FAQ / Desktop Lock

• This page covers both Desktop Lock and Desktop Lock Business Edition, including the Virtual Screen tool.
• Outdated FAQ entries have been removed as they are now in the help documentation or are obsolete.

How do I unlock the locked desktop? I didn't change any settings.

Please press the H key on your keyboard; the system will then be unlocked.

Desktop Lock 8 and newer: The default unlock hotkey is "H".

Desktop Lock 7 and earlier: The default unlock mode is "hotkey", with "H" as the default unlock hotkey.

I entered my unlock hotkey, yet the system failed to unlock.

The unlock hotkey is not a standard Windows hotkey. You must press each key in the hotkey one after the other, without holding them down simultaneously. For instance, if the unlock hotkey is "ABC", you should first press the 'A' key, then release it, followed by 'B' and release it, and finally 'C'.

For more information, please read the help document.

How to upgrade Desktop Lock to Business Edition?

Please contact us for the special order link and price for upgrading from the standard version to business edition.

I prefer not to have the banner displayed on the locked desktop. How can I turn it off?

Desktop Lock 8 and newer: Select "None" for the banner text.

Desktop Lock 7 and earlier: Set the banner text to blank.

Virtual Screen: How to start a profile (virtual desktop) directly from the command line?

You can use the profile name in the command line together with the command-line parameter switch '/s'. For instance:

"C:\Program Files\Desktop Lock\DLVS.exe" /s Default

Virtual Screen: How can I use OpenOffice 3.x in Virtual Screen?

OpenOffice 3.x forces itself to always be shown on the real desktop, even when you launch it in a virtual desktop. This is because the \program\soffice.exe is actually a helper program used to create instances of the real main program \program\soffice.bin, and it forces all instances to be on the real desktop.

To use OpenOffice in Virtual Screen, you have to make some modification to OpenOffice, and add a new path to the system PATH variable. Steps:

1. Open the OpenOffice program folder. It is normally located at "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program".
2. Rename soffice.exe to soffice.bak.exe, as we don't want to use this helper program.
3. Rename soffice.bin to soffice.exe; this is the actual main program.
4. Click Start > Run, type sysdm.cpl, and click OK to run it.
5. In the "System Properties" dialog box, switch to the Advanced tab, then click the Environment Variables button.
6. Locate the variable named Path in the "System variables" list box, then double-click it to edit.
7. Move the caret to the end of the input box, and append the following string:

   ;C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\URE\bin

   Click OK 3 times to save and return.

   Note that there is a semicolon (";") in front of the string. Paths in the system PATH variable are separated by semicolons.

   This step is important. It adds the BIN folder of OpenOffice to the PATH variable, enabling the main program to locate the necessary DLL files. This was originally the task of the helper program (the original soffice.exe). Since we are not using the helper program, we must add the BIN path manually.

8. Try to launch OpenOffice on the real desktop. If successful, then the setup is complete, and you can now use it in Virtual Screen.

How to use Virtual Screen on portable media like DVDs or USB disks.

It's possible to use Virtual Screen along with its configuration on DVDs or USB disks. The command-line switch /DataFile can be used to specify a configuration file. This switch forces Virtual Screen to use the specified configuration file instead of the default one. Examples:

DLVS.exe /DataFile:abc.dat

DLVS.exe /DataFile:"G:\My Folder\My Configuration.data"

Virtual Screen: Use Chrome in a virtual desktop?

To use Chrome in Virtual Screen, you have to disable its sandbox mode. To do that, please modify the command line of the related program item in the Virtual Screen control program by adding an additional string "--no-sandbox". The final command line will be like:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --no-sandbox

Note: disabling sandbox mode will result in Chrome displaying a warning message each time it is launched. But this is the only way to make it work in V-Screen. This modification doesn't impact Chrome on the real desktop.