Remove 'Screen locked by' in Apple Remote Desktop

Apr 20, '05 08:57:00AM

Contributed by: bfad

Since the advent of Apple Remote Desktop 2.0, when an administrator locks a screen, the locked screen tells who did it. While this can be a useful feature, there are times when I would prefer that a user does not know which machine is controling theirs, or that anyone is controling them at all.

Specifically, I wanted the lock screen picture to be a kernel panic picture, but no one would believe the kernel panic was real if below the picture were the words "Screen locked by..." After rooting around in the application, I found what I was looking for.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Make sure Apple Remote Desktop is not running, and navigate to the folder containing the application.
  2. Control-click on the application and choose "Show Package Contents" from the pop-up menu.
  3. In the window that opens, navigate to Contents/Resources/English.lproj (or whatever language you're using).
  4. Find the file "LockScreenTask.strings" and create a backup copy in a safe place.
  5. Open the original "LockScreenTask.strings." If you have the Developer Tools instaled, it will open in Xcode; otherwise, you can open it in TextEdit.
  6. You should see the following:
    /* Localized versions of task strings */
    
    taskString = "Lock Screen";
    taskDescription = "Lock Screen";
    longTaskDescription = "Lock screens on target computers";
    actionString = "Lock Screen";
    lockedByString = "\r\rScreen locked by %@";
    lockedByStringNoText = "Screen locked by %@";
    defaultPictureName = "Lock Screen Picture";
    // Task progress
    kLockScreenRequestingOne = "Locking screen";
    kLockScreenRequestingMany = "Locking screens";
  7. Change the line lockedByStringNoText = "Screen locked by %@"; to lockedByStringNoText = "";. Now "Screen locked by" will not appear when you lock the screen of a client computer if you don't type a message, but it will still appear if you do.
  8. If that's not sufficient, replace the line lockedByString = "rrScreen locked by %@"; with lockedByString = "rr";. Now the "Screen locked by..." message won't appear even if you send them a message.
  9. Save your work, launch ARD, and you're done.
And that's all there is to it.

[robg adds: I haven't asked the author, but if I had to guess, I'd say that this knowledge was used in a prank to make someone believe they'd had a kernel panic. I'm certainly not against a good prank, but if you're in a position of network admin with Remote Desktop control, you should be very careful about how and when you pull such stunts :).]

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