Desktop control of screen saver time disabled on Win XP Pro

I can view and change screen saver but I can't change the time or the resume on password fields. They have been grayed out. I have found in the registry where I can change the screensaver time and resume on password fields. But this still does not allow me to have desktop control back. I need to know where in the registry I can reinable the desktop control of these fields. What I have found so far is in the HKey_Current_User sub key.

 

Are you the Administrator and what operating system is it?

It doesn't sound like it and appears someone has invoked a Global Policy or similar restrictions.

 

Yes, I do have administrator rights to my computer. Yes, a global policy has been invoked. I looked for the policy using gpedit.msc and found a policy but it did not show anything that would disable my screen saver. I can change the registry and undo what has been done but I don't know where in the registry this can be done.

 

I'm thinking that an easy way to find out what the registry controls are is to use a combo of a registry-snapshots program and a super-tweaker. The tweaker will let you change the settings you want to change, and the snapper will let you snap the reg before you change it and after you change it, and tell you exactly what keys/values changed. Bingo!

But, of course, if the tweaker lets you re-set what you need to re-set, you may not want to pursue the rest of the discovery process.

Anyway, here's a nice freeware super-tweaker that does nothing until you TELL it to, and it has a section under Windows Interface>Desktop for Screen Saver settings. Just change the settings, then reboot, and you're home free.
FreshUI from Fresh Devices:
http://www.freshdevices.com/windows_shortcuts_tweak.html

For the snapper, I use RegShot 1.7, available from Major Geeks here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download965.html

You may have to change the settings in the tweaker, reboot, and then change them again and reboot, to get it all back to normal. That's because they AREN'T normal now, and if you re-set them, the program may read what you've done as setting them to the same non-standard way they are currently set. If so, you'll have to do the thing twice to get it back to normal. Hope that's not too confusing.

 

I have found a temporary "fix" for this problem. Temporary because when I log back into the LAN network the policies will be reinstalled. The LAN administrators have apparently invoked a policy that has added a registry entry, under "policies" that forces a secure screensaver timeout. By doing so they have prevented me from changeing the time from the desktop. By deleting the screensaver policy entry from the registry I have temporarily regained desktop control of my screensaver options.