Screen Saver Is Not Password-Protected When You Apply the "Password Protect the Screen Saver" Group Policy Setting

You may experience one or more of the following symptoms when you apply the "Password protect the screen saver" Group Policy setting to Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computers:

• When you create or edit the policy on a Windows XP-based computer, the policy is not applied correctly to Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) client computers.
• When you create or edit the policy on a computer with Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Windows XP SP1, the policy is not applied correctly to Windows XP client computers.

For example, if you enable the "Password protect the screen saver" Group Policy, and you view the screen saver settings of the client computer (right-click an empty area of the desktop, click Properties, and then click the Screen Saver tab), the On resume, password protect check box is selected as expected, but the screen saver is not actually password-protected.

The "Password protect the screen saver" Group Policy setting is set in the following registry entry: When the value is set to 0 (zero), password protection for the screen saver is turned off. When the value is set to 1, password protection for the screen saver is turned on.

In Windows XP, the registry entry is a REG_DWORD (numeric) value. Other operating systems, including Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP SP1, store as a REG_SZ (string) value. This type mismatch can cause Windows XP client computers and Windows XP SP1 client computers to misinterpret the policy setting.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language. The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Windows XP

Windows XP Service Pack 1

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To work around this problem, turn on the local password-protection setting for the screen saver by editing the registry. To do so:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
4. In the right pane, double-click ScreenSaverIsSecure.
5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.

When you install Windows XP SP1 or the hotfix that is documented in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article, the Group Policy setting is changed to a REG_SZ value.The hotfix that is documented in this article permits Windows XP client computers to correctly interpret the registry entry regardless of whether it is stored as a REG_DWORD or a REG_SZ value. This eliminates any inconsistencies that may occur when policies are created or edited on different operating systems.