Password for Screen Saver

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Hello. I searched for an answer, but I couldn’t find one that worked. So, I am posting here to see if anyone can help.

I am trying to find an easy way to switch between needing a screensaver password. At work, I want the password on, but when I bring the laptop home I don’t want to enter it every time. I figured there has to be a quicker way to do this than opening system preferences each time and manually selecting and de-selecting the option. I don’t know if an apple script or an automator process would work better. Any input would be appreciated, as it’d save me a good 10 seconds many times a day :slight_smile:

Thank you.

#2

The script from the other thread will work after you need to check “Enable access for assistive devices” at the bottom of the Universal Acces pane in System preferences.

#3

Hi,

try this


set text item delimiters to {""}
set MACaddress to words 2 thru 7 of (do shell script "ifconfig en0 ether | grep -i ether") as Unicode text
set screensaverPlist to "~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.screensaver." & MACaddress
set askForPassword to (do shell script "defaults read " & screensaverPlist & " askForPassword") as integer
do shell script "defaults write " & screensaverPlist & " askForPassword -int " & ((not (askForPassword as boolean)) as integer) as Unicode text
#4

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed. I added a ‘quit’ at the end so I don’t even have to close system preferences now. Thanks again.

#5

Stefan I love the boolean use. :slight_smile:

This is the latest way of doing it
And saves on getting the MAC address

set askForPassword to (do shell script " defaults -currentHost read com.apple.screensaver askForPassword") as integer
do shell script "defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver askForPassword -int " & ((not (askForPassword as boolean)) as integer) as Unicode text