Linux Mint 20 Lock screen wont ask password

[nukenorman]

Hi everyone. I have been using Linux on and off since the early 90s so I am not a novice user. Decided to give linux another try and I got everything up and running including graphics this time and I thought my dream come true that could finally use Linux as my main OS. Linux has come a long ways but one big problem.

When I attempt to lock the screen it on resume it does not ask for password. I sent into the settings and made sure their is a password of coarse and I also checked the box to lock immediately and all that basic good stuff that is on default but I just double checked it anyways.

I have to leave my computer frequently sometimes and I need it to be able to lock . I know technically I could just " log out" then have to re-login and etc a simple thing such as lock screen should be able to work in 2022.  Anyone know why? It is a simple thing but a big issue and hopefully can get it fixed otherwise have to ditch Linux again and will give it another shot in a few years . Spent hours setting it up only to have a glitch like this

I have wasted tons of time searching online and nothing else comes up.

Thanks in advance.

[Nas]

First, the Lock Screen functionality works regardless of desktop environment (DE) you may be using.  CTRL+L is the keyboard shortcut to activate it.

 

Second, log into the IRC channels offered by Linux Mint distros -- there's ample persons able to help troubleshoot based on your specs (and sometimes I'm in there helping, too).

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

^ I doin't think he ever says he's on Mint..

 

I also do not know what DE you are using, but there should be a "system settings" option for locking the screen.

[nukenorman]

Thank you for the responses. Sorry for slow reply had to work tons of OT the last few days.

Anyways I did do the Control + L one of the first things I did. It goes to the lock screen but it unlocks without password and I  have password set to lock screen immediately etc checked all those good settings like 10 times. I have come to the conclusion that it has to be a software bug but it seems to be an obvious software bug that I am surprised is still there.  I am running a Lenovo 8th gen intel core i5 with 8 gigs of ram. Pehraps it has some issue with this laptop for locking screen. Because if everyone had this problem it would of been fixed by now. Now I remember I think I may have had this issue a few years ago when I gave Linux  a try. It is unfortunate cause I really love Linux Mint it is the best looking in my opinion and everything just works for the most part aside from the lock screen. Even downloaded custom icons and made it even more awesome to what I wanted.


I gave Ubuntu DDE a try and the lock screen works on that. I still prefer Linux mint by far over any other distro I have used and I have  tested in all my years probably about 20. I have not set it up fully though going to see if it will play nice witih my graphics card now that is an Nvidia along built in with the mobile intel graphics.



 

[ThaCrip]

On 19/02/2022 at 18:18, nukenorman said:

I am running a Lenovo 8th gen intel core i5 with 8 gigs of ram.

 

I do know on Intel 8th generation or newer it's recommended to use a newer kernel (this info is straight from one of the moderators on the Mint forums).

 

because the typical Mint v20 series comes with 5.4 kernel. try upgrading to 5.15 and see if that helps at all which can be done through 'Update Manager > View > Linux Kernels' section. if you need to go back to 5.4 you have to press ESC (or maybe SHIFT) before the OS loads. but I noticed if you don't get the timing right, it will kick you to a prompt but just type 'normal' and press enter and then press the ESC(or SHIFT) again and then it will take you to the menu where you can select 5.4 kernel once again, after it boots, remove the newer kernel. then in terminal type 'sudo apt autoremove' as this removes any left over kernel junk from the newer kernels. then from now on you will remain on 5.4 kernel series. but 5.15 is currently listed as supported until Feb 2023 where as the standard 5.4 is supported for the life of the Mint v20 series which is April 2025. but don't worry, once 5.15 expires it should shift you to a newer kernel etc. NOTE: the primary reason I am not using the 5.4 kernel on my setup (i5-3550) is there is a slightly annoying issue with resuming video playback when using hardware acceleration on Celluloid+MPV etc where instead of instantly resuming playback as is expected normal behavior, there is a bit of lag etc before it works again. but once I shifted to the newer kernels, of which I used all offered since, which is 5.8(end of life)/5.11(end of life)/5.13(support ends Aug 2022) and now currently 5.15(support ends Feb 2023), things work as they should.

 

I am on Mint v20.3-Xfce and my lock screen works as expected and I did not have to tweak anything for it to lock and when I resume use it automatically asks me for the password even when I was on Mint v20.x-Cinnamon it still worked fine.

 

I got a NVIDIA GPU and you basically want to install the proprietary driver available in the 'Driver Manager' since it gives best performance. I am using v470 series but v510 driver is available to.