Guide - How to Lock Mac

[kalakov]

Guide – How to lock your Mac OS X
(This will not shutdown your computer or put it in sleep mode)

Step 1

Go to Applications –> Select Automator -> Select “Service” template and click Choose

Scroll down or type in search bar to find “Run shell script”. Drag it to right where it says “Drag actions or files here to build your workflow”

Now it will look something like this. Select the drop-down in front of “Service receives selected” and select “No input”.

Now in the text box you can see “cat” written. Select “cat” and paste the following in its place:

exec /System/Library/CoreServices/"Menu Extras"/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend

Select File from the menu bar and click save. Give it a name e.g. Lock Mac.
Now exit Automator.

Step 2

Go to system preference and select Keyboard and then Keyboard shortcuts

Select Services from the menu on the left side and then scroll down to “General” in the menu on the right side. You will find your service Lock Mac without any shortcut. Select a shortcut of your liking and you’re done. Remember to select a shortcut that isn’t already being used. (This is tricky but you’ll get the hang of it)

 

[Transporteur]

And now the easy way:

Applications -> Utilities -> Keychain Access -> Preferences -> Select "Show Status in Menu Bar".

Done.

 

[GeekGuys]

Easier Still.....

Preferences - Users - Enable Switch Users

Then select your user name in the menubar and select LOGIN WINDOW every time you want to lock the desktop.

btw. this assumes you have a login password, as do all these suggestions!

 

[ivnj]

And now the easy way:

Applications -> Utilities -> Keychain Access -> Preferences -> Select "Show Status in Menu Bar".

Done.

That was easy, thanks man.

 

[kalakov]

question

none of the 2 ways above show a hotkey way. I've switched from windows to mac. any ideas on that??

 

[asdf29]

Doesn't Cmd+Alt+Eject lock the mac? Why do you need to set anything up?

 

[ooninay]

Cmd-Alt-Eject sleeps my Mac... which is cool because I didn't know about that shortcut, but not the same as locking the computer IMO.