With the default installation settings, Windows 11 does not automatically lock your PC after a specific amount of idle time.
Although you can manually lock your PC or configure Windows 11 to automatically lock when you move away from it (by pairing your smartphone to your PC via Bluetooth), you might want your Windows 11 PC to automatically lock itself after a specified time of inactivity.
As you might have discovered by now, the Windows 11 Settings app does not offer an option to automatically lock your PC after a period of inactive time.
We need to use the Windows Registry or Local Security Policy Editor to configure Windows 11 to lock automatically when the PC is idle.
Once your PC is locked, you must sign in again using the password, PIN, or fingerprint to use your Windows 11 PC.
Tip: You can use the Windows logo + L keyboard shortcut to manually lock your Windows 11 PC.
Method 1 of 2
Automatically lock Windows 11 PC after inactivity via Registry
Step 1: Open the Registry Editor using the search.
Step 2: In the left pane of the Registry Editor, use the following path to reach the System key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Step 3: On the left pane, click the System key. Now, on the right side, look for InactivityTimeoutSecs.
If InactivityTimeoutSecs is not present, right-click on an empty spot, click New, and then click DWORD 32-bit Value and name it InactivityTimeoutSecs.
Step 4: Double click the InactivityTimeoutSecs DWORD key and then enter the inactive time in seconds after which the Windows 11 PC should be automatically locked. For instance, if you want the PC to be automatically locked after two minutes of inactivity, then you need to enter value 120. Select the Decimal base.
Click the OK button. That’s it! From now on, your Windows 11 PC will automatically lock after the specified time of inactivity.
Step 5: Reboot your PC to apply the new policy.
Method 2 of 2
Automatically lock Windows 11 PC after inactivity
This method uses the Local Security Policy Editor feature, which is not present in the Home edition of Windows 11. If using the Home edition, please refer to the directions in Method 1 (Registry method).
Step 1: Type secpol.msc in the Start menu or taskbar search field and then hit the Enter key to open the Local Security Policy window.
Step 2: On the left side, navigate to Local Policies > Security Options.
Step 3: Now, on the right side, look for Interactive logon: Machine inactivity limit policy. Once found, double-click on it to open its properties.
Step 4: In the “Machine will be locked after” field (under the Local Security Settings tab), type the number of seconds after which you would like the PC to be automatically locked.
Click the Apply button. Click OK.
Step 5: Reboot your PC once to apply the changes. That’s it!
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