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Howto Linux hot corner screen lock

Howto Linux hot corner screen lock

October 15, 2019
2 min read

One thing I’ve gotten used to is using ‘hot corners’ to invoke actions in the Linux desktop, in the latest version of Elementary OS I had to find the command to manually do this, but now I have it working. Test this in a terminal and validate that it works for you:

xset dpms force off

Note: that you’ll need to have the screen lock activate as part of the power options (System Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Locking)

Then setup your hot corner (System Settings -> Desktop -> Hot Corners), choose Execute custom command in your desired corner and then enter:

sleep 1 && xset dpms force off

With a sleep so accidental corner touches won’t kick it off immediate. After that you should be all set. I like to use the bottom right hot corner, so when a cursor hits that it, it’ll turn off the screen and lock, so my setup looks like this: