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How to Lock Windows 10 & 11 (Simple & Easy)

There are quite a number of ways to lock a Windows computer. Here are some valuable and straightforward ways to lock Windows 10 and 11 PC.

When moving away from your computer, you must lock the system. Locking the system ensures no one will access it without proper authorization, intentionally or unintentionally. To put it simply, locking the system when moving away is a good habit.

In Windows, there are quite a few ways you can lock the computer. Here, let me show you five of the must-know ways to lock a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.

Note: The methods shown below work in all modern Windows versions. This includes Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.

1. Keyboard Shortcut to Lock Windows

Windows has a built-in keyboard shortcut to quickly lock your computer. In fact, this is the easiest way to lock the computer.

To lock Windows 10 or 11, press the keyboard shortcut “Win + L.” The computer will lock itself immediately.

If you are wondering, no matter what you are doing or the application you are using, the computer will instantly lock itself. To unlock, you must authenticate with a password, pin security, Windows Hello, etc.

Read more — Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts you should know.

2. Lock Windows with the Start menu option

It is a lesser-known thing, but the Start menu has a hidden option to lock Windows 10 and 11 with just two clicks. This is quite useful if you are a heavy start menu user.

To lock the PC from the Start menu, you must open the Start menu first. You can press the Start icon on the taskbar or press the “Start” key on your keyboard. Click the user account icon appearing on the left side and choose the “Lock” option in the Start menu.

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As soon as you click the option, Windows 10 & 11 is locked instantly. Use your account password or pin to unlock the computer.

3. Use Ctrl Alt Del to lock the computer

This is yet another lesser-known way to lock a Windows computer. That is, to use the Ctrl Alt Delete shortcut.

Generally, the Ctrl Alt Delete keyboard shortcut is used when an unresponsive program freezes the entire system and prevents you from using it.

If you don’t know, when you press this keyboard shortcut, Windows is forced to take you to a special screen where you can launch the task manager, switch users, lock the system, or sign out from the current user account.

Press the “Ctrl + Alt + Del” on your keyboard to get started. Next, click the “Lock” option on the special screen, and you are done. Windows 10 and 11 will be locked as soon as you press the button.

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You can unlock it using your password, pin, or Windows Hello authentication.

4. Lock Windows from Screen Saver

Windows has a built-in screen saver tool that shows photos and other images when the system is idle. Nowadays, almost no one uses the screen saver tool. But the thing is, using the good old screen saver tool, you can make Windows lock itself after a certain time of inactivity.

To use the screen saver tool, open the start menu, search for “Turn screen saver on or off,” and click on it.

Select a screen saver from the drop-down menu, enter how much idle time it should way in the blank field, select the “On resume, display logon screen” checkbox, and click on the “Ok” button.

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That is it. From now on, Windows will lock itself after the configured amount of idle time.

5. Auto-lock Windows computer

You can also configure Windows to automatically lock itself after some inactivity time as an alternative to the screen saver method. You need to make some changes to the group policy or registry editor to do that.

For instance, I configured my system to lock after ten minutes of inactivity. This means that if I move away from the system or do not use it for 10 minutes, the system will automatically lock itself. To know how to do it, follow the linked guide. It will show you the exact steps.

Windows 10 — Enable Windows 10 to lock itself automatically

Windows 11 — Turn on auto login in Windows 11

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That is it for now.

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