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Questions tagged [screensaver]

Software to blank a display for security or to prevent hardware problems while system input is idle.

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Are Aerial Screensavers stuttering in general or just on macOS Sequoia 15.1.1?

Ever since getting this M3 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro last December (2023), I have taken advantage of the generous space of the SSD to download all Aerial screensavers and set them up to rotate alongside ...
NotationMaster's user avatar
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How can I get rid of large screensaver movies on macOS 15?

This page implies that right clicking should work but I don't see to find a way to get rid of this from UI. Where is the file located so that I can trash is from cmdline or by other means Both this: /...
Anton Tropashko's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
200 views

How to find what app is preventing screensaver from starting (Sonoma)?

Since a couple of days I have been noticing that the screensaver was not kicking in at the specified interval (2 minutes). I diplomatically assume it is not an Apple app, and currently I have ...
NotationMaster's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
129 views

Screen does not lock in Sonoma

MBP M1, Sonoma 14.4.1, screen does not automatically lock after 5 minutes (and screensaver does not start, either), despite being set to kick in after 5 minutes. Problem 'resolves' with reboot, but ...
user1256923's user avatar
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legacyScreenSaver taking 67GB on disk -- OK to delete?

I noticed something called "legacyScreenSaver" takes 67GB on disk and feel it’s too much for me. I looked deeper, and I found that it's actually for the screen saver I do use, Aerial. It's ...
Cannolo's user avatar
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MacOS - Dim or Sleep external Display without cutting power to peripherals

I am using a MacBook (M1 MBP Sonoma 14.1.2) with an external display (BenQ P3). The screen acts as a hub and powers my audio interface and external hard drives. Currently my Mac will go to a ...
crz's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
372 views

How do I lock my Mac and have the monitors turn off?

This has been plaguing me. I have my Macbook Pro (Sonoma) plugged into two external monitors. When I lock or sleep my computer, it goes to the Lock Screen with all monitors on. Sometimes, the screens ...
Jordan Arnold's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
2k views

Disable Sonoma Video Screensaver

After updating to Sonoma, I turned on the new video screensaver. Now I would like to turn it off because I don't like it, but I can't seem to make it go away. I changed the Lock Screen settings to &...
mushroom's user avatar
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On macOS Sonoma, is there a keyboard shortcut to peek at the location of an aerial screen saver?

The new macOS Sonoma has aerial screen savers—similar to Apple TV—and one of the options is to shuffle through all of them. On Apple TV, you can tap the up arrow 2x to peek at the location of the ...
kortina's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Storing Aerial Screensaver vids externally via symlink

My system drive is tiny and my second is 2TB. Therefore I would like to store the Sonoma Aerial videos on the second drive. If I use shuffle, there's approximately 57gb of them. I presumed that macos ...
biscuitstack's user avatar
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Can't change the screensaver on MacBook

I have changed the screensaver on my MacBook Pro Ventura. However, it's not taking effect, even when I click on preview button it doesn't show the preview of selected screensaver. it shows preview of ...
Gaurang Shah's user avatar
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How can I make the MacOS lock screen wait longer at the password prompt before turning off the screen?

My Macbook is connected to an external monitor that takes a full minute to turn on (it scans through it's half-dozen inputs, taking 10 seconds for each one). When I wake up my Macbook, if I simply ...
Ryan C. Thompson's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
239 views

Some apps seem to sleep while the screensaver runs. How to prevent this in Monterey 12.6.5 with 2014 Mac Mini?

This question is not about keeping the Mac itself from going to sleep... I got that part (settings > energy saver > power > check "prevent your mac from automatically sleeping..."). ...
ConfusionTowers's user avatar
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1 answer
257 views

Via the command line, attempt to dismiss the screen saver *only* if the screen saver is active

I'm running BigSur 11.7.5. I want to run some sort of command or script from the command line which will dismiss the screen saver, but only if the screen saver is active. If the screen saver is not ...
HippoMan's user avatar
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Get lockscreen preferences with Terminal

Can I check the preferences set for the lockscreen (time to lock, ...) with an command in the Terminal. I tried with defaults read /Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screensaver.plist but ...
Sebastian's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
707 views

How do I prevent MacOS 11.2.3 (20D91) from logging out after some minutes inactivity?

I am running a task on an old iMac. MacOS version is 11.2.3 (20D91). The task is about downloading 8000+ photos from an old iPhone with Image Capture. The task goes on very smoothly if the macOS doesn'...
AGamePlayer's user avatar
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Is there a way to adjust the speed of the slideshow screensavers in macOS Big Sur and above?

