how to handle when a computer goes to sleep

[JustinHoMi]

First of all, thanks for publishing this tool.

Question -- I tried using this on a couple of laptops, and have run into an issue. If the user puts the computer to sleep for the night, when the user logs back into the computer in the morning their session will immediately get logged out. I understand why this is happening -- but I'm curious if you have any ideas on how to work around it. Thanks.

[ryannewington]

@JustinHoMi

Thanks for reaching out and reporting this. What the scenario you are using idle logoff in with these users, and what do you desire the behavior to be?

[JustinHoMi]

Well, NIST 800-171 / CMMC is a security standard for federal contractors. One of the requirements is that we log users off after a specified amount of time (it doesn’t say exactly what that time must be). I am testing with 8hrs idle time, since that’s long enough not to interfere with users during the current workday, and short enough that it will trigger before the next workday. I’m flexible with that though.

Since many users just put their laptop to sleep at the end of the day, the preferred behavior is that it would trigger the log off as soon as the laptop comes out of sleep. However, it seems to trigger after the user logs back in to Windows. So, it’s an inconvenience to the user since they have to log in twice. Is it possible to trigger the logoff after the computer wake from sleep, but before the user logs back in?

[ryannewington]

What you are after is how I would expect it to work. I wonder if its just a race condition where the user is logging in faster than the app is checking the idle interval. I think from memory the app checks idle state once every 30 seconds.

If you wake a laptop and leave it at the lock screen, does it eventually log the user off?

[JustinHoMi]

Yep! You’re right. If I leave it for a bit then it’ll log the user off.

Since a sleep event will always mean that time has elapsed, is it possible for the app to listen for the wake event and do an immediate check at that point?

Thanks! If this is too much trouble, let me know. I appreciate the help.

[ryannewington]

Can you try this build and see if it behaves as you expect?

lithnet.idlelogoff.setup.msi.zip

[ryannewington]

@JustinHoMi how did you go?

[JustinHoMi]

Sorry for the slow response! It’s only had limited testing, but the behavior seems the same as before.

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[jmartins1]

"Since many users just put their laptop to sleep at the end of the day, the preferred behavior is that it would trigger the log off as soon as the laptop comes out of sleep. "

I had the same issue, using a similar product called "idlelogoff". In my case, when users log in using their network credentials a script launches idlelogoff and beings to countdown when the computer is idle. The script allows you to assign and control how long a computer must be idle before locking the computer. You can also set this as a local task schedule task to launch at login; but I digress. So, at the end of the day some staff would also place their computers to sleep; closing the lid on their laptops. This would cause idlelogoff continue to run in the background but not notice that the computer was no longer being used. Thus, the computer would remain logged in. My workaround is a follows, this can be done using a local task schedule task or a deployment platform like PDQ Deploy, the free version would work nicely here. Basically, you will create a script and set it to deploy at a given time or after a period of inactive based on the devices network activity. Personally, I use PDQ Deploy and scheduled the script to run automatically at the end of each day. The script runs a windows command to lock the computer. Since a task schedule task can run regardless of the state of the computer (minus off) and can still receive a deployment from an app like PDQ, the script will lock the computer even if the lid is closed. Hope that helps!

[scottcopus]

@ryannewington Do you know if Lithnet Idle-Logoff has any provisions to watch for resume (or workstation un-lock, etc.) events and reset the timer?

I read that the app "queries the relevant Windows API for the time since the user last interacted with the computer". Do you know if Windows has any bugs that causes this value to be wrong when resuming/unlocking/etc?

[jmartins1]

Hi Scott, I use a similar product, which does reset the timer if there is activity by the user. I place it in the System 32 folder and control the timer via login scripts. http://www.intelliadmin.com/index.php/2011/11/automatically-logoff-inactive-users/ "Sh"-eck it out. Joe ⁣Get BlueMail for Android ​

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On Feb 18, 2025, 2:47 PM, at 2:47 PM, macgyver24x7 ***@***.***> wrote: scottcopus left a comment (lithnet/idle-logoff#41) @ryannewington Do you know if Lithnet Idle-Logoff has any provisions to watch for resume (or workstation un-lock, etc.) events and reset the timer? I read that the app "queries the relevant Windows API for the time since the user last interacted with the computer". Do you know if Windows has any bugs that causes this value to be wrong when resuming/unlocking/etc? -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #41 (comment) You are receiving this because you commented. Message ID: ***@***.***>