Learn five easy and simple ways, including a keyboard shortcut and an automatic method, to lock your Windows system.
When moving away from your computer, you must lock the system. Locking the system ensures that no one can access it without proper authorization, whether intentionally or unintentionally. To put it simply, regardless of who you are or how secure you think your system is, it’s a good habit to lock it when you are not using it.
There are multiple ways to lock your system. You can use a keyboard shortcut, do it from the Start menu or the security screen, or even configure automatic lock. In this quick and simple guide, I will show all these methods. You can pick the method of your choice to lock Windows. Let’s get started.
Before You Start
- Once you lock the system, you require the user account password/PIN to log back in.
- The methods shown below are tested to work on Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Press “Windows key + L” to Lock the System
Windows has a built-in keyboard shortcut to lock your computer quickly. In fact, this is the easiest way to lock the computer. Just press the “Windows key + L” shortcut, and the system will be locked instantly. No matter what you are doing on your system, pressing the keyboard shortcut immediately locks it.
To unlock, you must authenticate with a password, pin security, Windows Hello, etc.
Good to know: Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts you should know.
Lock Windows Using the Start Menu
It is one of the lesser-known methods, but you can also lock your computer from the Start menu. This method is particularly useful for those who use a mouse as the primary input device.
On Windows 11:
- Open the Start menu by pressing the “Windows” key.
- Click the “Power” icon in the Start menu.
- Select the “Lock” option to lock your computer.
On Windows 10:
- Open the Start menu by pressing the “Windows” key.
- Click your user account icon on the left sidebar of the Start menu.
- Select the “Lock” option to lock your computer.
As soon as you click the option, your Windows 10 or 11 computer will be locked instantly. Use your account password or PIN to unlock the system.
Use Ctrl+Alt+Del to Lock Windows
Most of us use the “Ctrl + Alt + Del” shortcut when the system is frozen and we want to open the Task Manager to end the offending process. However, did you know that you can also lock your system? It’s not the easiest, but it’s another way to lock your Windows system. This method is especially useful when your system is not responding.
- Press the “Ctrl + Alt + Del” shortcut on your keyboard.
- Click the “Lock” option on the security screen.
- The above action instantly locks the computer.
You can unlock it using your password, PIN, or Windows Hello authentication.
Automatically Lock Windows Using Screen Saver
Windows has a built-in screen saver tool that shows photos and other images when the system is idle. Nowadays, this feature is disabled, and almost no one uses it. But the good thing is that you can automatically lock your computer using the screen saver option. Here’s how.
- Open the Start menu by pressing the “Windows” key.
- Search for “Turn screen saver on or off” and click “Open“.
- Select a screen saver of your choice from the “Screen saver” dropdown menu.
- Set idle wait time in minutes in the “Wait” field.
- Select the “On resume, display log-in screen” checkbox.
- Click the “OK” button.
- With that, your computer will lock automatically after the selected idle time.
That is it. From now on, Windows will lock itself after the specified amount of idle time has elapsed.
Auto-lock Windows Computer
If you want your system to automatically lock after a certain amount of idle time, but don’t want to use the screen saver method, you can use the Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor to get it done.
For example, I configured my system to lock after ten minutes of inactivity. This means that if I don’t do anything on my system for 10 minutes, the system will automatically lock itself.
I’ve already written a detailed guide on how to do it. Follow it: How to lock your computer automatically in Windows 11 & 10
—
That is all. These are the top five methods to lock your Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer. If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