I find the slideshow speed too fast and would prefer a 15-30 second duration. I'm looking for a solution for Monterey in particular but I think this applies to Big Sur as well, and maybe Ventura and ...
Louie Louie's user avatar
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Shell Script to check password has been set to Immediately and what the screen saver time is set to

I need to create a script for checking a security posture of a machine using OPSWAT MetaAccess. They have a built-in check, however, according to them, they aren't able to check since macOS 10.13+. ...
user2942358's user avatar
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Having trouble with deleting profiles on macOS Monterey

Initially hi everyone, im having trouble with deleting profiles. I've searched but I couldn’t find anything. I got so many profiles installed on my mac and when i try to delete them the minus button ...
Burak's user avatar
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Will background apps run during screensaver?

Perhaps I am rendering an image VIA Blender, or what is happening at the time of writing this post, creating a VM. If I put my Mac to screensaver, will background apps continue to run? Like would ...
Skyline X's user avatar
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1 answer
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Set Screensaver Programatically

I have searched for this, but can only find (old) fragments of information.. and nothing especially concrete for Big Sur or Monterey about how to set the screen saver through a script (bash most ...
m1nkeh's user avatar
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382 views

How to find an app that blocks the screen saver or auto turns the display off?

Yesterday, my MacBook was on the screen/display for 24 hours non-stop. Below is the "Screen Time" data. I actually wanted to ask why it's happened, but after I asked here I tried to close ...
Muhammad Dyas Yaskur's user avatar
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1 answer
753 views

How do you change Screesaver folder with command line on Mac

I have an art collection of 8000 pics, I have them divided into folders of about 200 each. I'm going to use python to randomly select one of these folders so that my screensaver will continually show ...
bobsmith76's user avatar
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311 views

I noticed that my M1 Macs use an Intel process for the screensaver

Whenever I run a screensaver on my M1 Mac, I noticed that this spawns an Intel process called: legacyScreenSaver-x86_64. Anyone else seeing this? I know the entire system (including all the BSD stuff) ...
Woodstock's user avatar
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2 votes
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557 views

Screen Saver settings completely missing in Big Sur?

I am running macOS Big Sur Version 11.2.1 on a M1 Mac Mini. When I try to access my screen saver settings in System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver, I now get a blank ...
Mike Skott's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to turn off screen saver for remote desktop sessions in macOS Catalina?

Purchased an M1 Mac Mini. Running it headless. In the OS for my user, I have the screen saver set to "never." However, when I connect via remote desktop, the screen saver comes on after some ...
user1787331's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
50 views

My MacBook shows the screensaver seemingly forever! How do I tell it to just go blank after an hour or two without suspending the laptop?

For security reasons I have the screen on my MacBook set to lock after 1 minute of inactivity, at which point it displays the photos I've downloaded to it, but when I get up in the morning the screen ...
karora's user avatar
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How to prevent screen saver from preventing Zoom meeting from starting?

I'm not really sure if this is a Zoom issue or a Mac issue but maybe someone else knows. I have regular Zoom sessions several times per week. I usually fire up my computer ahead of time and sign into ...
JVC's user avatar
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2 votes
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Caffeinate : prevent screensaver (Catalina)

I'm running this terminal command on Catalina hoping to keep the system awake and prevent the screensaver to start (without having to disable the screensaver in system preference). caffeinate -d -i -u ...
Kevin's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
643 views

Mac Mojave Sys Prefs/Screensaver slows down, locks up

iMac (late 2015), 10.14.6 -- opening Sys Prefs/Desktop & Screensaver, all actions slow down. Switching between Desktop/Screensaver, changing Screensaver options, etc, takes a couple minutes, ...
UncaMikey's user avatar
  • 495
3 votes
1 answer
645 views

Using a screensaver as a desktop wallpaper?

I've looked around a lot for a way to use one of the screensavers as the wallpaper for my desktop. I found a few options but all of them didn't seem to work on macOS Catalina. The way I tried to ...
user293769's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
25 views

How do I start the screensaver with JXA?

In the System Events scripting dictionary there is a suite called Screen Saver Suite, however I have been unable go the methods to run. I have tried var app = Application.currentApplication() app....
OrigamiEye's user avatar
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108 views

macOS Screen Saver From The Finder's Selection Via Applescript

I will like to be able to set and start the macOS screensaver via the Finder's selection using Applescript. I will also like to be able to choose which screen saver pattern will be displayed. For ...
David's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Do native screensavers have a hidden configuration to show image file name/path?

