====== Xfce Screensaver FAQ ======

===== Why doesn't the screensaver/lock screen activate when I attempt to lock my computer?  =====

You are likely running an unpatched xflock4, which does not know about xfce4-screensaver.\\
This has been [[https://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-session/commit/?id=baf23e096da712084e54b47faa49c1ca99665b75|resolved upstream]], but will need to be manually added until the next Xfce Session release.

All you need to do is add ''xfce4-screensaver-command --lock'' to the available lock commands.
<code>
$ cat /usr/bin/xflock4

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
export PATH

# Lock by xscreensaver or gnome-screensaver, if a respective daemon is running
for lock_cmd in \
    "xfce4-screensaver-command --lock" \
    "xscreensaver-command -lock" \
    "light-locker-command --lock" \
    "gnome-screensaver-command --lock"
do
    $lock_cmd >/dev/null 2>&1 && exit
done

</code>


===== Why doesn't my monitor turn off automatically? =====

**Display Power Management Signaling** (DPMS) has been disabled by another application. This can be confirmed and resolved using the ''xset'' command. To check if DPMS is disabled, run the below command.

<code>
$ xset -q
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 1200    Suspend: 0    Off: 3600
  DPMS is Disabled
</code>

If DPMS is disabled, it can be turned back on with ''xset +dpms''

<code>
$ xset +dpms
$ xset -q
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 1200    Suspend: 0    Off: 3600
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On
</code>

===== Why doesn't my screensaver activate automatically? =====

''**Possibility A**''

The screensaver daemon is not currently running. You can check this by looking at the running processes, or just run ''xfce4-screensaver'' to start it up. Only one instance will run at a time, and you will be notified if it is already running.

<code>
$ xfce4-screensaver
** (xfce4-screensaver:9788): WARNING **: 01:15:42.354: screensaver already running in this session
</code>

''**Possibility B**''

Another application has disabled the X11 screensaver. This can be determined by running ''xdg-screensaver status''.

<code>
$ xdg-screensaver status
disabled
</code>

If this command outputs "disabled", try running the following commands to enable the screensaver.

<code>
$ xset s blank # Sets the X11 screensaver mode to "blank"
$ xset s 300   # Sets the X11 screensaver timeout to 5 minutes
$ xdg-screensaver status
enabled
</code>

===== Where are all the screensavers? =====

Xfce Screensaver uses Xscreensaver-compatible screensavers. These can usually be installed separately from the main Xscreensaver package.

If you've already installed the screensavers and they still are not available, you may need to create desktop entries for them so they can be found by Xfce Screensaver. In the future, this process will be automated by Xfce Screensaver. Meanwhile, it is not hard to make your own.

**''Example''**

By looking at ''/usr/share/xscreensaver/config/abstractile.xml'', all of the importing information can be found.

<code>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<screensaver name="abstractile" _label="Abstractile">

  <command arg="-root"/>
  ...
</code>

The compatible desktop entry, installed to ''/usr/share/applications/screensavers/abstractile.desktop'', looks like this.

<code>
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Abstractile
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/abstractile -root
TryExec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/abstractile
Categories=Screensaver;
</code>

In this example, you can see that the ''Name'' key is derived from the screensaver label, ''Exec'' and ''TryExec'' both use the screensaver binary path, and the ''Exec'' key also includes the command arguments.