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Configure screensaver command line

We can configure screensaver settings through display settings. Screensaver can be configured from windows command line as well.

To set the screensaver to ‘None‘ from command line:

reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /f

To set the screensaver to ‘Blank‘ from command line:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /t REG_SZ /d C:\Windows\system32\scrnsave.scr /f

You can get the list of screen saver options you have :

dir c:\windows\system32\*scr /b

On my windows 7 system it shows the following screensavers

C:\Users\administrator>dir c:\windows\system32\*scr /b
Bubbles.scr
Mystify.scr
PhotoScreensaver.scr
Ribbons.scr
scrnsave.scr
ssText3d.scr
C:\Users\administrator>

To set Bubbles as the screensaver you need to run the following command from command line.

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /t REG_SZ /d C:\Windows\system32\Bubbles.scr /f
21 comments… add one
  • Anonymous

    how do you change the time to wait until active?

  • Techblogger

    To change the timeout limit for activating the screen saver you can run the below command.

    reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /t REG_SZ /d 600 /f

    The above command sets the timeout to 10 minutes(regkey stores the value in seconds: 10*60)

  • Charlie Little

    For some reason can’t get the TimeOut to work. I got a 5 minute policy so I set it to 300, but it remains on 10 minutes..

  • Elmer Baron

    I want to delete the screen savers set by Bing.

  • Mr. TA

    Run this after changing registry, or it won’t work (Windows 7 but probably other versions, too):

    rundll32.exe user32.dll, UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

  • jm

    reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /t REG_SZ /d 600 /f

    above command works well. registry value updated. but user need to reboot!
    then it will be work well..

  • Ryan

    how do I make it go to lock screen after it wakes up?

  • Romain

    How do you set the folder used by the slideshow screensaver ?

  • Pavel Vlasov

    Thanks, it works well at W7! But RESTART is required!

  • Tom

    I wish someone could try to answer this: My screen saver is set @ 15- minutes. It will timeout at 15 or either 20- minutes. Why is it doing this? It has worked fine until recently. It run Windows Vista personal computer.

    Thank you!

  • Tom Wyant

    Screen saver timeout inaccurate?

  • Yohan

    I want to change the screensaver text to some string (say mystring = “”) from cmd, and can I put the code in a .bat file?

    • Emiel

      rem setup screensaver with text over screen
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Screen Saver.Marquee\TeXt”, “my text”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\BackgroundColor”, “0 0 0”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\TextColor”, “0 128 0”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Size”, “20”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Speed”, “4”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Attributes”, “10001”
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\CharSet”, “0”

      rem Set screensaver application
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /t REG_SZ /d %windir%\system32\ssmarque.scr /f
      rem set screen saver start to 10 minutes
      reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /t REG_SZ /d 600 /f

  • Mike

    Any idea on how to uncheck the “on resume, display login screen” tick box via cmd???

    • Harry

      i think it is ‘ScreenSaverIsSecure’ string.
      Set it to 1 to lock and 0 to not lock your pc.

  • Sodalin

    Where is options or reg path for “Tick Option On resume, display logon screen?
    Anybody know this option?? Please kindly help.

  • Dwight Arroyo

    Would like to know how to control the “speed” or animation time for a specific
    screensaver. For example: I have a text displaying screensaver that moves on
    the screen every 2 minutes or so in position to another position on the screen.

    I would like to speed this up to like every 8 seconds or so.

    Thanks much in advance
    Dwight

  • cece

    what are the commands other than bubbles.scr

  • PRASAD

    Can i know the current screen saver name in photos.
    for example if i put the photos as my screen saver, every time photo will change after certain time, is there any method to identify that change please ?

  • pras

    How to identify when the screen saver photo changes, for example if we put screen saver as photos at certain time photo will change from the given folder, can anyone tell me cmd to get that photo path or any other ways to identify that change

  • Bob

    single cmd line to start screensaver and then lockscreen after. Can use to tie to shortcut keys.

    start /wait %windir%\SCREENSAVER.scr & rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

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