I have an archive of images. When they're displayed as a screensaver rotation, I'd like their names (and maybe the paths they're organized under) to show as an overlay to the image. I don't really ...
New Alexandria's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
86 views

Can I script actions while screensaver is engaged and a USB device is attached?

I have a Mac mini running Mojave that starts a screensaver at login. The screensaver is with password prompt, meaning that until a password is entered, it will not show the desktop. I only have the ...
liuk's user avatar
  • 61
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0 answers
210 views

Show random image for screensaver, no slideshow

Is there any way to have the screensaver show a single random image from a folder of images, but to not rotate the images in a slideshow? The closest thing I can get is by selecting the "Classic" ...
Attila's user avatar
  • 101
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

How do I change the image display duration in the Catalina screensavers?

I am using macOS 10.15.2 I have tried: OS X Mavericks screensaver changes pictures too quickly: How do I slow it down? and it doesn't work. Then I tried: How do I control the image display duration ...
Roger Ammann's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
436 views

How to set screensaver as desktop background in Mojave and above

High Sierra, how to set screensaver as desktop background? explains how to use the Screensaver as an (animated) desktop background. Unfortunately the -background option to /S*/L*/F*/S*/R*/...
Jerry's user avatar
  • 139
1 vote
0 answers
159 views

Third-party screensavers only filling 1/4 screen since Catalina?

I use third-party screensavers, especially a snow-themed one around the holidays. However, some of them only take up the bottom-left quarter of the screen now. The screensaver preview is exactly how ...
Jordan Kizer's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
369 views

How do I run Apple2.saver from XScreensaver as an application?

From the XScreenSaver collection, https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/, we have the interesting Apple ][+ simulator. According to its description, it can also be run as an application. But how? If I ...
Jim's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
263 views

macOS: How to determine what interrupted screensaver

I run macOS Mojave 10.14.6 on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013). TL;DR: How can I find out what interrupted the screen saver? I'm investigating an issue where the screensaver (which ...
tompave's user avatar
  • 565
0 votes
0 answers
129 views

macOS doesn't sleep when password is required 15 minutes after screensaver starts

I run macOS Mojave 10.14.6 on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013). Except when specified, all settings and behaviours described in this post refer to the Mac connected to a power adapter. My ...
tompave's user avatar
  • 565
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Does Screen Time log apps running with no windows open or while in screensaver mode?

I noticed my Mac is logging 10hr+ daily usage of Mail, Safari and stuff. But they are just running in the background - since I don't want to always quit and launch these frequently used apps. But I am ...
jackxujh's user avatar
  • 680
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How to auto-lock MacBook when inactive (without enabling screensaver)

It is super easy to automatically lock a MacBook after a few minutes of inactivity, but this requires enabling a screensaver. https://www.google.com/search?q=auto+lock+macbook However, this method ...
Joncom's user avatar
  • 443
3 votes
1 answer
108 views

Is there any way to force the Mac to not to log me out after ten minutes?

With this setting on the Mac Mini: The screensaver comes on the screen turns off after ten minutes or so. This has just happened three times running. Is there another setting which makes the Mac ...
Ed Plunkett's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
219 views

Disable screensaver when connected via Screen Sharing?

I have my mac set to show a screensaver, but every now and then when I'm working away from home I'll connect to it using Screen Sharing from and leave it connected. If the screensaver starts running ...
Bri Bri's user avatar
  • 2,760
2 votes
1 answer
111 views

Does automator work when screensaver is active

I have set a function in automator that opens a website everyday in specific time (after midnight basically). So I decided to leave mac turned on to let automator work. Instead I trigger screensaver ...
coner's user avatar
  • 142
3 votes
0 answers
342 views

How to prevent the screensaver occasionally showing "No photos"?

I have my screensaver set to show photos from a shared album in my photo library. Normally this works fine, but occasionally it fails to load any of the photos and just shows a black screen with the ...
Dave Mulligan's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
55 views

Mac System Preference Screen Saver "Start after:" setting is always disabled [duplicate]

I've been searching for the answer for a while, but I haven't been able figure it out. I'd like to lower start time of my Mac's screen saver, but it's always disabled, and I cannot make it go up/down....
inverted_index's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

Where can I find *all* screensaver files on MacOS Sierra?

When I go to "Desktop & Screen Saver", I see about 20 different screensavers. All online resources I've found have directed me to one of these locations, none of which contain ALL of the ...
mz496's user avatar
  • 101

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