaver run for a while before you get a password prompt.... must be another feature.

BUT, when the password prompt comes on, all I have to do is click OK to get past it (and if I try to enter my admin password it doesn't accept it). Yet more features?

[Tuttle]

Yep, the login password and the screensaver password are identical - if you have no password when you log in, you have no password in the screensaver.

That actually makes a modicum of sense in most cases - without a login password, all someone has to do to get past the screensaver protection is press the reset button.