Disabling the Windows log in screen saver

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When disabling the Windows log in screen saver, you experience these symptoms:

• Screen savers are not necessary for virtual machines
• Running screen savers wastes CPU resources
• There is no interface option to disable the screen saver on the log on screen in Windows

Resolution

To disable Windows log in screen saver:

Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure that you have a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine. For more information on backing up and restoring the registry, see the Microsoft article 136393.

1. Click Start > Run, type regedit, click OK.
2. Locate the following registry key:
   
   HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop
   
   
3. Double-click the ScreenSaveActive string value item in the Details pane.
4. In the Value field, replace 1 with 0.
5. Click OK.

Alternatively, save the attached registry file and double click it. This sets the key for you in Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista only.

For more information related to Windows 2003 and Windows 2003, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 185348.

For more information related to Windows XP, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 314493.

Note: The preceding links were correct as of June 4, 2008. If you find a link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.